Land Privatization and Enterprises in Georgia

An American attorney directing a U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) program supporting privatization of urban and industrial land in Georgia since autumn 1997 describes the procedure whereby previously privatized enterprises can acquire the land beneath and surrounding those enterprises. This program, incorporating experience derived in commercial land privatization elsewhere in the former USSR and designed to emphasize transparency and minimize fees and paperwork, is compared with alternative approaches utilized in other republics. A procedure whereby enterprises not meeting land privatization criteria may lease land from the state, and whereby local authorities may sell vacant land, also is described. Journal of Economic Literature, Classification Numbers: D23, R33, R52. 20 references.