Skopje, 21st December 2013 (MIA) – At today’s open session, the Government accepted the proposal of the Ministry of Finance and the Property and Legal Affairs Office for extension of the deadline for submission of applications for privatization of courtyards.
According to Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, Zoran Stavreski, the deadline will be extended for nine months, starting January 2014, i.e. it will be extended for nine months following the entry into force of the Law.
Hence, the citizens, who due to various reasons did not manage to submit applications for privatization of courtyards, are given the possibility to do so. To submit the applications and to be able to purchase the courtyards. Deadline for privatization of courtyards expired at the end of 2011, it was then extended for one year, i.e. by December 2012.
– This is really the last chance, because nobody will have objective arguments afterwards to require further extension of the deadline. Those who will not privatize the land following the expiry of this deadline will have to conclude a lease agreement. Lease fee will be determined, 20% out of which will be allocated to the budget, and 80% will be allocated to the municipality where the land is located, Stavreski explained.
The project, according to him, aroused great interest of the citizens in the Republic of Macedonia.
– Total of 162.024 applications for privatization of courtyards were submitted in the period from the announcement of the project, September 2009, up to the deadline for submission of the applications, by 31st December 2012, alone. Since the beginning, i.e. from 2005, total of 233,971 applications were submitted. Hence, more than two thirds of the applications were submitted in the last two years alone, i.e. when we announced that courtyards could be purchased at the price of EUR 1 per square meter. It was the right move to make, which aroused the interest of the citizens to purchase the courtyards, Stavreski explained.
Property and Legal Affairs Office, he went on, decided upon 136,670 applications adopting effective decisions, 99,277 applications are still in procedure, i.e. necessary documentation was completed and the Office staff decides upon these cases.
Director of the Property and Legal Affairs Office, Zoran Krstanoski, said that around 1,970 cases were submitted following the expiry of the deadline.
– Much of the citizens just contacted the Property and Legal Affairs Office whether they can submit applications, however, they did not submit any applications after being said that the deadline expired. I am confident that they will contact us again and, according to my assessment, around additional 10,000 applications will be submitted, Krstanoski said.