UNECE WPLA Workshop Athens, 13-14 December, 2012

Informal Settlements(Azerbaijan)

Dr. Elshad KHANALIBAYLIState Committee on Property Issues

Republic of Azerbaijan

UNECE WPLA Workshop, Athens, 13-14 December 2012

Definitions:

Occupied land – lands not granted to ownership, occupation and leasehold, and informal settlement (adverse possession), as well as not documented and the lands exceeding limited size.

Informal settlement – residences, other buildings, plants or real estate built in the plot of land not allocated for construction purposes or built without obtainment of necessary permission or by strictly breaching town planning or building norms.

UNECE WPLA Workshop, Athens, 13-14 December 2012

Informal Settlements…

Why?..

UNECE WPLA Workshop, Athens, 13-14 December 2012

Main Reasons that led to this problem in Azerbaijan

UNECE WPLA Workshop, Athens, 13-14 December 2012

In the previous times: Centralization of industry gradually mainly in big cities, including Baku (especially “oil boom”) – uneven urbanization;

End of 1980’s: Nagorny Karabakh problem – migration of millions of people from this territory: more than 1 million Azeri refugees and IDP’s;

Absence of precise maps that divide the area into regions;

In the previous times: difficulty in permission procedures resulted with the construction of large-scale illegal buildings – uneven division of responsibilities of municipalities and state agencies for housing.

UNECE WPLA Workshop, Athens, 13-14 December 2012

TYPES OF INFORMAL SETTLEMENTS

a) Squatter settlements on public or private land;

b) Settlements for refugees and vulnerable people;

c) Upgraded squatter settlements; d) Illegal suburban land subdivisions on

legally owned private and illegal change of land-use regulations, often on the urban fringe;

e) Overcrowded, dilapidated housing without adequate facilities in city centres or densely urbanized areas.

UNECE WPLA Workshop, Athens, 13-14 December 2012

Table: Matrix of informal settlement types

Inner-city

Peri-urban

Sub-standard/Slums

Relative-ly good quality

Squatter settlements on public or private land

+

+

+

Settlements for refugees and vulnerable people

+

+

Upgraded squatter settlements +

+

+

Illegal suburban land subdivisions on private or public land

+

+

Overcrowded, dilapidated housing without adequate facilities

+ +

Final report      Politics document on the regulation of informal settlements in the Republic of Azerbaijan                         

UNECE WPLA Workshop, Athens, 13-14 December 2012

UNECE WPLA Workshop, Athens, 13-14 December 2012

- Prepared within “Real Estate Registration” Project carried out by World Bank in Azerbaijan;

-Submitted to the government;

- Taking into account the Strategic document, Draft Law has been prepared by the government;

- Draft Law is being discussed.

Strategic document on regulation of illegal settlements:

UNECE WPLA Workshop, Athens, 13-14 December 2012

Principles:

•Problem on illegal settlements will be solved legally by obeying the principles of social justice and protection of property rights.

•Illegal settlements will be documented, and in resettlement case when the documentation is impossible, fair compensation will be applied to the factual owners of properties.

•(Draft) Law stipulates strict liability actions for preventing the continuation of illegal constructions; both representatives of public and municipal bodies and citizens will be prosecuted strictly and sanctioned for participating in the case of illegal construction.

UNECE WPLA Workshop, Athens, 13-14 December 2012

Draft Law on regulation of illegal settlements: Strategy

Accumulation of information on illegal constructions;

Development of e-database; Solution of organisational and financial

issues; State Programme for regulation of illegal

settlements

UNECE WPLA Workshop, Athens, 13-14 December 2012

1. Information on illegal constructions should include:

Identification of places;

Identification of the list and number of illegal constructions on areas;

Classification of illegal constructions.

UNECE WPLA Workshop, Athens, 13-14 December 2012

2. E-database: necessary actions

Marking areas on the map; Maintaining and updating the data; Marking infrastructure possibilities on

the map; E-documents; Development of block for public

awareness.

UNECE WPLA Workshop, Athens, 13-14 December 2012

3. Actions for solving organisational and financial issues

Creation and maintenance of representations, their control;

Coordination measures on involvement, distribution and correct utilization of financial resources;

Establishment and maintenance of Central Council;

Involvement of private sector to the inventory.

UNECE WPLA Workshop, Athens, 13-14 December 2012

4. State Programme should include:

Regulation procedures; Identification of financial and technical support; Supporting programme for construction; Strategy for elimination of social injustice; Phases of regulation; Responsibilities of state agencies; Strategy for prevention of development of

illegal constructions; Proposals on easy access to data.

UNECE WPLA Workshop, Athens, 13-14 December 2012

5. Regulation procedures:

Procedures for legalization Renovation procedures Resettlement and housing procedures Procedures for alternative apartment

system Abolition precedures

UNECE WPLA Workshop, Athens, 13-14 December 2012

Strategy for prevention of illegal construction development

in the future (1):

Conceptual bases of apartment maintenance Social apartment programme Proposals on construction standards Proposals on penalties and sanctions Directions on allocating of concessional land Simplification of registration system Directions on correct land utilization Directions on land restoration

UNECE WPLA Workshop, Athens, 13-14 December 2012

Strategy for prevention of illegal construction development

in the future (2):

Strategy for supporting production and utilization of local and appropriate construction materials

Methods of improvement of apartment construction areas towards being good-looking and accessible for environment from functional, operable, esthetic point of view

Establishment of relevant entity to prevent the development of illegal constructions in future

UNECE WPLA Workshop, Athens, 13-14 December 2012

State Committee on Property Issues (SCPI) has already finished the Terms of Reference for inventory of illegal constructions and development of database

UNECE WPLA Workshop, Athens, 13-14 December 2012

SCPI will organise the inventory of illegal constructions by involving

private sector and develop a database

Expected Outcomes:

Complete list of illegal constructions Solution of legal, technical and financial issues Assurance of social equality of citizens Making illegal constructions full right subjects of real

estate market Efficient usage of land Involvement of illegal constructions to taxation Prevention of future development of illegal constructions Supporting the state programmes for city planning, area

development and poverty reduction

UNECE WPLA Workshop, Athens, 13-14 December 2012

UNECE Working Party on Land Administration

Dr. Elshad KHANALIBAYLIUNECE WPLA Bureau member

THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION

UNECE WPLA Workshop, Athens, 13-14 December 2012