4 4.7 populations may have informal claims to the land, care should be exercised to clarify if indigenous claims to lands identified for housing infrastructure exist – and whether any individuals use the land to gain a livelihood – before a decision is made to determine where infrastructure should be built. The series of steps set out are intended to mitigate impacts on rural communities. When building their infrastructure in accordance with the ESMF, the rural telecommunications service providers are expected to make a long-term lease contract on a commercial basis with willing land owners/occupants. The procedures require verification of all land leases being carried out with appropriate arrangements and on a commercial basis, without coercion or under duress, and with no legacy issues in any land transactions. If land markets are underdeveloped in the pilot area, as will be the case for most pilot sites, the lease fees should be set at a price that will be broadly sufficient to cover the long-term livelihood loss as a result of the leasing. 503 The project will not ask the Government to acquire land by exercising its power of eminent domain, nor will the Government be asked to move people involuntarily. The rural telecommunications service providers will be expected to put in place feedback mechanisms to handle grievances and compliance will be monitored by the World Bank task team. Land Policy Framework Reform of land policy and law in Myanmar remains incomplete. The current land regime is characterised by a patchwork of new and old laws that often leads to overlap, contradiction and confusion for current and prospective owners and users. Moreover, the land registration system is considered inefficient and insufficient, with complex requirements and lack of benefits for registering land. 504 The cadastral (land mapping) system is outdated, which further exacerbates land disputes, as land classifications and mapping used by different Government ministries may overlap nor reflect current land use patterns. Land in Myanmar is classified into several different categories, including Freehold Land, Grant Land, Reserved Forest Land, Farmland, Grazing Land, Religious Land, among others. This means for example that a plot of land may be classified on maps as Reserved Forest land, when in fact the land may now be used as farmland, without a change in the classification. 505 As a result, land tenure rights – the right to use, control, or transfer land 506 – are often insecure, posing a major problem. The new land laws 507 do not sufficiently recognise customary land rights or the rights of informal land occupiers or users who lack formal documentation of their ‘usufruct’ rights (i.e. individual rights to use and enjoy the property of another). 508 Experts have recommended that the Government formally recognise customary law for land use rights and provide mechanisms for communal ownership of land to ensure inter alia ethnic 503 Ibid. 504 OECD, “OECD Investment Policy Reviews: Myanmar 2014” (March 2014), pg 108. Food Security Working Group’s Land Core Group, “Legal Review of Recently Enacted Farmland Law and Vacant, Fallow and Virgin Lands Management Law”, (Nov. 2012), pg. 7-10. 506 FAO “What is land tenure” (last accessed September 2015). 507 Myanmar Vacant, Fallow and Virgin Lands Management Law (2012) and Farmland Law (2012). See for further description, Land Core Group, “Legal Review of Recently Enacted Farmland Law and Vacant, Fallow and Virgin Lands Management Law” (Nov. 2012). 508 “…the written and unwritten rules which have developed from the customs and traditions of communities…” Ibid. pg. 15-16. 505 212 PAGE CHAPTER 4.7: LAND