New Technology for a New Century
International Conference 
FIG Working Week 2001, Seoul, Korea 6–11 May 2001

Abstracts

REFORMING LAND REGISTRATION IN CAMBODIA

LOR Davuth and SUON Sopha, Cambodia

Key words: Land problems, State Reform, Legal Reform, Systematic Land Registration.


Abstract

It is overwhelmingly clear that the overriding problem and the one with a high contribution to poverty in Cambodia is lack of land tenure security and restricted access to common property resources. Symptoms of the problem are clear from the rising number of landless due to forced or distressed sales and the high numbers of land disputes clogging the judicial and other institutions for resolving land conflicts.

The Royal Government of Cambodia (RGC) has embarked on a State Reform agenda that impacts on the land sector. The State Reform objectives are sustainable economic and social development, poverty reduction and good governance, and land reform is seen as an important means of achieving those objectives.

The draft new Land Law, which is a legal framework for land management and land administration, is now discussed in the National Assembly. Meanwhile, Ministry of Land Management Urban Planning and Construction (MLMUPC) is preparing several sub-decrees that will complement the revised Land Law and once the law (probably in July 2001) is passed the work on sub- decrees will be accelerated. On June 1999 a National Commission for Resolving Land Issues and Provincial Land Dispute Resolution Commission have been established. They are charged with the responsibility for setting up effective mechanism for resolving lands conflicts out of court. On March 2000 the sub-decree on the procedure of establishing Cadastral index map and land register has been adopted.

The German Government through the GTZ and the Finnish Government are supporting Cambodia in the comprehensive reform of Systematic and Sporadic Land registration. Methods are being developed, professional capacities strengthened and projects implemented in five provinces. Based on the positive experiences and results of Bilateral Technical Cooperation provided by the German and Finnish side we are currently collaborating with the World Bank for Financial Cooperation to formulate a comprehensive land policy framework and to formulate a National program for Systematic Land Registration. The pressing related to land have been identified and the prioritized areas to be focused on and addressed immediately are (i) land administration, (ii) land management and (iii) land distribution.


CONTACT

LOR Davuth
Director of Technical Department
Ministry of Land Management Urban Planning and Construction of the Kingdom of Cambodia
P.O. Box 2291
Phnom Penh 3
Tel. + 855 23 213 817
Email: gtz.ltd@bigpond.com.kh 

SUON Sopha
Deputy Director of Land Administration Department
Ministry of Land Management Urban Planning and Construction of the Kingdom of Cambodia
Tel/fax. + 855 23 216 245
Email: Sopha@forum.org.kh 

10 April 2001


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