During a working trip to the Volyn region, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy took part in a roundtable discussion with representatives of the region’s united territorial communities.
The participants discussed the specifics of the transfer of agricultural land from state to communal ownership in accordance with the Presidential Decree "On some measures to accelerate reforms in the field of land relations", which should accelerate land reform.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy stressed that all technical procedures for land transfer must be completed by the end of this year.
The Head of State noted that now it will be possible to transfer a little more than two million hectares of land to communities, as five million were stolen from state property in previous years, while the moratorium on land sales was in effect. Therefore, the President addressed the UTC representatives with a request to provide law enforcement officers with information on known cases of illegal withdrawal of land from state ownership.
"We must struggle for all these lands. They were state-owned - they must be returned and given to the communities. Communities must trust the state - we are interested in the real use of such a resource, which can replenish the local budget. And in spending this money from land rent on schools, kindergartens, infrastructure and roads," the President said.
According to the Head of the State Service of Ukraine for Geodesy, Cartography and Cadastre Roman Leshchenko, the Cabinet of Ministers has already prepared a draft order on the procedure for transferring agricultural land to local communities. The government can approve the document next week.
"All communities, without exception, will receive land that has been stolen from local government bodies since 2002, when the right to dispose of land was transferred to the district state administrations, and then to the State Geocadastre. Now you become full-fledged owners. And this is already your land," Roman Leshchenko said.
During the discussion of the prospects of transferring lands of other types of purpose - forest and water funds - to communal ownership, Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that the relevant bill has already been submitted to the Verkhovna Rada.
Separately, the participants discussed the possibilities of attracting investment as an important factor in community development.
The Head of State noted that it is important for the central government to build local roads in parallel with state ones, as this will help the development of both domestic and foreign tourism.
"We will be looking for different approaches to convey everything to the communities as much as possible. This is the philosophy of mine and all the people working by my side," Volodymyr Zelenskyy stressed.
