The Ministry of Land Management, Urban Planning and Construction on Tuesday said 550 officials in inter-ministerial groups are set to implement a land registration plan in Mondulkiri province.

The announcement came at a meeting chaired by Minister Chea Sophara and attended by Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Veng Sakhon, Minister of Environment Say Sam Al, and Mondulkiri provincial governor Svay Sam Eang.

“Roughly 300 officials were from the Ministry of Land Management’s measuring team, 50 from the agriculture ministry and about 200 from the environment ministry,” a press release said.

The press release said teams will use T300 Plus GNSS high-precision land surveying instruments to capture data from satellites.

State land will be measured and registered according to the land boundaries of the ministries of Agriculture, and Environment, the local authorities occupying State land.

“The working groups will measure and collect data on occupied land near a State-owned property and villages of indigenous communities, and will tackle land disputes and support land-use planning in the province,” the press release said.

Mondulkiri deputy governor and provincial hall spokesman Cheak Mengheang said the meeting set out several mechanisms, including the implementation of land registration for the people and preparation plans.

“The plan set out by Sophara is to implement this work from tomorrow, while spending 18 days to collect data and determining the identity of certain residents,” he said.

Mengheang said the work of the local group is to collect data and identify people before handing over the results to the national working group to decide on land allocation or settlement.

Sakhon was quoted as saying that the meeting discussed finding a clear and accurate solution.

“According to a series of studies by the Forestry Administration, trespassing on forest land continues because people lack land for cultivation and expansion of housing. These factors have affected the State’s forest land,” he said.

Adhoc Mondulkiri provincial coordinator Eang Mengly said most land disputes in the province were caused by large companies with investment rights and ties to powerful officials.

“Law enforcement must apply to individuals and authorities. Let there be no discrimination. If there is, it means our country has a problem concerning corrupt officials,” he said.