By Oleksandr Hnitetskyi, spacial planning expert of the U-LEAD with Europe Programme

On 29 May, the Vysoke Village Council held an auction for 10 land plots with a total area of ​​273 hectares.

Such a number of cars around the settlement council have not been noticed for a long time – people wishing to buy land came even from other oblasts. The land auction announcements were officially published on the website of the StateGeoCadastre a month before. This had a positive impact on competition, since investors could easily find out about the auction and track offers.

During the trades, participants were as if hypnotised – they were constantly raising their rates. The competition played in favour of the hromada’s budget. All lots were sold above the starting price. The deviation from the initial price was at least + 37%, maximum – + 526%. As a result, the hromada received UAH 1.5 million to the budget from 8 lots.

Mykola Barduk, head of the Vysokivska AH, always supported land auctions, and became even more convinced that open bidding help use resources more efficiently.

The hromada received agricultural land outside settlements in June 2018, and Mykola Barduk started preparations for organising a land auction in February 2019. The Zhytomyr Local Government Development Centre, established by the U-LEAD with Europe Programme, helped with all procedural issues.

The procedure for arranging land auctions is known mainly to cities, as in villages and urban settlements auctions were rare. In addition, some hromadas had problems with the formation of lots, since it requires money. At land auctions, actors in this area cover all organisational expenses, therefore, budget funds are not usually spent.

The Vysokivska hromada is unique, because it is one of the smallest hromadas in the oblast – it covers only 5 villages and 2.6 thousand people. But despite such proportions, they implement numerous projects some large hromadas are not able to handle. Besides, it is the only hromada in the Zhytomyr Oblast that does not have a land surveyor. Therefore, the whole process from idea to realisation was managed by the hromada head. The systematic, persistent and business approach yielded its fruit.