Prime Minister Bouasone Bouphavanh announced yesterday that his government would stop approving land concessions for investors on an indefinite basis, or until a more comprehensive strategy could be devised.

Mr Bouasone explained at the national land meeting that the government would stop approving land concessions for both local and foreign investors involving land of 100 hectares or more for industrial tree plantations, perennial plants and mining.

“We are calling a halt to these projects to improve our strategy and address the shortcomings of our previous strategy,” he said.

The governor of Borikhamxay province, Mr Khampane Philavong, expressed concern that this measure would impact foreign investment in Laos , but the Prime Minister urged those at the meeting to clarify the matter to potential investors so that they understood the objectives.

Mr Bouasone said there had been many problems regarding land management recently, which was why the government was calling a halt to allow some time for better planning.

“We don't yet know when we will resume approval of these projects, as this will depend on whether we can improve our strategy,” he said.

“Investors can continue sending project proposals to us, but will have to wait for us to revise our planning system.”

He added that investors wanting to plant saplings to supply to villagers or conduct trial plantations could still obtain a concession on areas of less than 100 hectares, with the approval of provincial authorities.

Mr Bouasone emphasised that his government would strongly promote the “2+3” policy - which divided benefits between investors and villagers - to ensure that all investment projects had the potential to benefit local people.

He added that officials should carry out surveys of soil grade and topography to determine the most suitable areas for tree plantations and other crops, before investments could be approved, to avoid negative consequences.

Previously, once an agreement was signed for industrial tree plantations, investors would start cutting down trees straight away, but this was something that had to change, Mr Bouasone said. Officials should first carry out proper surveys to determine how many hectares of the land were owned by locals, or lay in protected or watershed areas, and report the findings to the government for consideration.

“These problems were caused by deficiencies in our strategy, and we will now review our regulations that are incompatible with the country's land laws,” he said.

Mr Bouasone cited the examples of Lao-ngam district in Saravan province and Bachieng district in Champassak province, both in the Bolaven Plateau, that had been plagued by land conservation disputes, and had high-quality soil that would be suitable for crops other than just rubber.

“We can generate a lot of money from the plateau, if only we diversify from rubber tree plantations, for which we only get five or six dollars per hectare in land tax. This doesn't add up to much over a year,” he said.

“We also need to start calculating in detail how much villagers will actually earn from rubber plantations.”

The Prime Minister said that some projects that had been approved had involved cutting down natural forests, which were deteriorating all over the country.

He gave the example of a photo he once saw of a coconut tree plantation in Borikhamxay province, for which investors had cut down large areas of natural forest.

“We should consider the value of natural forests in balance with the value of plantations,” he said. “This is something we need to look at more in developing our strategy.”

By VIENTIANE TIMES