In the construction sector of Uzbekistan, a standard for the number of workers needed for the construction of certain buildings will be introduced - Deputy Prime Minister

To legalize jobs in the construction industry, from April 1, 2024, it is planned to introduce a standard for the number of workers needed for the construction of certain facilities, said Deputy Prime Minister Jamshid Kuchkarov. According to him, at the first stage this will affect construction financed by the state budget.

Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Economy and Finance of Uzbekistan Jamshid Kuchkarov, at a meeting of the Senate of the Oliy Majlis on December 20, spoke about how it is planned to legalize jobs in the construction sector, a Gazeta.uz correspondent reports.

According to him, over 11 months, 520 thousand jobs have been legalized in the country, that is, workers have become payers of personal income tax (NDFL). He noted that the largest number of hidden jobs are in the areas of construction, trade, including catering and services.

In addition to the legalization of workers, there are problems with the employment contract and qualification requirements for workers, he said. As Kuchkarov previously noted, to whitewash the informal economy, together with the Presidential Administration, a draft resolution of the head of state has been prepared, which is in the final stages of approval.

According to the document, he said, from April 1, 2024, a «standard for indicating the number of workers required» for the construction of a particular facility will be introduced. At the first stage, the requirement will apply only to facilities constructed at the expense of budget funds.

«Companies are building very large projects, but they only have four people on staff. It is impossible for four people to build such multi-story buildings. Therefore, we will introduce this standard [on the number of required workers] during the construction of facilities financed from the budget, » said Jamshid Kuchkarov.

In addition, a standard on the number of workers with confirmed qualifications will be gradually introduced, which will also first affect facilities with budgetary funding. “For example, when building a school, according to building codes, one foreman, one concrete worker, four bricklaying [masters], and four finishing specialists are required. That is, we will introduce a requirement for the number of workers with confirmed qualifications,” said the Deputy Prime Minister.

Jamshid Kuchkarov noted that the Ministry of Employment and Poverty Reduction is now developing requirements for various qualifications. «They need to be approved, and then exams must be held. Now we cannot immediately approve everyone’s qualifications; there is no such possibility, » he said.

The head of the Ministry of Economy and Finance said that the Ministry of Employment, together with assistant khokims, conducted a door-to-door survey in the Samarkand region to determine the real number of unemployed people and those in need of social assistance.

«It became known that according to official statistics, the number of unemployed people in this area is 10 thousand, but after a door-to-door visit there were 3000 of them. Why? Because someone works unofficially as a builder, another works unofficially in a store, and so on. In a word, this is a very big and complex problem, » the Deputy Prime Minister emphasized.

In June 2022, the Tax Committee announced a tax evasion scheme in the construction industry. These include concealing the real number of employees, the actual volume of work performed, artificially inflating costs, and others.

Source:https://www.gazeta.uz/ru/2023/12/20/legalization/?utm_source=push&utm_medium=telegram