Govt aims to issue 220,000 land titles by end of 2023

In the remaining two months of this year, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment plans to register and issue 220,000 land titles, amounting to 55 percent of the number stated in the plan for the whole of 2023.
Over the last 10 months, only 110,262 plots of land were registered and land titles issued, accounting for just 27.50 percent of the target of 400,000 plots set for 2023.

Ms Bounkham Vorachit addresses the National Assembly.

In the first half of the plan for 2021-2025, some 335,455 land titles were issued, accounting for 21 percent of the number targeted in the 5-year plan.
The figures were reported by the Minister of Natural Resources and Environment, Ms Bounkham Vorachit, when addressing the 6th Ordinary Session of the National Assembly on Monday.
Ms Bounkham said the government, local government agencies and the social sector had been working hard to overcome the obstacles in the process of land title registration, especially with regard to forested land.
Ministry officials will advise people living in remote areas on ways to cooperate in land title registration, and will work with local government bodies to complete land title registration and register changes in land use rights from the provincial to the district level.
The minister said some plots of land had been surveyed and measured and officials are now waiting for proof and approval as required under the environmental and social impact assessment to be provided by the donor.
The ministry has assessed more than 3 million land plots across the country, of which 1.5 million have been registered, while the remaining 1.6 million are expected to be completed by 2025.
However, there are many problems in this work, the minister noted.
Most of the land plots for which titles have not yet been issued are in areas of construction and agricultural land in the suburbs and rural areas.
Many of these are large and in remote areas, making surveys difficult, time-consuming, and involving calling people for interview before land titles can be issued.
In addition, some forested land cannot be registered to people. Some 3,167 villages containing 683,620 plots of land require surveys, measurements, and inquiries about land use rights for residence and production. This will take a long time and it will be costly to allocate and register land titles.
“The problem is still the lack of an adequate budget to carry out this work. Although there are projects and funds provided through international aid, the difficult conditions we face cause delays and slowed work in 2023,” Ms Bounkham said.
“The state budget we received for this year was approved late and during the rainy season. We did not have enough equipment or vehicles, and a limited number of staff were available for this work at the local level,” she added.
“Another problem is that there is often no land allocation plan at the village level and people in some areas do not cooperate.”

BySomsack Pongkhao
 (Latest Update November 9, 2023)