Kyiv City Council Implements New Land Management Rules to Enhance Transparency and Fight Corruption
Kyiv has undergone significant reforms in land governance: the city council adopted new ‘Rules for Preparing and Approving Decisions on Acquisition and Termination of Rights to Communal Land’.
The initiative aims to establish uniform standards for all participants—deputies, specialists, investors, and citizens—and to improve transparency and efficiency in managing the city’s land resources.
Kyiv Deputy Viktoria Ptashnik stated that 61 out of 120 deputies supported the initiative, marking a crucial step toward anti-corruption reforms.
The newly adopted rules focus on introducing an online land registry, public discussion of draft decisions, and transparency in the decision-making process regarding land issues.
They also include fair valuation policies and mandatory appeals to courts or law enforcement agencies in cases of illegal land occupation.
Experts from the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine contributed to the development of these regulations, ensuring adherence to transparency standards.
These reforms come against the backdrop of investigations into significant corruption schemes, such as the ‘Clean City’ case by NABU, which uncovered illegal land seizures in central Kyiv worth millions of hryvnias.
Despite criticism of the city leadership’s reluctance to dismiss responsible officials, Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko recently submitted a decree to the government to dismiss his first deputy, signaling efforts to rid the city of corruption.
However, political battles over power and resources in Kyiv remain intense, and the future composition of Kyiv’s leadership depends on decisions by the Kyiv City Council and personally Vitali Klitschko.