PETROZAVODSK, May 18. /TASS/. Karelia plans to begin the Arctic Hectare program in August, 2021. The region has allocated 21,000 hectares of land plots, press service of the regional legislative authority said.

"The region has put together a pool of land plots, which takes 21,000 hectares in the Arctic districts," the press service said. "The program’s implementation is planned from August 1."

According to Deputy Leonid Liminchuk, the region has received more than 120 applications for obtaining a free land plot in Karelia’s Arctic districts (six municipalities: Belomorsky, Loukhsky, Kemsky, Kalevalsky, Segezhsky and city Kostomuksha). The applicants plan to use the plots to build houses or to start businesses there.

In April, the Russian government presented to the State Duma a bill to extend the Far East Hectare Program for the Arctic territories as well as to offer anther hectare in the Far East to those who have developed the first plot of one hectare.

The Far East Hectare Program offers to every Russian citizen a right to obtain for free a one-hectare plot in the Far East. People may choose plots depending on their purposes: those could be plots of 0.1 hectare for a small house or, for example, 10 hectares for a farm or a recreation project. Within the first year, a user must specify the purpose, in three years - declare use of the plot. By the end of five years, a user may register the ownership for free or may formalize a long-term rent.