Adolat party drafts bill aiming to shield public education and healthcare lands from private sale

The Adolat Social Democratic Party is currently formulating legislation designed to safeguard state-owned educational and medical facilities, along with their associated land parcels, from private sale, privatization, or transfer.

According to party representatives, these assets are crucial for meeting the needs of Uzbekistan's expanding population and must therefore remain exclusively under state control. They emphasized the pressing and increasing need for additional schools and kindergartens throughout the country.

Adolat pointed out that while public lands designated for recreation, culture, and community services are already protected by similar legal provisions, properties belonging to educational and healthcare institutions currently lack such safeguards against privatization.

To illustrate the problem, the party referenced several notable land transactions. For instance, in 2020, land associated with School No. 243 in Tashkent was sold to a private company without a public auction. More recently, the grounds of the former Borovsky Medical College and the Nizami National Pedagogical University were put up for sale on an electronic auction platform.

In addition to implementing a broad prohibition on future sales, the proposed bill mandates a thorough inventory of all lands and facilities that have been removed from the balance sheets of schools and hospitals in recent years. Adolat is calling for prompt legal action to address any discrepancies discovered during this process.

Moreover, the party suggests strengthening state supervision over public assets that were previously sold under investment agreements. The legislation seeks to revise legal frameworks to ensure that these properties are promptly returned to state ownership if purchasers fail to fulfill their investment obligations or unlawfully change the facility's original public function.