Minister of Land Management, Urban Planning and Construction Chea Sophara issued a press release following a meeting with UN human rights monitor Rhona Smith, saying that 74 per cent of the Kingdom’s land had been registered, with the remaining 26 per cent scheduled to be complete by 2021.
The announcement was made on Tuesday, a few hours after Sophara, who is also a deputy prime minister met with Smith, the UN Human Rights Council’s (UNHRC) Special Rapporteur for Cambodia, at the ministry to discuss human rights and particularly land-related issues.
The press release obtained by The Post on Wednesday said the ministry had registered 5.2 million parcels of land, 74 per cent of Cambodia’s estimated seven million plots.
Solutions to 2,000 ongoing cases
It said the ministry had registered the land of 24 indigenous people’s communities and solved 8,062 land disputes. It is seeking solutions to 2,000 ongoing cases.
At the meeting, Sophara told Smith that the ministry would speed up the registration of the remaining indigenous people’s community land and continue to work on fulfilling Cambodia’s obligations in relation to the Sustainable Development Goals.
It also committed to supporting Kampong Chhnang Provincial Hall as it prepares to relocate floating villages, cooperating in the improvement of the Kingdom’s urbanisation framework and organising the upcoming national urban forum.
Completion by 2021
Smith wrote on Facebook that she has seen the progress made in solving land issues since her last visit to Cambodia and that she had also discussed ongoing land disputes at the meeting with Sophara.
“We also discussed the Ministry of Land Management, Urban Planning and Construction’s work on urban planning and its efforts to implement the Sustainable Development Goals were also highlighted,” Smith wrote.
Ministry spokesman Seng Lot said the ministry had set a goal of completing land registration by 2021.
He said the ministry had not encountered any problems in implementing the plan. It had already achieved a great deal and was committed to reaching the target.
“We already have procedures in place, nothing is new or unclear. We are still tackling this task and our team has made a lot of progress. We now also have modern measuring equipment to facilitate the work,” Lot said.
At the meeting, Sophara told Smith about the government’s achievements regarding housing in addition to revising the process of registering indigenous communities’ land in a bid to speed up the process.
They also discussed the relocation of residents of floating villages in Kampong Chhnang province and common guidelines to solve land disputes.
