LAMP Final Report To MoAI Ver - 5 April AplNw1K

TERMINAL REPORT

REPORT FOR MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE AND IRRIGATION
AND DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURAL LAND MANAGEMENT
AND STATISTICS

31 March 2016

LAND ADMINISTRATION AND MANAGEMENT PROGRAM

The map above shows an index map over Thayarwaddy Township used to control the preparation
of rural cadastral maps (Kwin maps). Most Kwin maps have been hand drawn and kept up to date
by hand. However, there is growing use of digital mapping and GIS technology which provides for
greater ease of update and higher precision. The area shown in red was the area of the first two
Kwin Maps updated in the LAMP pilot study.

INSIDE COVER
LAMP Terminal Report to MoAI, 31 March 2016
Prepared by UN‐Habitat

PROJECT INFORMATION AND RESOURCES

Project title: Land Administration and Management Programme (LAMP)
Implementing Partner(s) and DALMS (MoAI) and UN‐Habitat

local Partner(s)

Project Starting date Project completion date
Originally planned Actual Originally planned Actual
1st September, 2012 2nd October, 2012 31 August, 2014 29th February, 2016

Original Total Budget Revised Approved Budget (US$)
US $ 1,963,332 US $ 2,329,736

Acknowledgements
The team leader of the TA Team wishes to express his sincere appreciation of the UN‐Habitat members
of the TA Team who worked so effectively for the LAMP project and who believed that LAMP was
more than just pilot testing a bunch of technology but rather, is the start of major reform of land
administration. The friendships and motivation of all staff is commended.
The support of UN‐Habitat Myanmar office led by Bijay Karmacharya and ably supported by Jessie
Khin Khin Win and Denzil Abel is much appreciated.
The support of DALMS staff led by the Director General, Deputy Director General, Directors, Regional
Heads, District Heads, Director CLRDTC and Townships Staff Officers and staff is acknowledged as
contributing greatly to a fast and deep appreciation of the situation which allowed the TA Team to
apply innovations to the real problems. The staff at the Lower Myanmar Settlement Office assisted
greatly in testing and data entry to our new software. Last but most importantly the tireless and
dedicated work of the Project Coordinator is very much appreciated.
The professional oversight by UNOPS / LIFT is gratefully acknowledged especially Andrew Kirkwood,
Antoine Deligne and Zaw Naing Oo. The support of the members of the LIFT Board is well appreciated.
Ian Lloyd
STA, LAMP
UN‐Habitat
Yangon
31 March 2016
i

Contents
1. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY .................................................................................................................... 1
1.1. The Fragile Situation of Land Governance .............................................................................. 1
1.2. Governance of Land Tenure .................................................................................................... 3
1.3. LAMP ....................................................................................................................................... 4
2. RECOMMENDATIONS ..................................................................................................................... 6
2.1. Recommendations on Good Governance of Land Administration ......................................... 6
2.2. Suggested Packaging of Immediate Tasks into LAMP Phase 2 ............................................... 8
3. LESSONS AND FUTURE DIRECTIONS ON LAND GOVERNANCE IN MYANMAR .............................. 10
3.1. Land Governance Challenges ................................................................................................ 10
3.1.1. Government Response to Land Governance Weaknesses ........................................... 10
3.1.2. Land Governance in Myanmar ...................................................................................... 11
3.1.3. Land and the People ..................................................................................................... 12
3.1.4. Land Policy Lessons ....................................................................................................... 15
3.1.5. Land Tenure Security in Myanmar ................................................................................ 20
3.2. Work Programme of DALMS ................................................................................................. 22
3.3. Effective Change in Land Administration .............................................................................. 25
3.3.1. Analysis of Land Tenure ................................................................................................ 25
3.3.2. Analysis of Land Tax and Crop Statistics Programs of DALMS ...................................... 27
3.3.3. Land Information System and One Map Policy of Government ................................... 29
3.4. Getting on the Right Path to Reform of Land Administration Services ................................ 30
4. DESCRIPTION OF LAMP ................................................................................................................. 34
4.1. Introduction .......................................................................................................................... 34
4.2. Relevance of the Project Design ........................................................................................... 35
4.2.1. Land Sector Performance .............................................................................................. 37
4.2.2. Market Led Economy .................................................................................................... 37
4.3. Background ........................................................................................................................... 38
4.4. The DALMS Project Township Sites ...................................................................................... 40
5. LESSONS FROM PROJECT IMPLEMENTATION .............................................................................. 43
5.1. Lessons on Project Purpose .................................................................................................. 43
5.2. Challenges in Implementation .............................................................................................. 44
5.3. Lessons Identified by DALMS Operational Staff ................................................................... 46
5.4. Institutional Lessons and Project Management ................................................................... 47
5.5. Gender and Vulnerable People ............................................................................................. 49
5.6. Technical Matters of Interest ................................................................................................ 51
6. RESULTS AND ACHIEVEMENTS ...................................................................................................... 55
6.1. Introduction .......................................................................................................................... 55
ii

