The World Bank says it wants to spearhead efforts to support the government’s ambitious land-reform plans. Bonaventure Mbida-Essama, bank’s country representative, said Wednesday that the bank will help Cambodia raise $500,000 from donors toward the preparation of a comprehensive land management and administration project.
“The government and donors have a full agreement on the importance of land reform,” said Mbida-Essama. He noted a bank’s mission on land issues last month found land reform urgent, given the rising trend in land disputes and landlessness. According to the Ministry of Land Management and Construction, the government has proposed a 10-year, $100 million land project that would include the mapping and registering of every piece of land on a national land title registry. A pilot project on mapping properties already is under way.
