MOSCOW, September 18. /TASS/. The Far Eastern and Arctic Hectare incentives are in high demand, thus it is important the program will be effective in the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Region's Berezovsky and Beloyarsk Districts, recently incorporated into the Arctic Zone, Yulia Tishchenko of the Far East and Arctic Development Corporation said.

"This year, we have seen an increase in applications and contracts [under the Far Eastern and Arctic Hectare Program] by almost 35%, which proves the program is in demand," she told the State Duma committee on the Far East and the Arctic development. "Thus, the initiative to expand it to new territories of the Arctic Zone is timely, and we are grateful to the committee for it."

Over the program's eight years, the number of participating districts has doubled - from 9 to 18, she continued. More than 140,000 people have participated in the program, and more than 92,000 hectares of land have been allocated for free. "I would like to highlight the main thing - the transformation, where people may receive a second hectare, if the first one is mastered <…> and also a new provision under which a person, facing difficulties with development of a land plot, now has the right to refuse once and still to retain the right to receive a new one," she said.

According to Larisa Shanaurina, director of the region's Economic Development Department, new investments will come to the Berezovsky and Beloyarsk Districts as the Hectare Program has been expanded there. The population in those two districts is about 50,000 people. "The Beloyarsk and Berezovsky Districts are <...> a very large territory, the population density is low, about 68 people per 1 sq. km, <...> the natural increase is small, with a natural decrease [of the population] in some areas," she added.

The Far Eastern Hectare state program started in 2016. Since 2021, the program has been extended to the Arctic Zone and some territories in the North and Siberia (Arctic Hectare). Under the program, people may obtain land for free and farm on it, build a house, or develop tourism.