6.2. Summary of Results .............................................................................................................. 55
6.2.1. Innovations in Land Processes and New Knowledge Products ..................................... 56
6.2.2. Project Management .................................................................................................... 59
6.2.3. Procurement ................................................................................................................. 60
6.3. Achievements Review ........................................................................................................... 63
6.3.1. Design, development and make operational of improved systems ............................. 63
6.3.2. Registering Land Transactions in the Farmland and in Urban Land ............................. 67
6.3.3. Capacity Building of Institutional Participants and other Project Partners .................. 68
6.3.4. Capacity Building of Beneficiaries, NGOs and CSOs ...................................................... 69
6.4. Benefits of LAMP Innovations ............................................................................................... 70
6.5. Cost Benefit ........................................................................................................................... 71
7. Outputs ......................................................................................................................................... 75
7.1. Output 1: Effective First Registration System Developed and Pilot Tested. ......................... 75
7.2. Output 2: System for subsequent registration of land transactions developed and
implemented ................................................................................................................................... 101
7.3. Output 3: Change management process designed and implemented. .............................. 105
7.3.1. Lessons on Human Resource Development ................................................................ 119
7.4. Output 4: New application systems developed, pilot tested and evaluated. ..................... 121
7.5. Output 5: Lessons learned and documentation from pilot sites. ....................................... 129
7.6. Risk Management ............................................................................................................... 133
8. Conclusion ................................................................................................................................... 135

Appendices
APPENDIX 1 ORDER OF DG OF DALMS TO CREATE LAMP PROJECT TEAM ........................................ 136
APPENDIX 2 MAJOR CHANGES TO THE ORIGINAL LAMP DESIGN ...................................................... 137
APPENDIX 3 SUMMARY OF LAMP ..................................................................................................... 138
APPENDIX 4 A 15 BY 15 VISION ‐ LONG TERM VISION FOR DALMS ................................................... 141
APPENDIX 5 KEY DATES DURING LAMP IMPLEMENTATION .............................................................. 143
APPENDIX 6 HOW LAMP DESIGN IS CONSISTENT WITH THE NATIONAL LAND USE POLICY ............. 148
APPENDIX 7 LAMP PILOT STUDY ON USING GIS WHICH SHAPED THE NEW METHODOLOGY FOR
SPATIAL DATA CAPTURE AND UPDATING ........................................................................................... 151
APPENDIX 8 RESULTS FRAME OF LAMP ............................................................................................. 160
APPENDIX 9 MAP OF MYANMAR ....................................................................................................... 166
APPENDIX 10 QUICK GUIDES TO MAP SCALES, DISTANCES AND AREAS ........................................... 167
APPENDIX 11 LAND ADMINISTRATION FUNCTIONS AND LAND MANAGEMENT FUNCTIONS ......... 168
APPENDIX 12 CONTEXT DIAGRAM FOR DEVELOPMENT OF LAMP INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
SYSTEM BY UN‐HABITAT FOR DALMS ................................................................................................. 169
APPENDIX 13 LAMP PRODUCED TECHNICAL DOCUMENTS ............................................................... 174
APPENDIX 14 LAMP PRODUCED WORK INSTRUCTIONS .................................................................... 176
APPENDIX 15 OPERATIONAL OUTPUTS of LAMP ............................................................................... 178
APPENDIX 16 DRAFT ORDER ON CANCELLING LAND USE CERTIFICATE AND ISSUING REPLACEMENT
LAND USE CERTIFICATE ....................................................................................................................... 183
iii

APPENDIX 17 LESSONS OF THE DALMS OPERATIONAL STAFF BASED ON WORKSHOP HELD AT
CLRDTC ON 10 FEBRUARY 2016 .......................................................................................................... 186
APPENDIX 18 WORK PLAN IN GANTT CHART FORMAT WITH % COMPLETION SHOWN ................... 190

Tables
Table 1 Analysis of Looming New and Expanded Land Tenure Services of DALMS .............................. 23
Table 2 Key Information on LAMP Project ............................................................................................ 34
Table 3 Thayarwaddy Key Data ............................................................................................................. 40
Table 4 Myingyan Key Data ................................................................................................................... 41
Table 5 Work Instructions Prepared by LAMP for DALMS (as of December 2015) ............................. 58
Table 6 Equipment Procured and Installed at DALMS Offices ............................................................. 60
Table 7 LAMP Procurement .................................................................................................................. 62
Table 8 Completion on Output 1 .......................................................................................................... 75
Table 9 Number of Holdings Captured and Kwins Scanned (project end) ........................................... 80
Table 10 Common Errors and Typical Frequency in Land Records of Farmland Holdings ................... 80
Table 11 Common Errors Found in Kwin Maps of Farmland Holdings in Initial Pilot ........................... 81
Table 12 Common Errors Found from Matching and Linking Holdings on Kwin Map with Land Records
.............................................................................................................................................................. 81
Table 13 Completion on Output 2 ...................................................................................................... 101
Table 15 Formal Training Courses of LAMP ....................................................................................... 112
Table 16 On the Job Training of LAMP ............................................................................................... 113
Table 17 Formal Course Evaluations ................................................................................................... 115
Table 18 List of Major Items of Equipment Supplied to CLRDTC ....................................................... 117

