President signs law on eliminating obstacles to implementation of land reclamation reform

President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy signed a law that takes into account changes that pave the way for the full implementation of the land reclamation system management reform through water user organizations, the State Agency of Ukraine for the Development of Land Reclamation, Fisheries and Food Programs reported.

"The document regulates the issue of VAT taxation of transactions on the transfer of land reclamation systems to water user organizations. This decision simplifies the implementation of the land reclamation reform and comes into force on October 1, 2025, providing land users with the opportunity to effectively manage engineering infrastructure facilities, attract investments and grant resources for their modernization, and introduce energy and water-saving technologies," the agency noted.

The State Fisheries Agency recalled that during 2022-2025, as part of the reform, 67 water user organizations were created in 14 regions: Vinnytsia, Volyn, Dnipropetrovsk, Zhytomyr, Kyiv, Kirovohrad, Mykolaiv, Odesa, Poltava, Rivne, Kharkiv, Kherson, Cherkasy and Chernihiv. Of these, 56 organizations operate in the irrigation zone, 11 in the drainage zone.

Currently, 24 water user organizations have developed land management documentation, identified the territories of land reclamation networks and entered the relevant information into the State Land Cadaster. This gives them grounds to acquire ownership of engineering infrastructure facilities of land reclamation systems.

Four water user organizations have already acquired ownership of the relevant facilities: Voda Zhyttia, Schedra Zemlia, Kvituchi Lany and Persha Kiliyska.