Improving tenure security for the urban poor in Phnom Penh, Cambodia: an analytical case study

Abstract

In its effort to fight poverty, the Royal Government of Cambodia has emphasised the importance of providing land titles to its population. This aim has been widely supported both financially and technically by the World Bank and German Technical Assistance (GTZ) as well as foreign governments such as Finland. The World Bank's Regional Land Policy Workshop in Asia held in Phnom Penh in April 2002 1 1 Minister's speech, April 2002. sought to kick off the process of a country-wide land titling programme which also covers Phnom Penh city. Even though this heavily budgeted project looks set to produce more than a million 2 2 The total target of land titles to be issued is varied from one executive year to another, i.e., 12,000 in 2002, 102,000 in 2003, 192,000 in 2004, 300,000 in 2005, 330,000 in 2006, and only 66,000 in 2007 (The World Bank, 2002, p. 43). land titles within approximately 5 years, it will face many difficulties and challenges related to land tenure due to overlapping claims and border demarcation disputes. This paper addresses the types of land tenure existing in Phnom Penh which will present problems to the land titling programme and suggests that an alternative approach may be preferable. It is based on a field survey of households in a range of informal and formal low-income settlements of 10 areas in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. It also involved interviews with a number of key stakeholders in government agencies, the private sector, NGOs and representatives of international agencies. A total of 700 householders were interviewed and an additional 70 informal case studies were completed to obtain qualitative information to complement the quantitative data obtained through the survey.