Author(s): YeÅim ALÄ°EFENDÄ°OÄLU
Land acquisition and expropriation are required in urban areas for projects such as transport, dams, creek bed rehabilitation, and urban transformation and renewal. Land acquisition and expropriation costs in projects constructed with such purposes as drinking, irrigation, and usage water, power generation and flood control are considered an investment expense that takes a significant share from the total project cost and for the sheer reason of land acquisition for investment, completion of construction works and transition to operation period are delayed significantly. There are many reasons for the slow pace of expropriation works including structural reasons, legal and institutional deficiencies, and approaches of owners and other stakeholders to the subject matter. The transactions that affect feasibility and particularly investment costs directly are led by real estate valuation and other costs related to land acquisition. In valuation works, the variation of appraisal methods according to types and sorts of real estate instead of real equivalency or fair market value and the values of real estate appreciated based on costs that remain lower than the market values make it difficult to acquire the real property through reconciliation with the owners in many projects. In this study, real estate acquisition and valuation studies and their results were analyzed in the Hasankeyf District where urban-side expropriation and resettlement works were carried out under the Ilisu Dam and Hydroelectric Power Plant Project. A total of 17,886 hectares of land (16,782 parcels) within the 318.5 km2 reservoir of the dam that spans over the boundaries five provinces will be expropriated. In this context, 746 parcel units in 2 neighborhoods (Bahcelievler and Kale) in the District are required to be expropriated and in this study, all the standard data that may be essential to appreciate the values of the real estate in question have been determined. It has been determined based on the research results that there is harmony between the appreciated values and the values in expert reports received by courts of real estate of land characteristics in urban areas to a great extend while the appreciated values of land plots close to cities are lower than owner expectations and court judgements. Similarly, it has been observed that there is a 2-3 times difference between the cost-based values and the values appreciated through rental income and naturally, the practical results of Law No. 2942 that envisages cost-based valuation are far from being satisfactory for owners. Parallel to the results of many similar studies, the results of the field study establish that there is a requirement to reconsider the functioning of expropriation processes and that valuation and compensation payment approaches that are in conformity with the international standards should be integrated into domestic legislation
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