Treasury land sales as a solution to the budget deficit!
The Treasury has generated 6 billion dollars in revenue from public land sales over 10 years. CHP Bolu Deputy and member of the Industry and Trade Commission, Türker Ateş, stated, "Revenue from both plot and land sales has exceeded 1 billion dollars each. For the last 10 years, the state has become the biggest real estate agent."
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CHP Bolu Deputy and member of the Industry and Trade Commission, Türker Ateş, has compiled the balance sheet of real estate sold by the Treasury over the last 10 years. Stating that the Treasury generated 6 billion dollars in revenue from real estate sales between 2013 and 2023, Ateş said, "The highest revenue was generated from the sale of 2/B lands, totaling 3 billion dollars. Revenue from both plot and land sales has exceeded 1 billion dollars each. For the last 10 years, the state has become the biggest real estate agent."
Pointing out that the public sector started 2024 with a rapid pace in real estate sales, Ateş added, "As budget deficits grow, the sale of Treasury lands will unfortunately accelerate. At today's exchange rate, the total value of public real estate disposed of in the last 10 years is 180 billion liras."
"THE COUNTRY'S VALUABLE AREAS OPENED TO ZONING AND RENT-SEEKING"
Noting that half of the revenue obtained came from 2/B sales, Ateş said, "The regulation known in the public as 2/B was enacted in 2012, and according to our calculations based on data from the Ministry of Treasury and Finance, a total of 3 billion dollars in revenue has been generated from 2/B sales since 2013. The country's very valuable areas were opened to zoning and rent-seeking on the grounds that they had lost their forest status."
PLOT SALES IN TOURISM CITIES
Reminding that this week, 73 plots of land, mostly located in Turkey's most important tourism cities and currently under the use of TEDAŞ and TEİAŞ, were included in the scope of sales, Ateş noted that approximately 6 million square meters of forest area were removed from forest boundaries by Presidential Decree.
Ateş stated, "Since 2013, 1 billion 111 million dollars in revenue has been generated from plot sales, and 1 billion 82 million dollars from land sales. 240 million dollars worth of agricultural land belonging to the Treasury was sold. The revenue obtained from these sales could not be transferred to productive areas. It was squandered due to the government's policies of waste."