Figures
Figure 1 Land and Agriculture ................................................................................................................ x
Figure 2 Land Administration in Myanmar ........................................................................................... 12
Figure 3 Five Key Factors for an Efficient Land Market ........................................................................ 13
Figure 4 Land to People Relationship in Myanmar ............................................................................... 14
Figure 5 Informal Settlement ............................................................................................................... 17
Figure 6 Fake Land Deeds ..................................................................................................................... 20
Figure 7 Land Tenure Performance Indicators ..................................................................................... 21
Figure 8 Status of Titling ....................................................................................................................... 21
Figure 9 Impacts of Better Quality Land Records ................................................................................. 22
Figure 10 Work Program of DALMS ...................................................................................................... 23
Figure 11 Status of Land Tenure Security in Bubble Diagram ............................................................... 26
Figure 12 Urban Block Maps for Update and New Creation by DALMS (estimate) .............................. 27
Figure 13 Status of Coverage of Kwin Maps ......................................................................................... 27
Figure 14 Tax Assessment Roll by Computer ........................................................................................ 28
Figure 15 Comparison of Proposed Approach with Conventional Approach of Land Tax Assessment
for an Average Village Tract (5 Kwins) .................................................................................................. 29
Figure 16 Change Management ............................................................................................................ 30
Figure 17 Update of Kwin Map (Thayarwaddy, 2015) .......................................................................... 31
Figure 18 Public Display of Land Maps and Land Rights Builds Trust and Confidence ......................... 34
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Figure 19 Mortgaging Farmlands Starts with First Commercial Bank .................................................. 37
Figure 20 Risks in Mortgaging Farmlands ............................................................................................. 38
Figure 21 Signing of the LAMP Letter of Agreement between DALMS and UN‐Habitat occurred in
NPT on 18 June 2014. ........................................................................................................................... 39
Figure 22 Photos from Thayarwaddy Township (2014) ........................................................................ 40
Figure 23 Myingyan has need for rural and peri‐urban update mapping as well as urban mapping .. 41
Figure 24 Elements Necessary to Purge Bad Records and Restore Missing Land Records .................. 45
Figure 25 Staff of DALMS Performing Kwin Map Data Capture (LAMP Office, Yankin) ........................ 50
Figure 26 IEC Meeting with Female Participants .................................................................................. 51
Figure 27 Cadastral Concept (FIG) ........................................................................................................ 52
Figure 28 Technology Meets Old Maps ................................................................................................ 53
Figure 29 DALMS Staff place a GNSS Survey Instrument over a Third Order Control Point established
by LAMP ................................................................................................................................................ 54
Figure 30 Practical and fast methods of surveying and mapping are tested including combining GIS
with satellite imagery............................................................................................................................ 56
Figure 31 Cycle of Continual Improvement .......................................................................................... 57
Figure 32 Innovation and Knowledge Capture by LAMP TA Team ....................................................... 58
Figure 33 List of Historic Laws Scanned onto Memory Sticks and Issued by LAMP ............................. 59
Figure 34 Equipment for Land Surveys Provided by LAMP to CLRDTC ................................................. 61
Figure 35 Equipment Installed at CLRDTC, Myingyan and Thayarwaddy (left to right) ....................... 61
Figure 36 Innovations in Surveying and Mapping ................................................................................. 63
Figure 37 Innovations in Land Adjudication in Un‐Surveyed Area ....................................................... 64
Figure 38 Innovations in Conversion of Land Records to Data Base .................................................... 64
Figure 39 Innovations in System Development .................................................................................... 64
Figure 40 Urban Block Map Digitised at Myingyan (Dec 2015) ............................................................ 66
Figure 41 Steps of Deed Registration in Farmland ............................................................................... 68
Figure 42 Benefits of the LAMP Developed Land Record Management System (LRMS) ..................... 71
Figure 43 Cost Comparison for Completion of National Coverage of Update Mapping by Two Survey
Methods ................................................................................................................................................ 72
for an Average Village Tract (5 Kwins) .................................................................................................. 73
Figure 45 Amount of Effort Required each Year for Various Options for Land Tax Assessment System
Based on Land Value (average VT) ........................................................................................................ 73
Figure 46 Data Capture in LAMP Offices ............................................................................................... 78
Figure 47 Overall Steps in Data Processing for Establishing the LRMS Data Base ................................ 79
Figure 48 UTM Map Zones in Vicinity of Myanmar .............................................................................. 83
Figure 49 Farmers and FABs attended IEC .......................................................................................... 83
Figure 50 In Thayarwaddy and Myingyan updating maps by image and by GNSS respectively. ........ 84
Figure 51 Comparison of Field Survey Techniques for Farmland Mapping .......................................... 84
Figure 52 Comparison of Field Surveys for Validation and Update of Farmland Holding by using High
Resolution Imagery and RTK‐GNSS Surveying in Thayarwaddy ............................................................ 85
Figure 53 Example of Fields Digitised in a Kwin map ............................................................................ 86
Figure 54 Farmland Fields in Kwin 1329 (Thayarwaddy) ...................................................................... 86
Figure 55 RTK‐GNSS survey in unsurveyed farmland (Thayarwaddy 2015); rover at left and base
station at right picture. ......................................................................................................................... 87
Figure 56 Holding Boundaries in Myingyan: Red=Kwin Map Blue = Satellite Image ........................ 88
Figure 57 Checking Land Records (example of conflicting name of owner on two land records). ..... 88
Figure 58 Tailored maps prepared ahead of the field work ............................................................... 89
Figure 59 Example automated report on errors based on using the matching tool. ......................... 89
Figure 60 Holdings with a matching Holding number in the LUC records will be colored green.
Where no match exists, the holding will remain grey for further investigation. ................................. 90
v

