Large queue for Grozny’s building boom

Chechen authorities try to stop increasing social tension over housing issue.
After the second military campaign in Chechnya, the capital was so badly damaged, the issue of its relocation was raised.

According to official accounts, from 1995 to 2001 about 39,000 apartments and more than 17,000 private houses were destroyed in Grozny. The main issue for many inhabitants of the republic remains one of the most acute and hard-to-solve - housing. For a long time no attention was paid to this problem, which brought with it a chronic deficit of accommodation. But then the regional authorities set themselves the task of providing every needy inhabitant of Grozny with his own home.

Last year in the Chechen capital, 15 residential tower blocks were built. There are plans to realise in the coming years an ambitious “Affordable Dwelling” project, which will see the construction of new micro-districts. This project will see the rebuilding of the central part of the city.

New apartments are mainly handed out to people who lost their homes during the two Chechen wars, as well as to badly-off families, disabled people, World War Two veterans and the families of police killed in the line of duty.

Financial crisis.

The global financial crisis saw the freezing of construction projects all over the world. Grozny was no exception. Last year, one of the largest construction projects, that would have seen 300 more flats built, was frozen, despite the major part of the work having been completed.

There are some 12,000 families in need of housing in Grozny alone. While some of these are staying with relatives of friends in cramped conditions, around a third of these families have nowhere to stay at all.

Negative fund.

The Chechen authorities recently had a chance to halt the rise of social tensions in connection with the housing problem. According to employees of local legal firms, this was made possible by the so-called fund of rejected housing. From 1992-1997 many residents who left the republic received compensation in their new place of residence for the loss of their homes and property. After this, their homes were transferred to the state. After repairs were carried out, these “rejected homes” were given to the needy. However, not all those people who left Chechnya applied for compensation, many simply sold their homes. These apartments and private houses are now occupied by people with the necessary ownership documents. This has led to confusion as to the status of the people living there, a problem which has seen the courts clogged up with cases, the rulings on which often leading to conflict.

Mortgages.

In spite of Chechnya’s need for housing, banks aren’t exactly hurrying to the republic. President Dmitry Medvedev mentioned the need for a widening of the mortgage market back when he was still first deputy prime minister. Medvedev said that banks with proven track records in providing mortgages should be more active in Chechnya. But little has been done, even though many residents of Chechnya are crying out for mortgages.

Plenty of land, but no money

Due to the war, a high level of internal migration was seen in Chechnya. Resident of rural areas who had lost their homes moved to the cities. Everyone wanted housing in urban areas. And so the Chechen president ordered the head of regions to bring people back to their official places of residence and begin rebuilding projects, starting with housing for the newly homeless. At the time though, local authorities were only able to provide the needy with plots of land, there were no funds for anything else. So people have to live for years in shacks.

Disgruntled local residents would like the authorities to turn their attention to building more homes, “even at the expense of state institutions.”

Timur Utsaev, Grozny. Exclusively for VK.