Involuntary Resettlement Assessment and Measures

Presidential land is similar to Dekhan land. It was allocated in small plots to private 
households in the late 1990s by Presidential Decree. The essential difference between Dekhan 
and Presidential land is the timing of the decree that released land for small household plots. 
81. 
Reserve Fund land usually includes unused land. It also includes land plots for which 
land use rights have been abandoned. State reserve land is at the disposal of the district 
administrations and is rented out or distributed for individual tilling for agricultural purposes. 
Article 100 of the Land Code says State land stock is reserved for agricultural, industrial, 
transport and other needs of the national economy.
13
 
4.6.2 Eligibility 
82. 
The DPs entitled to compensation or at least rehabilitation provisions under the project 
are (i) all DPs losing land and other assets with legal title/traditional land rights including 
permanent land users of all the types of listed above and lease holders, (ii) any tenants; (iii) 
owners of buildings, crops, plants, or other objects attached to the land; and (iv) DPs losing 
business, income, and salaries. 
83. 
The DPs entitled to compensation or at least rehabilitation provisions under the project 
are (i) all DPs losing land and other assets with legal title/traditional land rights including 
permanent land users of all the types of listed above and lease holders, (ii) tenants; (iii) owners 
of buildings, crops, plants, or other objects attached to the land; and (iv) DPs losing business, 
income, and salaries. 
84. 
Compensation eligibility is limited by an approved cut-off date established at the end of 
the impact survey on 30 November 2009. Copies of published notices of this date are given in 
Appendix 7. DPs who settle in the affected areas after the cut-off date will not be eligible for 
compensation. They, however, will be given sufficient advance notice, requested to vacate 
premises and to dismantle affected structures prior to project implementation. Their dismantled 
structures will not be confiscated and they will not pay any fine or suffer any sanction.  
4.6.3  Compensation Entitlements  
85. 
The DPs in the project are entitled to various types of compensation and resettlement 
assistance to help in restoring their livelihoods to the pre-project levels. The combination of 
compensation measures and resettlement assistance depends on the nature of the lost assets 
and scope of the project’s impact, including the social and economic vulnerability of the affected 
persons. All DPs are eligible for compensation and rehabilitation assistance, irrespective of their 
land ownership status, to ensure that those affected by the project shall be at least as well off, if 
not better off, than they would have been without the Project. The compensation packages shall 
reflect replacement costs for all losses (such as land, crops, trees, structures, businesses, 
incomes, etc.) as detailed below 
•
  Agricultural land impacts. Rehabilitated through the provision of an allowance for loss 
of land-use right additional to standard crop compensation and equal to: 
•
  For permanent land holders: 5 years of yearly gross income of affected annual 
crops land at market rate or 1 year of yearly gross income of affected fruit trees land. 
                                                            
13
 ARD/Checchi Consultants, (2005). Final Report: Legal Infrastructure for a Market Economy Project, translation of 
Land Code of the Republic of Tajikistan 

 
 
 
30 
The same allowance will be provided to all land users permanently affected including 
individual land users, cooperative land users.  
•
  For lease holders: same as above 
 
•
  Residential/commercial land. For holders of land use rights, compensation equivalent 
to the current land lease rate of $0.1 per m
2
 in the Project area multiplied by 25 years will 
be provided. This may be revised during the finalization of the LARP based on the 
outcome of the ongoing efforts to revise the Land Code and development of 
methodology for land valuation.  
 
•
  Houses, buildings and structures. These will be compensated in cash at full 
replacement cost (cost of materials plus cost of labor plus cost of transport of materials) 
free of deductions for depreciation, salvaged materials, and transaction costs 
irrespective of the registration status of the affected item
. 
House compensation is given 
for the entire building both in the case of full and partial impacts.  
 
•
  Crop Losses. Crop compensation will be paid by default to all DPs irrespective of their 
legal status in cash at full market rate for 1 years’ yield. This shall apply whether the land 
is fallow, or in crop. Crop compensation will be paid both to landowners and tenants 
based on their specific agreements. 
 
•
  Loss of Perennial Crops. Reimbursement will be at the full market rate of one year’s 
production, as assessed by the district administration and agreed with the DPs. 
 
•
  Loss of Businesses. If business is lost permanently, it will be compensated in cash 
equal to a 1 year income based on tax declaration or, if unavailable, based on the 
maximum official non-taxable salary; temporary business losses will be compensated in 
cash for the business interruption period based on tax declaration or, if unavailable, 
official minimum salary. 
 
•
  Business workers and employees. Indemnity for lost wages for the period of business 
interruption up to a maximum of 1year. 
 
•
  Severe impact losses. When more than 10% HH income is affected in the case of 
households engaged primarily in agriculture, the DPs (owners, leaseholders, tenants, 
and informal settlers) will receive an allowance for severe impacts equal to the market 
value of a year’s net yield of the land lost, in addition to standard crop compensation.  
 
