3 2.3.3 Case study three: Sadyk Azimov Street On 27 March 2018, the then hokim of Tashkent, Rakhmanbek Usmanov, issued decree no. 488.122 It allocates 2.1 hectares of land in the centre of the city to a company called Training Project LLC. The plot of land is located between passages 2, 3 and 5 of Sadyk Azimov Street. The decision states that residential and non-residential buildings should be demolished for the construction of a multi-storey residential and commercial building, providing that Training Project LLC reimburses the owners of the existing properties. In total, 84 residential buildings and seven non-residential buildings were on the land plot allocated to Training Project LLC. In a series of open letters and news articles, residents affected by the proposal claimed that decree no. 488 was illegal, arguing that where land is already occupied an application for a land plot should be refused by the municipal authorities.123 In support of their claim, the residents referenced Cabinet of Ministers decree no. 54. According to paragraph 8 of article 12: ‘In cases where an application is received from legal entities and individuals for the provision of land plots occupied by buildings and structures, the rights to which are registered for other individuals and legal entities in an order established by law, the applicant is sent a notice of the impossibility of providing the requested land plot, with an offer to independently purchase the real estate from the owners or other options to choose free land plots.’124 Furthermore, residents who were prepared to negotiate with the developer claim that the compensation levels proposed were not adequate and negotiations were conducted under threat of forced eviction.125 A False Sense of Legality 45