Stadium in Buynaksk: between the right of ownership and the right of children to sports

Buinaksk city stadium has not received such "glory" for a long time, as this month. No, there were no competitions that attracted attention - the topic is much more minor: the sports facility is in a deplorable state so necessary for citizens. And two eternal Russian questions arise: “Who is to blame?” and “What to do?”.

What the residents say

“Our children need a stadium, not ruins” – in early October, the network appeared the appeal of caring residents of Buynaksk to the authorities with such a headline. In it, they ask the new leadership of the republic to pay attention to the long-standing problem - the depressing state of the city stadium Temirkhan-Shura (formerly Spartak).

Citizens note that in Buynaksk, where about 70 thousand people live, children do not have the opportunity to fully engage in football in a normal stadium. Formally, the sports facility exists, but its current state does not suit the locals. Parents and coaches dream of a modern stadium with a good football field and coverage for sports, equipped stands, lighting, landscaped surrounding territory.

“For children, it is not just a sporting object. This is a place where they could train, play for the teams of their city, participate in competitions and spend their free time with benefit.

In the meantime, due to the lack of conditions at the stadium, parents are forced to independently pay for the rent of venues or send their children to train in other cities. And such expenses are an additional burden on the family budget.

Stadium history

Let's go back 70 years. At the end of 1956, the executive committee of the Buynak Council of Workers' Deputies transferred the city stadium with all its buildings to the balance of the trade union sports society "Pishchevik", which united workers of the food industry of the Dagestan ASSR. At the same time, the leadership of the sports society pledged to carry out “the necessary work on the completion and equipment of the stadium” within the next year. Subsequently, the stadium was given the name of another trade union sports society - "Spartak".

After the collapse of the USSR, in 1992, the stadium from the all-union trade union organization was transferred to the Confederation of Trade Unions of Dagestan, the Federation of Trade Unions of the Republic (FP RD) told.

The ownership of the stadium with an area of 410.59 square meters was registered in December 2011 - the entry was entered in the Unified State Register of Real Estate. In the same year, the head of the Department of Property and Land Relations (PIZO) Buynakska Magomedbekov in his letter to the Association of Trade Unions of the Republic of Tajikistan confirmed that the Temirkhan-Shura stadium located on Magomedrasul Alkhlaev Street is not listed in the register of municipal property.

The stadium has not been privatized by the unions, but has been owned by them since 1956. All these years, the stadium served the residents: the union, having the opportunity to rent it privately and close it to the public, did not do this, but provided it to city institutions and the administration of the Buynak district for training and competitions. It is open to everyone and today: any citizen can freely use it, as before, the Federation of Trade Unions of the Republic of Tajikistan notes.

What the unions say

So why hasn't the stadium been renovated yet? The Federation of Trade Unions is convinced that the main obstacle is the position of the Buynaksk administration. The fact is that trade unions do not have their own funds to modernize the stands, lighting and infrastructure. The stadium needs investments for maintenance and development, but it is impossible to attract them without decorated land under the construction.

“Without the right to land, it is impossible even to obtain a permit for reconstruction from the city administration. At the same time, and now, without any reconstruction, the stadium for training and competitions continues to use both the city administration and the administration of the Buynak district, the Federation said.

Since 2017, Dagestan’s trade unions have been seeking land leases under the stadium. In that year, the RD Arbitration Court granted the claim of the republican union of trade union organizations and declared illegal the inaction of the Buynaksk pre-trial detention center, expressed in the failure to take a decision on the preliminary approval of the provision of a land plot under the stadium to the applicant, and obliged the administration to take a corresponding decision. The court concluded that the inaction of the pre-trial detention facility violates the rights and interests of the owner of the stadium, who has the right to purchase a plot necessary for the use of his real estate without bidding.

The court of first instance ordered the Buynaksk pre-trial detention center to take a decision on the application of the union of trade union organizations on the preliminary approval of the provision of the site. Attempts to appeal this decision were unsuccessful: the position of the Arbitration of Dagestan was supported by the Sixteenth Arbitration Court of Appeal and the Arbitration Court of the North Caucasus District.

In 2024, the administration of Buynaksk preliminarily agreed to the Dagestan Union of Trade Union Organizations granting ownership of a plot of 21,810 square meters for the operation of the Temirkhan-Shura stadium - a decree was signed by the then acting head of the city Shamil Isayev. However, according to the Federation of Trade Unions, in 2026 the city hall refused to provide land. Now a new dispute is being considered by the Arbitration Court of Dagestan.

“The stadium will remain a sports facility — there will be no other destination. But it takes money to maintain it. After the registration of the land, there will be an opportunity to attract an operator or investor for the reconstruction of the field, stands and lighting. We are open to partnership with the city, the district and private investors, the FP RD stressed.

When funding sources for the facility are identified, the Federation promises to assign free hours of classes to children's sports schools, sections and the city football team in the renovated stadium.

What City Hall Says

The administration of Buynaksk, commenting on the situation around the city stadium, confirms that the court recognized the ownership of the object for the Dagestan Union of Trade Union Organizations.

At the same time, the mayor’s office states that the courts fully agreed with the legal position of the city’s leadership: the transferring party (the Federation of Independent Trade Unions of Russia) made a deal to transfer the object in 2007, without having property rights to it. The only reason why the deal was not declared illegal was to miss the statute of limitations, authorities say.

Also, the administration of Buynaksk refers to the documents of the archive fund, which, as reported, “objectively testify to the fact that the stadium was historically in state ownership, and after the delimitation of powers – in municipal ownership.”.

For example, the decree of the head of the administration dated 02.03.1999 on the formation of the municipal institution "Buynak" sports club - the Temirkhan-Shura stadium is mentioned, which, as the mayor's office said, "confirms the fact of the sole disposal of the object by the municipality.".

In connection with the exhaustion of civil legal mechanisms to protect the property rights of the municipality, the administration initiated a check of the legality of the procedure for the transfer of the object, sending an appeal to the prosecutor's office of the city (...). The administration of the city district keeps this situation under special control and takes all measures provided for by law to protect municipal interests, the statement said.

P.S.

The problem of land and property relations is one of the most acute and systemic for Dagestan. Questions in this area have been accumulating like a snowball for decades, and now significant forces of the republican authorities are thrown to solve them.

Of course, the residents of Buynaksk, and even more so their children, do not care much who owns the stadium, who owns the plot under it. While the unions prove their right to land in arbitrations, and the mayor’s office is looking for “guilty” in the archives and the prosecutor’s office – residents want to have a landscaped playground where children could race the ball on the field, and parents, grandparents support them in the stands.

I would like to believe that legal formalities and many years of bureaucratic delays will be resolved, and interested structures will jointly give the citizens a modern landscaped stadium.