On July 21, based on the presidential instructions, PM Abdulla Aripov received the participants of the conflict situation arising from the sale of apartments to citizens in multi-storey buildings being built by “Aziya Invest Favorit” LLC in Tashkent.

At the mobile reception, detailed information was given about the work being carried out by the Government commission formed to study and solve this issue.

“You know, I have issued an order based on your requests. I was away for 4 days due to a “business trip”. I made a commission under the leadership of my deputy Ramatov. There are representatives from all official agencies of the Ministry of Justice, Finance, and Construction.

Let’s talk about one thing first. None of you were led by the government to buy a house here, right?! That man is buying land and building, he is an entrepreneur. He hasn’t escaped anywhere; we haven’t arrested him. If you riot, we will detain him, he won’t be able to pay the money he took from you, and he won’t finish the house construction. You need a home, right?!

We will solve everything legally. I promise in front of all of you. I am 62, I was born in Tashkent, no one can accuse me of lying both in Uzbekistan and abroad.

Our honorable President sent me to you. Not only we – the prime minister, the city prosecutor, the first deputy minister of construction, etc., but also the President are standing behind you. So don’t be afraid. I will sit with you separately and talk one by one and we will solve everything,” the prime minister said.

He then offered solutions to the petitioners.

“But I don’t promise you that I will solve it in three days, a week or a month. We will find a solution to all the problems gradually. You will not be ignored. Citizens who have paid for the house, we will either return the money they paid or we will build a house.

Those who paid 50% of the house price will be refunded. Additional payment will be considered. If building materials become more expensive and prices are indexed, then you will pay for the house at the indexed value. Those who have paid seventy to eighty percent will also pay the remaining amount in the same manner.

We will bring in another builder. The current builder cannot build these houses. Those who paid one hundred percent for the house will be collected the money from the builder’s account. Other builders calculate their costs and issue a price after completing the construction of the houses. He will be compensated differently for what he has done. We will not make a single profit from you. I promise that. That is why the President sent me to you to explain,” the head of the government said.

The government commission investigated the conflict situation arising from the sale of apartments to citizens in multi-storey buildings being built by “Aziya Invest Favorit” LLC on Izzat Street, Yashnabad district.

The following was suggested to the prime minister by the commission on solving the problematic issues that arose as a result of the housing dispute between the contracting organization and citizens:

Regarding 4 houses under construction:

• According to the agreement with commercial banks for 652 apartments transferred to the banks’ balance sheets based on court decisions and settlement agreements, ensuring the formalization of these apartments under the name of citizens at the expense of replacing the credit provision with assets belonging to the contracting organization and identified during the investigation (227.8 billion soums).

• Completion of the construction works of 4 unfinished multi-storey buildings under the supervision of the Government Commission at the expense of the proceeds from the sale of other property of the contracting organization (16 billion soums) and the final payments to be paid by the citizens (27 billion soums) in a short period of time, and issuing the cadastral documents to the citizens.

Regarding the illegal housing construction project where money was collected from citizens:

Option 1: according to the results of the investigation, as an exception, without waiting for the court decision, according to the preliminary calculations received from the citizens, a total of 161.7 billion soums will be covered by the sale of other assets of the contracting organization.

Option 2:

1) Adopting a government decision to return 4.5 hectares of land belonging to “Tashkent City Water Supply” LLC to the city administration and sell it through a separate auction, if funds are not received by the majority of citizens.

2) Competent new contracting organization will purchase the land area through a closed auction and implement the construction of 25 16-story housing units with 2,000 apartments based on the project proposal prepared by the Ministry of Construction and Utilities and other similar proposals.

Prime Minister’s press secretary Bekzod Khidoyatov informed that the next meeting with the petitioners will be held in August.

The press secretary of the Prime Minister said that the proposals developed by the government commission will be reviewed by Abdulla Aripov within two weeks and an appropriate decision will be made based on the result.

“At the end of the reception, it was said that the next final meeting with them will be held in the first ten days of August this year,” he said on his Telegram channel.

On July 6, a group of citizens who signed a contract with “Aziya Invest Favorit” LLC on the purchase of apartments in multi-story buildings planned to be built on Izzat street, Yashnabad district of Tashkent city, appealed to Kun.uz and complained that despite the passage of more than a year and a half, the construction work has not yet started.

In addition, video appeals of a group of citizens were posted on the YouTube platform, and videos showing controversial disputes between buyers and employees of the construction company were distributed on Telegram channels.

According to a Kun.uz source in the prosecutor’s office, the damage caused to citizens by the officials of “Aziya Invest Favorit” LLC exceeds 300 billion soums. On this fact, a criminal case was initiated under Article 168-4 of the Criminal Code.

In their appeals to the editorial office, the defrauded citizens wrote that the builders did not intend to build houses since beginning, they set the lowest price per square meter of the houses in the capital, thereby trapping many people, law enforcement agencies ignored this fraud scheme and the complaints sent long ago.

Following the article published on Kun.uz, on July 6, it became known that the relevant order of the Cabinet of Ministers was immediately established; a government commission was formed to study the problems of citizens who were deceived and to prepare proposals aimed at eliminating them.

Achilbay Ramatov, Deputy PM, was appointed as the chairman of the commission, which was formed in order to quickly solve the problematic issues that have arisen between “Aziya Invest Favorit” LLC and the citizens, and to put the housing construction into full, high-quality and speedy completion.