Figure 61 Cases where title does not reference to a holding shown on a Kwin Map......................... 90
Figure 62 Canals intersecting with Holdings before (left) and after sub‐division (right) .................... 91
Figure 63 GIS and Quality Control Related Training at the Townships ................................................. 92
Figure 64 Design of the LAMP Database ............................................................................................... 93
Figure 65 Land Records Improvement is an Important Priority ......................................................... 105
Figure 66 Local IEC at Myingyan ......................................................................................................... 107
Figure 67 Local IEC at Thayarwaddy .................................................................................................. 107
Figure 68 Public Notification is an important part of the IEC ............................................................. 108
Figure 69 GIS training at CLRDTC ....................................................................................................... 110
Figure 70 GIS training at Thayarwaddy .............................................................................................. 110
Figure 71 Total Station training at CLRDTC ........................................................................................ 110
Figure 72 Visit to LAMP by LIFT Board (Thayarwaddy, Sep 2015) ...................................................... 111
Figure 73 LAMP on the job training at Thayarwaddy and Myingyan Township‐ DALMS staff applying
GIS technology. ................................................................................................................................... 115
Figure 74 Assessment of Training Programme ................................................................................... 115
Figure 75 Kick off of the Training Program of LAMP for DALMS Staff (CLRDTC Training Centre, Feb
2015) ................................................................................................................................................... 117
Figure 76 GNSS Training at CLRDTC in Taykkyi ................................................................................... 117
Figure 77 Opening of the LAMP Training Room at CLRDTC ............................................................... 118
Figure 78 DVD Back Cover of Four Lectures by LAMP ........................................................................ 119
Figure 79 Existing Manual System is Tedious and Time Consuming................................................... 122
Figure 80 Portion of Land Value Zoning Map Used for Determining the Land Tax ............................ 122
Figure 81 Four Main Technical Steps in the Process of Land Tax Assessment ................................... 123
Figure 82 Example printout of Computer Generated Land Tax Assessment for Pilot Kwin in
Thayarwaddy (2015) ........................................................................................................................... 124
Figure 83 Sampling Error Analysis in Thayarwaddy ............................................................................ 125
Figure 84 Sampling Error Analysis in Myingyan .................................................................................. 125
Figure 85 Sample Large Scale Topographic Map [Map No 6‐425‐1216‐4] ......................................... 126
Figure 86 Index Map of Standard Mapping Designed for LIS Pilot in Thayarwaddy Township (Dec
2015) ................................................................................................................................................... 127
Figure 87 Staff Officer Myingyan and TA Team Study the File on Village Pilot on Land Titling .......... 128
Figure 88 Lessons and Findings from Pilot Village Titling (2015) ........................................................ 128
Figure 89 Suggested Solutions on Village Titling ................................................................................ 129
Figure 90 the UN‐Habitat team keeps the Project Coordinator U Min Min well informed on progress
............................................................................................................................................................ 131
Figure 91 Evaluation Field Activities at LAMP Project Sites (January 2016) ....................................... 131
Figure 92 LIFT Fund Board visited LAMP Project in Thayarwaddy and Taykkyi in September 2015 .. 132
Figure 93 A Long Term Strategic Approach for Land Administration in Myanmar ............................ 142
Figure 94 Land Tax Zoning Map from Pilot Study in LAMP ................................................................. 150
Figure 95 Setting up the base station receiver for ground control point (GCP) survey, Thayarwaddy
Township, October 2014, as part of the GIS pilot study. .................................................................... 151
Figure 96 Example of field maps (size A4) used to identify ground control point location for RTK‐GPS
survey. ................................................................................................................................................. 152
Figure 97 Use of pre‐prepared field maps produced from the GIS technology to suit the field work.
............................................................................................................................................................ 153
Figure 98 Kinds of Errors Found in Inspection of the Kwin Map Overlaid with the Satellite Image ... 153
Figure 99 DALMS staff operating GIS software during heads‐up Digitising of Kwin Maps During the
GIS pilot study, Sep to Dec 2014, Yankin. ........................................................................................... 154
Figure 100 Frequency of Errors in Kwin Maps in Pilot Area ............................................................... 154
Figure 101 Corner of holding boundary has moved or original survey was in error. ......................... 155
vi

