Govt vows to solve land-grab issues within next 12 months

Minister of Agriculture and Irrigation Myint Hlaing vowed to tackle the growing pile of complaints from farmers and others over confiscation of land by the military, and public and private developers. Driving the confiscations is the value of land, which has rocketed in many areas since the government began its reform process in 2008  and opened the country to foreign investment.

 “There are 565 complaint letters related to [land confiscated by] the Ministry of Defence and 63 complaint letters for land taken for the expansion of urban areas and industrial zones. Farmland has also been confiscated, after the government allowed privatisation of agricultural and animal husbandry projects. There are also 117 complaint letters over land confiscated for the expansion of railways, motorways and airports as well as the construction of state-owned factories and workshops. 

A total of 745 cases on land-confiscation have occurred [under this government]. The Farmland Management Committee and government organisations from respective states and regions have to solve these issues,” said Myint Hlaing.

He added that government members would discuss taking action against private companies and persons who had obtained vast tracts of virgin land from the government but had not yet put it to any use.

The Minister of Defence told parliament in July that the military would return over 7,300 hectares (18,000 acres) of confiscated farmland to its original owners.