Politics

Politics

World Bank approves a loan for Real Estate Project in Azerbaijan

27 March 2007 14:12 (UTC +04:00)

March 21, the World Bankâ€™s Board of Executive Directors approved a US$ 30 million IBRD loan for the Real Estate Registration Project for the Republic of Azerbaijan. The objective of the project is to ensure a reliable, transparent and efficient real estate registration system to improve both the legal security for real estate and the management and use of State-owned immovable property in the country.
When it was part of the former Soviet Union, Azerbaijan had a command economy with very limited private property ownership. Following independence, the country implemented many market-oriented reforms, including de-collectivization of land, privatization of State-owned property and housing stock. In this context, security of title to land and immovable property, and the ability to transact in the real estate market and obtain credit are fundamental for small and medium-sized enterprises, rural development and labor mobility.
Over the last two years, the legislation and institutional responsibilities for real estate registration have been finalized and the State Service for Registration of Real Estate has already begun with an ambitious program to register property and provide services through automated systems. The funds allocated under the project will help establish the various maps, databases and procedures to provide rapid and reliable services to the public, and will help the State Committee for the Management of State Property to make their privatization and property management tasks more efficient and effective.
The projectâ€™s key beneficiaries will be those people and businesses that want security in their land or property in order to invest or acquire capital using real estate as security for loans. The citizens of Azerbaijan will benefit by having more transparent systems operating and through government making better use of State-owned immovable property assets. Improved use of State-owned assets would increase revenue to government and benefit citizens through more efficient use of property for social purposes. The systems used in land administration will also be linked with the existing e-Government initiatives in order to reduce opportunities for corruption and provide better services to the public.
The project has four main components: Real Estate Registration will provide more effective and efficient customer services in the registration of property rights through the improvement of the physical condition of the registration office premises and installation of automated systems and on-line services, State Property Management and Registration will support improvements in the management of state property, Base Mapping and Land Cadastre will provide the basic geodetic, mapping and cadastral data for the automated property registration and state property management systems, Training, Policy Development and Project Management will support project implementation and monitoring, and coordinate joint activities relating to training, creating a joint information technology/information management strategy, and policy and legislative development.
The loan for the Real Estate Registration Project has a maturity of 20 years with a 5-year grace period (LIBOR +0.75%). Azerbaijan joined the World Bank in 1992. Since then, commitments to the country total approximately US$ 1,025 billion for 36 operations. /APA-Economics/