Figure 102 Holding boundary has changed on the ground due to natural causes (river erosion /
accretion) ............................................................................................................................................ 156
Figure 103 Encroachment of holdings by settlement. Holding number 70 is fully covered by an
informal settlement. ........................................................................................................................... 156
Figure 104 Holdings requiring update due to land development of an irrigation canal which cuts
through many land holdings. The holdings should be formally sub‐divided. ..................................... 157
Figure 105 Land holdings requiring update correction due to the common holding boundary which
do not match as shown on two adjoining Kwin maps (maps 1328 and 1329). .................................. 157
Figure 106 Farmland Fields are Numerous in Lower Myanmar ......................................................... 159

Table of Abbreviations and Definitions

a Acre (equals 0.404686 ha)
ADR Alternate Dispute Resolution (less formal, more local)
AYAD Australian Youth Ambassador in Development
Cadastral A map showing each land holding with rights owned by an individual or group.
Map Usually the map should show a map grid. In Myanmar the cadastral map is in the
form of Kwin maps (rural) and Block maps (urban).
CCA Climate Change Adaptation
CIM Cadastral Index Map (continuous map with rectangular borders showing land
boundaries and parcel number and at standard scales such as 1:4,000 or 1:1000)
CLRDTC Training Centre of DALMS
CORS Continuously Operating Reference System (a national geodetic positioning system
operated all hours for any user with GNSS and communications equipment)
CPM Country Program Manager (of UN‐Habitat Myanmar)
DALMS Department of Agricultural Land Management and Statistics (formerly SLRD)
DCDB Digital Cadastral Data Base
DDG Deputy Director General
DG Director General
DHSHD Department of Human Settlement & Housing Development
DLA Division of Land Administration (of DALMS)
DSM Division of Surveying & Mapping (of DALMS)
DSP Division of Settlement & Planning (of DALMS)
FAB Farmland Administrative Body (created in the Farmland Law 2012); in this report
the term FMB is also used to refer to the FAB when quoting the earlier design
report (the use of FMB has discontinued in LAMP)
FD Forest Department of MoECAF
FIG International Federation of Surveyors
GAD General Administration Department (of MoHA)
GCP Ground Control Point
GIS Geographic information system
GPS Global Positioning System
GPS‐D GPS differential code
ha Hectare (equals 2.4711 acres)
HR Human Resources
HLP Housing, land and property (rights)
HQ Head Quarter (DALMS HQ at NPT)
IDP Internally Displaced Person
IEC Information, Education and Communication (activity)
IT Information technology
vii

Kwin Originally defined to be units of revenue administration (called blocks in urban

areas) identified by an unique name and number
Kwin map Cadastral map prepared by DALMS
Kyat Currency of Myanmar (approx. 1$ = 960 Kyat, April 2014) [MMK]
LAMP Land Administration and Management Program
LCG Land Core Group‐ a consortium of NGOs which is a subgroup under the umbrella
of the Food Security Working Group (FSWG)
LIFT Livelihood and Food Security Trust (managed by UNOPS on behalf of a group of
donors to Myanmar)
LGAF Land Governance Assessment Framework (World Bank)
LIS Land information system
LRMS Land Record Management System (LAMP developed database management
system for DALMS records and services)
LUC Land Use Certificate (issued in accordance with the Farmland Law, 2012)
MoAI Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation
MoECAF Ministry of Environmental Conservation and Forestry
MoFR Ministry of Finance and Revenue
MoHA Ministry of Home Affairs
Myanmar Myanmar Geodetic Datum 2000
2000
NPT Nay Pyi Taw Union Territory
NPTC Nay Pyi Taw City
NPV Net Present Value (of a past or future stream of money)
LUASC (National) Land Use and Allocation Scrutinizing Committee (Notification of
President’s Office 41/2012, June 2012)‐ abolished & replaced by NRMC
MRLG Mekong River Land Governance Project (SDC funded)
NLRMC National Land Resource Management Council (replaces the LUASC)
NSDI National Spatial Data Infrastructure
PC Project Coordinator (of LAMP)
PSC Project Steering Committee (of LAMP)
RDBMS Relational Data Base Management System
SD Survey Department (of MoECAF)
SLRD Settlement & Land Records Department of MoAI (now called DALMS)
SO Staff Officer (of DALMS‐ Head of Township Office)
SMT Senior Management Team (UN‐Habitat monitoring team led by CPM)
STA Senior Technical Adviser
TA Technical Assistance
Title Used to mean a formal document evidencing a primary right in use of land in
accordance with the laws of Myanmar (land use right, grant, lease by government,
ownership right)
TS Total Station survey equipment
UTM Universal Transverse Mercator ‐ a World standard map projection for topographic
and cadastral mapping which is conformal (preserves shape and direction) and
minimizes distortions by creating 60 zones across the globe.
VFV Law Vacant, Fallow and Virgin Lands Management Law (2012)
VT Village Tract (the lowest administrative division of authority)
WBS Work Breakdown Structure (see Log Frame and Gantt Chart work plan)
WGS World Geodetic Reference System (a particular geodetic system)
WI Work Instruction (document issued by LAMP)
viii

