The government is in the process of calculating compensation for people who will have to sacrifice their rights to land in and around That Luang marsh, which is to be developed into a new urban area, according to a developer.
The government plans to reclaim some 1,600 hectares in the area for a Lao-Chinese joint venture to begin developing business centres and an industrial zone at the end of this year.
Director of the State Land Development Enterprise, Mr Phoumy Vongleck, whose company will join with a Chinese partner to develop the area into a town similar to Suzhou Industrial Park in China, said yesterday that the compensation of people who own the right to use the land in the planned development area would be based on guidelines approved by the Prime Minister.
Standing Deputy Prime Minister Somsavat Lengsavad said on Monday that the Prime Minister had approved the guidelines with four measures to compensate land occupiers around That Luang marsh.
The first category relates to people who have the right to a plot of land in the That Luang marsh and surrounding area, complete with a land title and some form of development. The government will compensate these occupiers for giving up their right to use the land, as well rights to property such as buildings, plantations and income earned from the land.
“For example, if you grow rice, officials will estimate the value of the average yearly rice yield and compensate accordingly,” Mr Somsavat said at a press conference on Monday.
He said the government would only offer reasonable compensation, rather than the amount being demanded by land users.
The second category involves compensation for those who occupy land in the That Luang marsh and surrounding area illegally but have been developing the land; the government will compensate the land occupier only for the loss of buildings and crops.
“In this case, the government is being reasonable, because this land usage right in reality belongs to the state in the first place,” Mr Somsavat said. “The government wants to help those people who have been making an effort to develop state land.”
He explained that the same situation would not occur in foreign countries, where the government would simply fine people found to be occupying state land illegally. He added that the Lao government was a people's government, and would not follow the example of foreign countries.
The third kind of compensation is for those carrying titles to land in the area, but who have not carried out any development work for three years. In this case, the government will only compensate for their right to use the land.
The fourth category is for those people who occupy land but have no legal title and have not developed the land in any way. Such people will receive no compensation from the government once they are moved.
Mr Somsavat said the country's laws did not allow people to sell land; rather, citizens were allowed to use the land and transfer their right to do so. Under these laws, the government has the right to retake the land when it wants to use it for development purposes.
Mr Phoumy said that legal land occupiers would be compensated differently depending on whether their land was near or far from a road or urban area, adding that land occupiers near urban areas would receive a higher level of compensation.
