Vanuatu Review of National Land Legislation, Policy and ... - AusAID

should be their responsibility, such as zoning plans, development controls andmanaging orderly development.6.2.4. Municipal and Provincial GovernmentCapacity building for urban planning and management needs to take place atcentral government and municipality/provincial government. Roles and responsibilities of the Physical Planning Unit andmunicipalities/provincial government need to be reviewed and revised toavoid duplication and delegation of inappropriate responsibilities. Internal organisation of the Physical Planning Unit andmunicipalities/provinces and their internal relationships needs to bereviewed and revised.Staff of the Physical Planning Unit and municipalities/provinces involvedin urban planning activities need to receive appropriate training.7. REFORMS NECESSARY TO IMPLEMENT THE NATIONALLAND SUMMIT RESOLUTIONS - ACTION MATRIXThe resolutions adopted by the National Land Summit cover a broad range of landissues. The Council of Ministers has shown a commitment to progress theresolutions by appointing the Steering Committee to manage and provide oversightfor the preparation of a proposal to be submitted to the Government.The National Land Summit resolutions have been adopted and used as a basis forthe preparation of an action matrix which summaries the actions that need to betaken to address each of the resolutions and provides an indication of whetherpolicy, legislative or administrative reform is required. See Attachment 8 for theAction Matrix. Attachment 9 gives an indication of the legislative reforms whichcould be needed to implement the resolutions.The action matrix does not provided detail on all the actions that need to beundertaken but highlights what are considered to be the main actions. As anexample administrative reforms, capacity building and developing sustainability areactions required to support most of the resolutions but these have not been includedin the action matrix as they will need to be part of an overall package of support thatneeds to be provided in developing the land administration functions in Vanuatu.The following is a summary of the key actions that are covered in the Action Matrixunder each of the categories in the resolutions.7.1. Land OwnershipThere continues to be much confusion in relation to the interpretation of Article 73 ofthe Constitution and the term “custom owner” and the intent of the constitution. Thisneeds to be clarified and would be done so in a National Land Law which has beenallowed for under Article 76 of the Constitution but which has never been drafted.35