Property Rights & Land Titling Project, Lao PDR.

In previous newsletters we have reported on the major expansion program the TA team is supporting here. It is only ten months before the end of TA inputs for Phase 2 and yet the project is increasing in size – we have just added five provinces, taking us to 14 provinces where systematic adjudication is supported. And of course the Department of Lands must also build capacity within five additional provincial land offices to support the flow of subsequent registrations that are expected after the public education program. But that is not all … we are currently in the middle of the World Bank, AusAID and GTZ assessment of the project, where we expect the go-ahead to be given to the expansion into the remaining three provinces, commencing in a few months!

The project is about to celebrate the first anniversary of its transfer to NLMA. OK, so maybe celebrate is the wrong word,as it has been quite a transition to the new institutional arrangements, with winners and losers. The higher status within government that flows from now being part of the Prime Minister’s Office also brings increased exposure, accountability and expectations. The current plans could see the project expand beyond its traditional urban and peri-urban and surrounding agricultural land into more remote rural villages, with the expectation also that communal land titles will soon start to be issued.

The last few months have seen other massive changes, as policy developed under the previous administration has been substantially rewritten. Advisers on the project were comfortable with the 10-year old practice of recording mortgages, leases and other under-rights on the reverse side of the land title, but these are now to be recorded chronologically in a registration book. If you think that sounds like a partial relapse into a general registry of deeds, you may be right. One of the interesting features of life in Laos is the telephone hotline to the National Assembly, where members of the public can report grievances and generally complain about day-to-day life. In today’s newspaper, we have complaints about the wrong use of official power, the implementation of the law being ineffective because some officials feel they can violate the laws with impunity, court judgments being influenced by bribery, university students wearing inappropriate clothing, poor roads, compulsory motorcycle helmets and the risk tokids of video games. An interesting list of complaints in a controlled newspaper! Another interesting feature of life in Laos is the impact of the growth of geographic neighbours and the pressure this is placing on land. The demands for food, mining and agricultural products in China, Thailand and Vietnam are placing unprecedented pressure on the land resource in Laos. Massive concessions are being granted to foreign investors, sometimes without due process or consultation with affected land users. In recent times, land registered under the project has been expropriated and villagers resettled, raising new safeguard issues in our project. In a 1,600-hectare concession currently under discussion, land in the heart of Vientiane may be assigned to Chinese investors for the construction of housing for prospective Chinese residents. No complaints in the hotline article in today’s newspaper! And without doubt, land – access, tenure security, expropriation, resettlement, use, management, impact on environment -is the hot topic in Laos at the moment!

We continue the comings and goings of our international advisers. Kate Dalrymple spent 2 months with us in July-September; Daniel Carter left us in September to spend time in LAMP although he will return for a month in January 08; Liz Mann joined us for a very intensive and productive nine weeks of field research and training; our new Organizational Development Adviser spent 6 weeks assessing the new institutional arrangements; our veteran adviser David McDowell will leave us in February 08 to join LAMP for 3 months. So what is next for the Lao project? We are coming to the business end of Phase 2, where the impact and achievements of our inputs will be assessed and decisions must be made about extensions and new phases. The current donor evaluation in December 2007 will give us some guidance and we anticipate a small extension of TA subject to many conditions –including an intensive period of inputs before the next mission in June 2008!! P

rovided by Steve McFadzean