OREANDA-NEWS. On July 15, 2008 The World Bank’s Board of Directors has approved a new US\\$ 6 million grant for the Kyrgyz Republic to improve real estate registration in the country. The Second Land and Real Estate Registration Project will build on the success of the First Project by expanding and deepening investments, reported the press-centre of World Bank.

The first operation commenced in 2000 with the aim of developing the land and real estate market, providing the basis for greater efficiency and prosperity in the Kyrgyz Republic.
 
The project established the legal and administrative basis for registration of land and real estate, opened and equipped 50 offices around the country, and established a computerized registration system that has been installed in over 20 local offices. It also helped the Government to develop land administration services and data essential for a well performing land and real estate market.
 
Project impacts have significantly exceeded original expectations.  Today over 2.4 million land parcels and real estate units were registered on a systematic basis, compared to 600,000 real estate units planned by the original project. These included resolving the problems for about 650,000 properties which did not have full legal documents.  Sales, leases and mortgages have grown significantly, as has fiscal revenue.
 
Benefits include economic growth and other benefits associated with the increased tenure security, improved access to investment capital, and more efficient use of land and real estate assets, stemming from an efficient system for land and real estate transactions. Through the project, improvements have been made to ensure good customer service, guarantee tenure rights, and reduce corruption.
 
From 2001-2007, 199.5 million Som has been collected in taxes and other contributions and has been transferred to state and local budgets.  The Project will finance further improvement of customer service and information access, upgrade computerization and introduce web access, strengthen financial management, register novistroiki areas, and produce digital maps based on aerial photography for 23 municipal areas and some rural lands. 
 
The World Bank is one of the largest sources of development assistance to the Kyrgyz Republic.  The Kyrgyz Republic borrows from the World Bank on highly concessional terms – no interest, and only a 0.75 percent service charge.  Credits are repayable in 40 years, including a 10-year grace period, while grants require no repayment.  From 2003 to mid-2005, half of the World Bank’s assistance to the Kyrgyz Republic was in grant form. Since July 2005, the Bank has provided all funding to the Kyrgyz Republic on a grant basis.