Regional Executive Committee Meeting: In Vitebsk Region, 10 Real Estate Properties Transferred for Investment Projects Since the Beginning of the Year
In the region, from January to August, 150 out of the planned 482 properties were put into economic circulation and demolished. To attract interested parties, including investors, the State Property Committee has created an additional list of about 90 real estate objects that can be transferred under various conditions for investment projects. The full list can be found on the committee's website. "On their basis, for example, new production can be organized. This year, 10 such properties have already been transferred for the implementation of investment projects. We have also formed a separate list of historical and cultural heritage sites, which includes 17 objects. Two of them have already been sold for one base value - a stable building in the Gluboksky district and a manor in the Miorsky district," Viktor Zaitsev said.
The meeting also analyzed the situation with the involvement in economic circulation of unused property - property in communal ownership, dilapidated houses, and agricultural land of unprofitable agricultural enterprises.
Regarding the involvement of state-owned property, the best results are shown by the Orshansky, Vitebsky, Lepelsky districts, and the city of Vitebsk. There are also districts with a zero indicator, for example, the Sharkovshchinsky district. However, work is also underway here: five properties have been put up for auction, but none have been sold. If they are not sold by the end of the auctions, the district executive committee will consider another way to involve the real estate in economic circulation.
In the Vitebsk region, since the beginning of the year, more than 6,000 properties have been accepted from enterprises that are in the liquidation stage and have been declared bankrupt, and they often pass into communal ownership not in the best condition. According to Viktor Zaitsev, district heads need to take care of involving such real estate in economic circulation.
"The Sennensky District Executive Committee has introduced a practice of working with an anti-crisis manager who helps to sell such property. The local district agroservice, which owns 130 buildings and structures, is undergoing bankruptcy proceedings. About 40 of them will eventually be transferred to the ownership of the district. The Postavsky District Executive Committee is using the same approach. The more property managers sell, the less will come into communal ownership, and this will save funds for their maintenance. In addition, there are facilities that are not advisable to transfer to communal ownership – transformer substations, power lines – but should be assigned to a specialized organization. Our ultimate goal is not for us to work for the property, but for the property to work for us and generate profit," noted the head of the state property committee.
As of September 1, the register of vacant residential buildings in the region included 1809 properties. The largest number is located in the Orshansky district. The Chairman of the Regional Executive Committee, Nikolai Sherstnev, analyzed the work of local authorities on this issue. "The Orshansky district is under close scrutiny, and high demands are placed on it, so they are actively working on the issue. Where there is complete stagnation, district executive committees are not doing enough," noted the head of the region.
Additionally, city and district executive committees are working to include more than 1.8 thousand houses in the register of vacant properties. The problem of involving vacant or dilapidated houses in economic circulation or their demolition is complicated by the difficulty of finding owners or their heirs. They move from place to place, and sometimes contact information is lost.
The involvement of land in agricultural circulation also has its difficulties. Enterprises lack funds for the demolition of old structures – farms, sheds, storage facilities. And the lands where vacant or dilapidated houses were located are often in cities and district centers, far from arable land. On this issue, Nikolai Sherstnev proposed that farm managers cope on their own where possible, while district executive committees will need to find funds for the demolition of larger facilities using specialized equipment.