Amendments to the Forest Code introduced by chairman of the Russian State Duma Committee on Natural Resources and Wildlife Management Natalia Komarova will make life easier for mushroom gatherers and geologists.
Photo: Vasily Shaposhnikov
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Duma Tightens Up Forest Sales Rules
The Russian State Duma has passed the first reading of amendments to the Forest Code. The amendments are mainly in response to the scandal surrounding the sale of forest land along the prestigious Rublevo-Uspenskoe Highway outside Moscow. The amendments prohibit the understatement of the price of a forest plot at auction, set new deadlines on auctions and prohibit renters of forest land from hindering public access to the land. The amendments were introduced by a group of legislators led by chairman of the Duma Natural Resources Committee Natalia Komarova.
At the beginning of this year, the federal state agency Zvenigorod District Forestry and then the Rosprirodnadzor supervisory agency petitioned the court to annul the results of auctions near the village of Rublevka, outside Moscow. There, the Eko Vest company, which belongs to Roman Abramovich, purchased a 397-ha. plot at an auction with a starting price of 605 rubles per 100 sq. m., while the market value of the land was $10,000-15,000 per 100 sq. m. In addition, the Otradnoe horse club bought 29 ha. for 1.95 million rubles, actress Yulia Rutberg bought 20 100-sq. m. lots for 8938 rubles and president of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs Alexander Shokhin bought 2 ha. for 153,600 rubles. The Moscow District Forestry won the suits initially, but prime minister Viktor Zubkov intervened. Head of the Moscow District Forestry Sergey Sopin lost his job.
Other amendments concern land access and use, especially the conversion of forest land into gardens or dacha lots. Surgutneftegaz pressed for an amendment on the use of lumber from trees felled in the course of geological exploration, which is state property. Lobbyists are expected to attempt to weaken various provisions of the amendments before their next reading.
www.kommersant.com
All the Article in Russian as of June 09, 2008
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