Arctic Hectare and Far Eastern Investment

The upper chamber of the Russian parliament has okayed the bill authorizing the regional governments of the Russian Arctic to transfer ownership of land plots sized up to 1 hectare (about 2.5 acres) to any national of the Russian Federation willing to settle and/or launch a business project in the country’s High North as part of the program known as the Arctic Hectare. The bill is similar to the US Land Endowment Act (aka Homestead Act of 1862). It has to be signed into law by President Putin, which is expected to happen in the near future.

The Republic of Karelia, one of constituent territorial entities of Russia located in the High North, has already allocated more than 420,000 hectares of land for the purposes of the mentioned Arctic Hectare program. As other Russia’s Arctic regions, it is getting ready for the start of the program scheduled for 1 August this year.

Vice-Premier for the Russian Far East and the Arctic Yuri Trutnev shared recent data regarding the inflow of investment to the Far Eastern regions of Russia, including certain Arctic ones. According to him, in recent years, more than 1.8 trillion rubles were invested into their economy owing to the mechanisms of support instituted by the federal government. This resulted in creation of nearly 75,000 jobs and establishment of more than 400 new companies. The federal government believes that in the coming years the investment will reach some 9 trillion rubles, and 192,000 new jobs will be created along with more than 2,000 new businesses.