CHANGES IN LANDHOLDING STRUCTURE AND LAND USE RESULTING FROM THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE “RAIL BALTICA” LAND ACQUISITION FOR PUBLIC NEEDS PROJECT IN MARIJAMPOLĖ MUNICIPALITY

Abstract

This article analyses changes in the structure and use of land holdings in Marijampolė Municipality during the implementation of the European-scale railway project “Rail Baltica”. At the beginning of the study, an analysis of the territory of Marijampolė Municipality was carried out by assessing the distribution of land parcels and cadastral areas involved in the project, as well as the structure of land use. It was established that the project is implemented predominantly in agricultural areas; therefore, its greatest impact falls on agrarian land use. For a more detailed analysis, the Baraginė cadastral area was selected, where 251 land parcels involved in the project were examined. It was found that 240 of these parcels were subdivided, and a significant proportion of the remaining parcels after partial land acquisition are smaller than 1 ha. In order to assess the scale of fragmentation, a comparison of the Baraginė and Netičkampis cadastral areas was carried out, showing that landholding fragmentation is greater in the territory of Baraginė. The results of the study indicate that the resulting landholding structure provides grounds for assessing the possibilities of applying land consolidation as one of the potential measures for rationalising the structure of land parcels and improving land-use efficiency in the study area.