News on Land

Members of the Bougainville Physical Planning (BPP) Board, under the Department for Lands, Physical Planning, Environment and Conservation, were sworn in on Wednesday, January 27th.

The Board consists of nine new members who pledged their oath and are currently undergoing an induction workshop about the roles and responsibilities of board members.

ABG Minister for Lands, Physical Planning, Environment and Conservation, Robert Hamal Sawa, congratulatedthe new members of the BPP Board but also cautioned them to work within the confines of the BPP Act 2013.

Main Photo: Environmental officials inspect Prey Lang wildlife sanctuary in Sandan district, Kampong Thom province​ on 2020. Environment Ministry

The government has repealed all previously issued letters certifying sales, purchases, transfers, occupation or ownership of any land within the Prey Lang Wildlife Sanctuary.

The decision was made following an investigation into land disputes between 188 families and environmental officials in Kampong Thom province.

A PROPOSAL to introduce a policy to prevent Namibians from owning more than one farm is unlawful and will not be implemented.

This is according to an update report on the implementation of the second national land conference issued by the office of prime minister Saara Kuugongelwa-Amadhila at the end of last year.

The land conference held in 2018 was tasked with reviewing the resolutions of the first national land conference held in 1991 to try and find lasting solutions to Namibia's agricultural and urban land problems.

SINGAPORE - For close to 15 years, an architect and his wife unlawfully occupied 144.2 sq m of state land next to their three-storey house in Jalan Tari Zapin in Seletar, which was built in 2005 but had been left vacant since.

Samuel A. Jinapor is a politician, a dedicated member of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), and a qualified Barrister and Solicitor of the Supreme Court of Ghana.

He graduated from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, with a Bachelor of Science degree in Physics, and specialised in Biomedical Physics.

His intellectual thirst and political aspirations led him to enrol to be trained as a lawyer – a goal he accomplished successfully. Consequently, he was called to the Ghana Bar in 2012.

BAN SABWAI, Thailand (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - For three generations, the family of Suwit Rattanachaisi has farmed a plot of land in a forest in northeastern Thailand’s Chaiyaphum province, growing cassava and maize while living in a modest home a few miles away.

The forest was declared a national park in 1992, and under a forest reclamation law passed in 2014, Suwit and dozens of other farmers from Ban Sabwai village were evicted.

With no other means to make a living, many returned to the Sai Thong National Park.

Lands, Agriculture, Water and Rural Resettlement Minister Dr Anxious Masuka has advised farmers to have a good relationship with banks as Government’s plan to establish Agribank as a land bank is in order and will be complete in the next two months.

Dr Masuka said Agribank will be responsible for investment support and group landing as the Government intensifies commercialisation of the agriculture sector.

He was speaking at Nyamuseve Irrigation scheme in Guruve while touring such schemes and farms in the province on a technical assessment visit.

Ten cases of land disputes that lasted for over 15 years have been solved by the Banteay Srei district administration by understanding and peaceful mean on January 19.

Banteay Srei governor Khim Finan said on 20 January that a land dispute that had gone on for 15 years now had become an impediment to the citizens of the province on both sides of the dispute’s ability to live in safety and harmony in addition to having prevented either party from making productive use of the land.

This month, public sector, private sector and civil society organization partners jointly launched the Accessible Soils And Sustainable Environments (ASASE) project in Ghana. Over the coming four years, this groundbreaking initiative will be working towards an environmentally sustainable future for the cocoa sector, tackling deforestation and working to rehabilitate ageing cocoa farms and restore natural forests.

The Ministry of Land Management, Urban Planning and Construction has reasserted its authority to conduct cadastral surveys of land plots that aim to establish leaseholder rights over state private land.

State private land is legally defined as all property that belongs to the state but does not have a public interest value. This land can be allocated or transferred by the state but it must be listed in the national inventory first.

Please pass this on to any parties who might be interested in Masters-level training on land:

For more information, please consult the brochure included with this posting, or contact Daniel Hayward at: mekonglandforum@gmail.com  

Want to work in Development?

PETALING JAYA: Two top government officials have explained why the government has been provided emergency powers for access to private land, building or movable property and resources while dealing with the Covid-19 pandemic.