Tajikistan simplified the process of obtaining a construction license

The authorities of Tajikistan have simplified the process of registering documents granting the right to construction activity in the country.

According to a report on the website of the service for licensing urban-planning activity of the committee for architecture and construction under the government of the RT, documents can now be registered in electronic form.

Natural and legal persons can register their documents on the website www.kifs.tj.

«This initiative was implemented on the basis of the instructions and directives of the country’s president, which were announced at a meeting  of the government of Tajikistan on expanding the process of digitalization», - the report notes.

Only the affluent can build

Earlier the capital’s authorities took steps to tighten the requirements for developers in order to protect the interests of shareholders and owners, as well as to prevent the artificial protraction of construction work.

The new procedure, approved by the Main Department of Architecture and Urban Planning of Dushanbe, includes checking whether the developer has tax debts, the provision of technical-economic indicators, and obligations to keep funds in a separate bank account.

The developer must document the existence of a bank account holding no less than 20% of the total cost of the property being built. 

On the list of requirements - a letter of guarantee that funds in the amount of no less than 5% of the cost of the construction property are placed in a separate bank account.

The funds from this account, which to a certain extent are supposed to guarantee the developers’ financial soundness, they do not have the right to use.

Moreover, the opening of a separate settlement account in systemically important banks for collecting the funds of shareholders is required.

Such banks are determined annually by the National Bank of Tajikistan. At present they include: «Amonatbank», «Orienbank» and «Eskhata Bank». 

Companies that will be engaged in construction for the first time can erect only one building, while only  «experienced companies with a modern material and technical base (an annual turnover of no less than 50 million somoni)» are allowed to construct complexes of buildings. 

The conditions for recognizing a construction company as «problematic» were also defined, which include starting construction work without the mandatory payments, violating construction norms, the arbitrary construction of additional premises and a non-design floor, as well as a delay in commissioning construction properties by more than six months.

Some independent specialists welcomed the new requirements for developers, except for the privileges for large companies. 

«The new conditions that developers will have to adhere to are on the whole good and have long been called for, since anyone who feels like it takes on construction without having sufficient money», - believes economist Sohib Nazirov.

However, he added, giving priority to companies whose annual turnover is no less than 50 million somoni ($4.8 million) could lead to the monopolization of the market, since only a few can put up such a large sum by Tajik standards. 

And there are more and more new developments

A boom in the construction of new housing is underway in Tajikistan. 

According to the statistics agency of the RT, in  2022 residential buildings with a total area of 1701.5 thousand sq. m were put into operation in Tajikistan, which is 119% compared to the previous year.

That an apartment in a new development has a number of indisputable advantages is, perhaps, obvious.

Living in a new, modern building is more pleasant: well-maintained yards and entrances, well-thought-out layouts, clean finishing, new communication systems, reliability and a long service life of the building.

However, when buying an apartment appears in one’s plans, yet another question arises: buy an apartment in a completed new development or in one still under construction?

Source: ASIA-Plus