Zoning In this report land zoning usually refers to zoning for determining areas of farm
land of similar capability / land value. If it refers to land use zoning following the
development of a land use plan in an urban location, it is explicitly stated.
ix

Figure 1 Land and Agriculture

Preparing the irrigated rice field in Bago Region Planting rice seedlings in Bago Region Feb 2014
Feb 2014
x

1. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
1.1. The Fragile Situation of Land Governance

The condition of land administration and management in Myanmar is in disarray; land records are not
reliable, expansion of settlements and encroachment on agricultural land is out of control, speculation
is rife, land taxation is grossly inefficient, confidence in governance of land is low and ordinary people
hope for a lot but expect little service from the land agencies.
It could only get worse now that investment is growing and land prices rising rapidly even in rural
areas. The poor and less educated are the most vulnerable in this kind of situation. Let us not forget
that a family’s land is usually their most valuable asset and secondly, for the poor, it’s their source of
food and livelihood. The implications of bad decisions in land administration and management can
have a monumental impact on ordinary people. There is little implementation capacity of land policy,
the land records only confuse the situation and lead to easy opportunities for irregular activities, and
the benefit from inappropriate behavior by officials is potentially huge compared to their low salary.
As has been seen in other countries in the Region failure to operate an effective land administration
system will delay infrastructure projects because of lacking reliable information on tenure, location of
boundaries, land area, ownership and land value as well as distrust on the due process for
compensation.
A law stating that land tenure rights are implied through long term peaceful possession and use of
land has been missing from public policy. This has placed an overly strong emphasis on authorities
deciding on ownership of land rights. This was an ‘open door’ for corruption and land grabs. It has
placed pressure on seeking formal titling as soon as possible and consequentially placed a sudden
heavy burden on Government officials to issue evidence of land rights.
Arguably the land problems in cities and towns are more difficult to address than in rural areas
because the existing maps and land records are very old and not up to date or accurate while the land
prices are already high. There is pressure on access to commercial and residential land. The informal
urban and rural areas are growing. The urban housing problem is largely a land problem; access to
serviced land in sufficient quantity and at affordable prices can only be achieved through proper long
term planning and land development process backed up by a well performing land administration
system.
The formal system of registration of deeds outside the main cities is moribund. There are very few
officials living with experience in making block map surveys in urban areas. There is reluctance by
officials to initiate any rejuvenation of the land records in the urban areas because of the risk of
creating disputes and knowing that the work will be complex while also realizing that there is little
urban surveying experience in DALMS. The reason that there are low disputes in urban areas is
probably due to the fact that a large proportion of the properties are owner occupied. As the economy
demands greater mortgage lending and greater access to land for development there will be greater
stress placed on the land system in urban areas and it will not be able to cope.
Formal land administration systems should reflect the cultural, historical and social norms and
economic situation. It must respect the many land to people relationships and be implemented
equally. There is a large amount of criticism by civil society of Land Governance and this will continue
until there is implementation of reform and there is sincere engagement with civil society in land
governance. Civil society has a lot to offer in strengthening the land administration system as does the
private sector. There is a recently adopted land use policy that has gone through engagement with
civil society and addresses some of the key land issues. The policy states, “Systematically maintaining
correct and up to date land cover maps, land records and other land information is fundamental for
1 | P a g e

