Property Rights and Land Titling Project, Lao PDR

The Project is going through a very busy period (has it ever been otherwise?), with training for new staff in the existing 9 Project provinces (following major staff losses since the move of the Department of Lands from the Ministry of Finance to the National Land Management Authority in 2006) nearing completion, and training for new systematic adjudication teams starting in Bokeo, Oudomsay and Luang Namtha this week. Following training, systematic adjudication will commence in these provinces in the new year. The next two provinces (Attapeu and Xekong) will receive training later this year, and the final three provinces will come on board in February 2008.

In a country where there are 29 agencies involved in property valuation (and as many valuation systems used), the establishment of the Property Valuation Staff (PVS) is a landmark initiative towards a single and unified valuation system and authority. The PVS, which is currently housed at the Bureau of Local Government Finance (BLGF), was established on 30 August 2007 by Secretary Margarito Teves of the Department of Finance (DOF) through Department Order 34-07.

As mentioned in Newsletter No 9, LEI was successful in its bid to undertake the Policy Studies Component of the Palestinian National Authority’s Land Administration Project. After some delay created by the general strike by Palestinian Authority employees over the non-payment of their salaries (due to the freezing of funds following the election success of the Hamas Islamic Party in March 2006) the inception period finally kicked off in January 2007.

LEI have been supporting the University of Canberra to provide training and work experience in Australia to a group of valuers from the Bureau of Local Governance and Finance, Philippines.

PROVIDING A SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT AND GENDER FRAMEWORK FOR LAMP2

We indicated in the December 2006 Newsletter that a key issue in our project was the establishment of the National Land Management Authority (NLMA).

In the last newsletter in Project Opportunities we flagged that LEI had tendered for projects in Dubai and Vanuatu. It is pleasing to be able to report that LEI was successful in winning both these projects. The awarding of the Land Registration Project in Dubai resulted in much frantic preparation over the Christmas period by Chris Lunnay and a number of the consultants.

All involved on the Lao project continue to be kept on their toes as a number of strategic initiatives are developed within the Lao government that could have an impact on a number of project activities. The creation of the National Land Management Agency’s clearly back on the government agenda. This is creating some uncertainty for staff of the Department of Lands as decisions are made on the composition and tasks of the new agency.