Opinions & Interviews

MINSK, 8 December (BelTA) – Experts of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) will work out the Country Profile on Housing and Land Management for Belarus by 2019, Belarus’ First Architecture and Construction Minister Alexander Kruchanov told BelTA.

The UNECE has been conducting country profiles on housing and land management since the 1990s to provide assistance to the governments of the countries with economy in transition with a view to enhancing the efficiency of their housing sector and supporting sustainable development. International experts give recommendations to national and local government bodies. The review will be conducted in Belarus for the second time, taking into account modern transformations. Taking part in the work will be Belarusian experts and representatives of the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN Habitat).

The decision on the Country Profile on Housing and Land Management o Belarus was taken by the UNECE Committee on Housing and Land Management in Geneva in 2015. The project to strengthen the potential of the Belarusian government in sustainable housing and land management was approved in September 2017. The project should be implemented within a year.

The project will study everything that has to do with housing, urban planning and land management: from land allocation procedures, registration of real estate, the status of the housing stock to the strategy of urban development, housing policy and improvement of human settlements. This document is useful to investors because it provides full information about what has been in the housing sector in the country, what is on the table and what is recommended. For example, the World Bank uses such documents.

A preliminary mission of international experts already visited Minsk to discuss the profile. Meetings and talks were held in the Housing and Utilities Ministry, the Construction and Architecture Ministry, the State Property Committee, Minsk City Hall, the UNDP Office, research design enterprise BelNIIPgradostroitelstvo. Following the meetings the parties scheduled the timetable for the development of the national profile and for seminars. It is expected that in May-June 2018 a mission of experts will visit Belarus to collect the necessary information.

“In accordance with the recommendations we will develop a national plan of action for their implementation and will indicate the list of specific projects,” Alexander Kruchanov said.