systematic land use management, land tenure security and urban – rural economic development”.
This reflects the findings of LAMP and should be built upon.
Institutionally, there are 3 main land agencies concerning the agricultural and urban lands (DALMS,
GAD and SD). All land parcel mapping is performed by DALMS and consists of; Kwin maps in farmlands
which show farmland holdings, grazing lands, water features, access ways and villages; Block maps in
towns and cities which show urban plots, roads and other urban land areas. Cadastral mapping is an
important function in a land market and the multi‐use of these maps is to be encouraged. In addition,
there is the forestry domain. Co‐ordination between DALMS and Forest Department and with the
communities on agreement of the location on the ground of the common (forest) boundary is
important.
Unfortunately, some recent efforts to strengthen land administration have not had their intended
effects and lessons need to be learnt so that decisions with unintended consequences do not continue
to be made:
 The Farmland Law was developed in isolation from civil society, experts and it has many flaws.
 The implementation of the Farmland Law was a disappointment and this fact is slowly
emerging in government and civil society; government could have learnt from mistakes that
regional countries had avoided; It should have been foreseen that the task of issuing 8 Million
titles in less than a year would inevitably create a mess and lose the chance that the
administrative nature of first time titling offers in engaging with each farmer, building
understanding and confidence with the farmer and creating an up to date and accurate land
records system that can be easily maintained into the future. However, the farmers
understand little about the meaning of the Land Use Certificate and Kwin maps. The credibility
of DALMS and the confidence in the new titles is very low.
 The recently announced plan to issue some 5‐6 Million titles to village residential lands while
well‐intentioned will be another disaster unless the approach is changed, as critically
examined in this report.
 The extensive number of applications for “change of land use to other purpose” is causing the
conversion of agricultural land to development land to spur economic growth. While this is
commended in principle it is not, in general, under sub‐division control, spatial planning
control and subject to a site plan for the area. The cost to the community in the future will be
great.
 The very high land transfer taxation is an incentive for informal land transactions and for
corruption, not a disincentive to curb land speculation as is intended. Land speculation should
be dealt with directly as described in this report.
 The continuation of annual farmland tax assessment is grossly inefficient and a new approach
is needed that can be simply adjusted to be affordable by all sectors of society but at the same
time fully covers the cost of the related work and provides funds for local development in
accordance with the intention in the Constitution. LAMP made proposals on a new approach.
The approach could also apply to urban and village lands.
Government officials work hard and in difficult conditions. However, in general, Government
departments have an ‘institutional culture’ not attuned to addressing the urgent need for reform of
the land sector; preference is to work in ‘silos’ with as little co‐ordination with other agencies as
possible; officials are reluctant to question or give realistic advice to the top of Government; officials
wait for direction from above; officials do not see the public as clients; special tasks from NPT take
priority over regular work. Accordingly, even the best policy from the new Government will be poorly
implemented unless the policy is implemented under a reform program with sound change
management principles. However, there is no precedence for this in the land sector in Myanmar which
is largely regulated by 100‐year‐old regulations and rules.
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From section Error! Reference source not found. of this report it was concluded: “These primary land
policy lessons indicate the need for much more visible leadership from the top level of Government,
the need for a strategic planning process and more meaningful engagement of DALMS with the
users of their services”.
Similarly, the independent project evaluator engaged directly by LIFT stated in his report (February
2016): “There is recognition by all that the current situation with land tenure rights and issues needs
to be urgently addressed…clearly indicate the need for the development of a comprehensive strategy
and multi‐component LAMP programme…. Parallel with the strategy will be the need to modernize
the archaic land administration legislation, regulatory procedures and systems…. Expanding the pilots
would help gain greater knowledge and experience in more difficult areas…. It would be worth
discussing with MoAI the possibility of providing an advisor ideally located at the Permanent
Secretary’s Office to support making progress on the land administration sector”.
The situation of land governance demands a roadmap for land administration be created.
1.2. Governance of Land Tenure