•
  Agricultural tenants and workers. Tenants will receive their share of harvest at market 
rates (if the impact is temporary) plus 1 additional crop compensation (if the land is lost 
permanently). Agricultural workers, with whose employment will be interrupted, will 
receive an indemnity in cash corresponding to their salary, in cash and in kind, for the 
remaining part of the agricultural year, inclusive of both winter and summer crop. 
 
•
  Relocation Allowances. DPs forced to relocate will receive a relocation subsidy 
sufficient to cover transport costs and living expenses for 3 months at minimum salary. 
This subsidy must be more than sufficient to cover transport costs and the average 
monthly income of an affected HH. 
 

 
 
 
31
•
  Community Structures and Public Assets. These will be fully replaced or rehabilitated 
to achieve their pre-project functions. 
 
•
  Vulnerable DPs.  HHs below the poverty line and women headed HHs will be given 
employment priority during construction of the project, and for road repair and 
maintenance jobs after completion. Additionally, they will be paid contribution equal to 
2 months’ minimum salary. 
 
86. 
The above provisions are summarized below. 
 
Table 4.2: Compensation Entitlements Matrix 
ASSET 
DISPLACED PERSON 
PROPOSED ENTITLEMENTS 
Individual land-use 
rights holder 
An allowance for loss of land use rights in cash equal to 5 years of 
the gross income of the affected annual crops land at market rate or 
to 1 yesr of gross income of affected fruit trees land at market rates.  
Agricultural Land: All 
losses irrespective of 
impact severity
 
Cooperative land holder 
An allowance for loss of land use rights in cash equal to 5 years of 
the gross income of the affected land at market rate 
Residential/ Commercial Land
 
Residential rights holder 
Provision of alternative land or rehabilitation  cash allowance for loss 
of land use rights equal to the current land lease rates multiplied by 
25 years ($2.5 per m
2
) 
Houses and Structures 
 
All relevant DPs.   
•
  Cash compensation at replacement rate for affected structure/other 
fixed assets free of salvageable materials and transaction costs. All 
buildings will be compensated in their entirety  
House/building rent 
Renter/leaseholder 
Rental allowance in the form of 1 to 3 months rent in cash 
Income from Crops 
All DPs  
•
 Crop compensation in cash equal to 1 year of the gross income of 
affected land at market rate. This shall apply whether the land is fallow, 
or under ultivation. 
Income from trees 
All DPs  
•
 Cash compensation for wood trees based on volume of wood 
•
 Cash compensation for productive trees based on the net annual 
harvest from the tree(s) for the number of years taken for 
replacement tree(s) to reach comparable production 
Business or Employment 
loss; temporary or 
permanent  
All DPs  
(including informal 
settlers) 
-Business Owner: Cash compensation for lost income up to 1 year’ (if 
income is permanent) or Cash compensation for the period of business 
interruption ( if the loss is temporary). The compensation iis assessed at 
actual income as per tax declaration or  if taxes have not been paid at 
the maximum non-taxable indome.  
-Permanent worker/employers: Indemnity for lost wages for business 
stoppage of up to 1 year 
Allowance for severe 
impacts (More that 10% of 
income loss) 
All severely DPs  
-Agricultural income: One severe impact allowance equal to the net 
market value  of the harvest from the affected land for 1 year (inclusive of 
winter and summer crop) and in addition to the standard crop 
compensation .
 
Relocation allowance  
All relocated DPs  
Provision of sufficient allowance to cover transport expenses and 
basic livelihood expenses for the transitional period 
Communal/ Public assets 
 
Rehabilitation/substitution in kind or cash at replacement cost of 
affected items and rehabilitation of their functions 
Vulnerable  DPs  
DPs below poverty line 
and households headed 
by women. 
•
  Employment priority in project-related jobs  
•
  Cash contribution equal to 2 month’s official minimum salary. 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
32 
 
