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

Attachment 72.3.2. Enforcement Unit (Land Dispute Management)The role of the Enforcement Unit is to deal with compliance matters and addresscases where there are breaches of lease conditions.The Enforcement Unit presently has a staff of 1 official. This person is expected tooversee compliance on a large number of land matters in the Ministry of Lands.Enforcement, or the lack of it, is a major issue in relation to the control ofdevelopment activities in Vanuatu. It is clear that one staff member is insufficient toundertake a compliance and enforcement role in relation to land matters and as aresult many enforcement issues remain unaddressed or are never identified.2.3.3. Valuation UnitThe Valuation Unit provides, upon request, the valuation of property for the purposeof land rent, compensation for properties, sale of properties and for statutorypurposes. It also provides assessment of rates for taxing purposes especially forthe two municipalities.There are many issues that need to be addressed in the Land Registry Office, mostof which are common to land registration agencies that are under staffed and underfunded. As well as the administrative and procedural issues there is also the issueof document storage and preservation of records. There is no backup system forany of the land records – leases, mortgages etc. which means that if there is a fireor a natural disaster that has an impact on the registry office building then there is avery good chance that many if not all the land records will be destroyed.2.3.4. Land Tribunal OfficeThe objectives of the Land Tribunal Office are: To survey and register customary land boundaries; To register customary land; To resolve land disputes and to determine ownership of land through outVanuatu; To facilitate villagers and chiefs to set up land tribunal courts; To establish land tribunal administration and policies.The organisational structure for the DOLSR approved in December 2004 did notinclude approval in the proposed structure to support customary land activities. Astructure for the Customary Lands Unit was approved in March 2006 and is shownin Figure 3. It was reported that the current reporting arrangement for the LandTribunal Office is inappropriate and needs to be reviewed.