10% of Nation's Territory Still Without Owner
November 1 was 20 years to the day since Parliament passed the Land Reform Act, which facilitated the re-privatization of property after the Soviet regime collapsed.
The legislation's main goal was to give property back to those who had owned it in the first republic of Estonia, but had been stripped of their land by Soviet authorities, and to ensure the efficient usage of state land resources.
As of October 1, about 34 percent of Estonia's territory had been returned to former property owners and legal heirs. Another 23 percent of the nation's territory has been privatized, and 33 percent has remained in the possession of the state. A mere 0.8 percent is in the hands of municipal governments.
The remaining 10 percent of Estonia's territory, half of which will stay in state ownership, has yet to be entered into land cadaster. Most of that land accounts for dilapidated or overgrown properties, conservation areas and forest.
Ott Tammik