4.7 
Approaches and Methodologies for Land Compensation 
4.7.1  Replacement of Affected land with Alternative land 
87. 
The method that exists in Tajikistan for land compensation and for which there is a legal 
basis, is compensation with replacement land, or, land for land. This is the preferred approach 
by the Government especially in cases where there is an available adjoining or nearby land to 
the affected plot. The current practice is to alocate a replacement plot of 800 m
2
 residential land 
to citizens affected by land acquisition especially those who have lost significant portions of their 
plots. For plots used for commercial purposes, replacement plots may be provided proportionate 
to the business requirement of the DP.  In the case of road widening however, most use-rights 
holders lose very narrow strips of land. Practical difficulties therefore arise with regard to re-
allocation of new land. Contiguous plots with the affected land are seldom available, and the 
provision of a small land plot far away from the affected plot may not be economically justified. It 
has also to be noted that the identification of plots available for redistribution and comparable in 
productivity/value to the land lost may be difficult and that the elaboration of a land re-
distribution scheme may be very complicated and costly. This applies not only to agricultural land 
but more generally also to residential/commercial land.  For this Project, households/DPs losing 
substantial portions of their land and who do not have sufficient remaining land to rebuild their 
affected structures will be provided with replacement plots adjacent to or nearby their affected 
plots/structures. Expenses related to relocation of utilities, land clearing, land filling, provision of 
sanitation facilities and land registration will be shouldered by the Project. Households receiving 
replacement plot will still maintain their land use right in the remaining portion of their affected 
plots. In cases where provision of replacement land is impractical for implementation, cash 
compensation will be provided.  
4.7.2  Cash Compensation  
87. 
In Tajikistan there are no explicit legal provisions for the compensation of land rights with 
cash. To compensate land impacts in cash for the project specific arrangements have been 
agreed with the Government. These agreements are supported by precedents for specific 
projects such as the Tajikistan-Afghanistan Border transmission line.  
88. 
In addition and related to the lack of explicit provisions on cash compensation Tajikistan  
laws and by-laws do not provide any legally accepted methodology to value land. The issue is 
particularly relevant for what concerns residential/commercial land which can be technically 
priced only in term of market values. During project preparation several options where 
considered including payng land at tax rates or requesting independednt assessors to devise an 
acceptable valuation methodology. The first option was discarded because it would have not fit 
replacement value; the second was discarded because difficult to apply legally in the context of 
the project. Most of the independent assessors available in the country focus on mass valuation 
for taxation purposes and for the establishment of lease payments. Following is a description of 
the valuation approach to be adopted in the Project for agricultural, residential and commercial 
land.  
4.7.3  Agricultural Land  
89. 
Agricultural land valuation for the Project is based on an assessment of the productivity, 
or income generation capacity of the affected plots. Valuation is done by taking in consideration 

 
 
 
33
the value of the product of the land for a period sufficiently long to guarantee the APs 
rehabilitation. The critical point in determining the period is that the level of compensation must 
be sufficient to re-establish a livelihood. For this LARP, the period selected is 5 years at gross 
market value (inclusive of inputs and labor) of the yearly produce of  annual crops land.
14
 Such 
a formula provides a solid capital that the APs can invest to improve the land remaining to them 
and roughly reflects land replacement cost based on information published on the Internet by 
the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City in 2009 (
www.kansascityfed.org/RegionalAffairs/ 
MainStreet/MSE_0609.pdf
. Regarding orchard land the period selected is given the much 
higher productivity 1 year at gross market value. Based on this valuation approach the average 
value of annual crops land (based on the type and area of affected crop) is TJS2.15/m
2
 (0.48 
$/m
2
). The  average value of orchard land  (based on type and area of trees affected) is instead 
TJS7.16/m
2
 ($1.62/m
2
) 
4.7.4  Residential/Commercial Land  
90. 
The valuation of this type of land presents particular challenges since residential and 
commercial land has no intrinsic productive capacity. Some options like compensating this land 
by valuing it as agricultural land planted with a standard crop and by the replacement value of 
improvements such as house embankment water supply and electricity supply were considered 
but were found not satisfying. As an interim measure, it was agreed with the Land Committee 
that for marginal losses of portions of residential/commercial plots where provisions of 
replacement land will be impractical, cash compensation will be paid based on the current lease 
rate for agricultural land in the Project area amounting to $1,000 per hectare multiplied by 25 
years
15
 or a unit rate of $2.5 per m
2
 subject to acceptability of the DPs during the conduct of 
wide consultations at the district level.  
                                                            
14
 In absence of available market prices for agricultural land, it is difficult to determine whether the land 
use rights allowances actually correspond to land replacement cost, which is the ADB SPS policy 
provision ensuring the DP's rehabilitation. For the project, DP rehabilitation is pursued by providing 5  and 
1 years of income for annual crops land and perennial crops land, respectively. The methodology used 
are based on undiscounted gross income (which with productive expenses estimated at 50% of the land 
annual income is assumed to be the double of the  annual profit). These amounts provide the DPs with a 
capital which can be reinvested on DPs’ remaining land or on other investment opportunities. Considering 
that all DPs will retain most of their plots and that their livelihood is not threatened, this capital is deemed 
sufficient to allow for the full rehabilitation of the agricultural land losses caused by the project.   
15
 The allowances for loss of residential land based on 25 years of rental income. This reflects the 
average rental income period needed to recover the full value of land in most countries of the world. 

