Kyrgyzstan's new land resolution No. 509 may raise subsoil users' costs several times

Kyrgyzstan's Cabinet of Ministers has adopted Resolution No. 509, which changes how compensation is calculated when farmland is allocated for subsoil use and other non-agricultural purposes. Akylbek Maralbayev, director general of the Union of Legal Entities Union of Subsoil Users, said base rates remain unchanged, but a coefficient of 99 now applies instead of 49, raising the calculation by about 102%.

In preliminary estimates, a 100-hectare plot of high-mountain pastures could cost 18–30 million soms or more, compared with 2.5–4 million soms under the previous rules. The rules cover construction, infrastructure and energy companies as well as mining firms.

Maralbayev warned that higher upfront costs could reduce spending on geological exploration, a high-risk activity, since only a few of every hundred exploration licences reach extraction. Small exploration companies and quarry operators producing construction materials are the most vulnerable, though he said not every project would necessarily become unprofitable.