Developing land administration in Cambodia

Abstract

Presently, Cambodia struggles with an ineffective land administration. The enormity of land problems and the insecurity of tenure is a concrete obstacle, for up to 90% of the population. The government has no means of land management through the existing land register at its disposal. The creation of a clear land policy and a land management system are seen as crucial steps towards restoring law and order. In terms of land register performance, a training program is recommended as a short-term solution to improvement. The systematic registration is presented as a long-term solution to the clarification of the situation on land and to the introduction of the security of tenure. The developed method for systematic land registration in rural Cambodia consists of six parts: public information, adjudication, demarcation, surveying, documentation and appeal. The area by area, parcel by parcel and one parcel–one visit principles are applied. The 2 years' test results are encouraging. The method works well, problems are rare and the desire for secured land titles, among the landholders, is high. The main hindrance is represented by the ambiguous legislation. The estimated cost of the first registration with the method is about 15 US$ per parcel including aerial photography, orthophoto production, systematic registration and title issurance. The evaluation demonstrated that the method is capable of facilitating the general objectives of land registration. It strongly promotes the strategic goals of the Finnish development co-operation.