 
 
 
34 
 
5.0 INSTITUTIONAL 
ARRANGEMENTS 
 
5.1 General 
91. 
This chapter deals with the various institutions responsible for planning, updating and 
implementing the LARP. The Ministry of Transport and Communication of the Republic of 
Tajikistan (MOTC) will be the Executing Agency (EA) having the lead responsibility for road 
construction, as well as the implementation of this LARP. In addition to MOTC, a number of 
other departments will play an instrumental role in the design, construction and operation of the 
project. The Agency on Land Management, Geography and Cartography is responsible for 
allocation and registration of new land plots, the Ministry of Justice for registration of any 
changes in rights to affected immovable properties, and the MBTI will similarly register any 
changes regarding immovable property and on its physical condition. Representatives of these 
agencies shall also comprise an ad-hoc Committee with representatives of each Rayon (district) 
to define the form and size of compensation to the affected proprietors. The role of each of 
these actors is detailed below. 
 
5.2 
Ministry of Transport and Communication (MOTC) 
92. 
The exiting Project Implementation Unit (PIU) in MOTC will be acting as the PIU for this 
project. The PIU is experienced with handling ADB projects and is staffed with various 
designated engineers who also look after safeguards issues. The PIU has a full time designated 
resettlement specialist who, with assistance from other designated officials as necessary, will be 
overviewing and managing the LAR issues during the further development and the 
implementation of this LARP, including co-ordination of the agencies involved. It is proposed 
that a Safeguards Unit (with staff to be seconded from Land Committee) will be established to 
deal with the updating, finalization, and implementation of the LARP and the LAR issues. 
Capacity building will be provided to the specialists and relevant officials of PIU, on ADB 
Safeguards and especially on the implementation of the LARP. 
 
5.3 
Agency for Land Management, Geodesy and Cartography (ALMGC) 
93.  The ALMGC is the central government body with executive power for land 
management
16
. This Agency, with the state enterprises under it, is responsible to: (i) promote 
and develop unified state policy in land matters, and the management of government land, (ii) 
manage  survey work including land cadastres, geodesy, aerial imagery and topographic 
mapping, (iii) control the use and protection of land, geodesy, and further development of the 
level of government geodetic control, aerial imagery and mapping activities, (iv) undertake 
government activities on land management, land cadastre, geodetic, aerial imagery, mapping, 
(v) coordinate scientific research on the study of natural resources using satellite imagery for 
Government departments; (vi) conduct registration of land use rights and implementation of land 
reform, (vii) undertake surveying and land plot formation activities, (viii) prepare and issue of 
Land Use Right Certificates (LURC)
17
, (viii) register changes of land user, (ix) allocate new land 
plots, (x) acquire land as required for the state, (xi) survey the land plots, the subject of land use 
                                                            
16
 Regulation on Agency on land management, geodesy and cartography under the Government of Republic of 
Tajikistan, approvedd by the Government Decree from December 28 2006, 
№
613.  
17
 
This is a legal document that verifies the title holding of any parcel of land
 

 
 
 
35
rights, (xii) develop projects for allocation of land use rights for non-agricultural needs, (xiii) 
implement land assessment work, soil assessment and economic valuation of land.
18
  
 
5.4 
MBTI under the State Unitary Enterprise Housing and Communal Services  
94.  The State Unitary Enterprise Housing and Communal Services, with the enterprises 
under it are the suppliers of public utilities in Tajikistan,
19
 including 31 Mezhraion (Inter-district) 
Bureaux of Technical Inventory (MBTI). MBTI is established as a self funding enterprise, 
operating at district and city levels. It is mainly in charge of technical inventory of immovable 
property, buildings (houses, constructions, etc). The Government Decree No 513, dated 
30 December 1998 provides the following roles for MBTI: (i) technical inventory of private 
houses and land, buildings, apartments and state companies; (ii) technical inventory and 
valuation of constructions and structures; (iii) technical inventory of the affected assets (iv) 
technical inventory of engineering networks; and (v) register the ownership and preparation of 
an Ownership Certificate of immovable assets. 
 
95. 
Registration of structures and other objects is conducted to establish ownership rights of 
houses, buildings and apartments and their registration in cities and villages. MBTI registers 
immovable properties in a Registration Book, based on land plots, including the following 
information: (i) Date, (ii) Identification Number in the Register, (iii) address of immoveable 
property, (iv) owner’s name, (v) shares, (vi) legal documents, (vii) encumbrances, (viii) signature 
of registering staff member, (ix) remarks. A unique number is applied for buildings and 
apartments based on postal address: (i) District name, (ii) Block Number, (iii) Street name, (iv) 
Building Number, (v) Apartment Number. However, the block is different to that used by the 
ALMGC. MBTI is supposed to update the data about the changes of structure and value of the 
building every three years, mainly for taxation purposes. MBTI offices have specialists in 
architecture and construction for each district.