Land tenure security is a cornerstone of a market led economy.
DALMS has limited experience and knowledge of land tenure systems and best practices because its
focus for over 100 years has been land tax assessment and settlement work, as well as crop reporting.
Farmers and villagers have never had title. There is too much work for too little resources as currently
managed by DALMS. Land systems require handling huge volumes of information. Changing these
systems is not trivial and implementing new policies is like stopping a large ocean liner‐ it takes time.
Left to its own devices DALMS will do its best and apply new technology but it won’t be enough.
There are 8 land tenure sub‐programs that need addressing but recognition of this large program of
work is embryonic in DALMS‐ DALMS has little experience in most of these sub‐programs. The sub‐
programs need to be implemented very efficiently and accurately. Choices must be made and must
be considered carefully. Cost recovery must be included in the thinking on choices and new policy.
The solution lies in reforming the whole program of work of DALMS as explained in section Analysis
of Land Tenure3.2. Then the added value of LAMP technology would have most impact. This new
LAMP technology is founded on a database of land records and online transaction processing so that
all land transactions are tracked and an audit trail of all changes kept; this provides transparency and
accountability and will reduce opportunities for corruption and will build confidence in the public and
staff equally. In addition, it allows for transfer of digital data to other agencies of Government for
development and planning purposes.
The land tenure situation of DALMS involve such extensive amount of erroneous and missing and
conflicting land records and out of date maps that do not reflect the ground situation that a manual
approach won’t work except in the small Townships. Only a technology approach can satisfactorily
solve the problem. Equally importantly, the task of keeping the land records continually up to date
will not occur unless a computer system is in place to record all land transactions and update the
maps. A land register is meaningless unless continually kept up to date day to day.
There must be a strategic plan developed for DALMS to follow. There should be high level leadership
providing the institutional power, coordination and accountability required for reform. There must be
a long term development plan (LTDP) developed from the strategy so that the many opportunities and
activities all fit together and scarce resources are utilized to the maximum. The LTDP will provide the
Roadmap for LAM Reform. Then DALMS, other government agencies, donors, civil society and others
of good‐will will know how they can best contribute.
The benefits from a well‐functioning land administration system is described at section 6.4 and shown
at Figure 42. It can be seen that the benefits are internal, social, financial and economic.
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1.3. LAMP
LAMP was conceived as a pilot project to develop and demonstrate better ways to manage land
records and land processes at two Township Offices of DALMS. It was also envisioned as the first phase
of a 5 phase long term reform program (see APPENDIX 4).
For the first time extensive modern technology was installed and made operational at the Township
level. This is not the same as running the technology in Yangon or NPT. It is most important to
recognize that land services and land records in Myanmar are close to the people at the Township
level. This is a strength of DALMS which has about 300 such offices. LAMP also strengthened the
CLRDTC Training Centre with training room, IT room, equipment and facilities. LAMP produced a great
amount of learning and knowledge material. The highlights are:
 There were 20 Kwin maps surveyed and mapped (10 maps in each of Thayarwaddy and Myingyan;
14 maps by Image Survey and 6 maps by GNSS survey) as required in the project document;
 One Kwin map was made in an un‐surveyed area to demonstrate the method;
 Land records for over 70,000 land holdings were captured (land use certificate, land register, case
file records) with both scanned documents of the case file and text data entry to the data base;
 Over 200 Kwin maps were scanned, image enhanced and saved to the database at full size;
 1,000 square km (247,000 acres) of high resolution geo‐referenced ortho rectified satellite imagery
was obtained and saved into the database;
 Computer infrastructure of server, database, networks, workstations and peripheral devices were
installed and made operational in suitably renovated building space;
 Over 5,000 plots in urban areas were captured from Register I‐A and 3 urban block maps digitised
in Myingyan Town;
 25 third order survey control were installed initially and later another 9 DALMS third order stations
were surveyed;
 30 GCP surveyed for geo‐referencing the urban block maps.
The outputs were produced by the Township staff supplemented by local hired staff for field and office
support. The imagery and 25 third order control were outsourced from the private sector.
LAMP has shown in the application of its innovations that a very cost effective set of new technology
solutions are available. Comparisons are made of various surveying techniques and approaches
because land surveys are usually a large portion of the cost. Solutions are integrated around the
database and provide for quality of land records, update of land records and service delivery to the
clients. Low unit cost will be a key consideration in any decision to accelerate the modernization of
the Township offices, whether by Government alone or in partnership with a development bank.
At the wrap‐up meeting with DALMS HQ at NPT on 26 February 2016 it was noted that LAMP had
provided a lot of information and DALMS had got a lot of experience and would try to extend to other
Townships, that capacity building of DALMS was a priority of the Ministry and that the Ministry looked
forward to the Terminal Report on LAMP, and that LAMP was a good project. . The lessons of LAMP
are consistent with views expressed at the meeting especially that DALMS saw the challenge in both
technical and institutional contexts because this is the only way that satisfactory progress can be
achieved.
LAMP obtained lessons and conceived strategies that would be relevant to the future development of
land administration and in particular a next phase of planning the long term development of the land
sector. In this way LAMP has been more valuable by being more than a project in two Townships but
also as a platform for long term nationwide reform. The roadmap of reform is described at section
3.4.
The next step is crucial. The next step largely depends on the Government’s ‘appetite’ for reform of
land administration. A focus on reform of the land administration services should be given priority
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and assigned to a position at a high level in Government. The justification for high level leadership is
based on a number of special features of the current condition of land administration;
i) the enormity of the change and operational work ahead;
ii) difficult choices must be made on the priorities and resources in view of the many
land tenures and land services which have been ignored for a long time and to
satisfy the many land to people relationships;
iii) resources must be assigned carefully across competing programs and sub‐programs;
iv) the pace of change needs to be carefully established;
v) institutional reform is always resisted;
vi) stakeholders must be brought into the reform;
vii) opportunities exist that must be taken and not ignored for political reasons;
viii) cost efficiency and performance must take a prominent role in decision making;
ix) vested interests will try to disrupt the reform;
x) Government should learn from expertise and not repeat the mistakes in the
farmland tenure;
xi) there are institutional distrust in land management;
xii) distractions in land office operations can too easily delay reform;
xiii) Specialization is needed to make big strides in effective use of technology which will
almost certainly require re‐organization.
The full recommendations are laid out in Chapter Error! Reference source not found.. It is
recommended that Government consider immediately implementing a package of tasks which
produce a roadmap for reform and at the same time addresses land policy gaps and practical new
guides. The momentum should not be lost because the needs are great and goodwill was already
established. It is suggested that LAMP Phase 2 be launched quickly starting by engaging with a donor.

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2. RECOMMENDATIONS
The findings and directions implied from the chapter on Land Governance, the chapter on project level
lessons and the chapter on results and achievements can be summarised into actionable
recommendations for consideration by the Government, the MOAI and DALMS:
2.1. Recommendations on Good Governance of Land Administration

There are eight recommendations on Land Governance and Land Policy for Government to consider:
1. MoAI to take the lead on behalf of Government on creating a Roadmap for reform in Land
Administration:
1.1. Assign a leader of the land administration reform from within or outside the Ministry at a
suitably high level;
1.2. Co‐ordination with GAD and SD;
1.3. Create a task team to prepare the Roadmap consisting of;
1.3.1. Prepare and approve a long term strategy;
1.3.2. Prepare a Long Term Development Plan based on the strategy;
1.3.3. Prepare an institutional reform plan for DALMS within the LTDP;
1.4. Obtain external donor assistance and expertise;
1.5. Create a stakeholder advisory team;
1.6. Reform existing work programs and work methods of DALMS to release resources for the
big 8 functions that are required to support land tenure security (see section 3.2).
1.7. Present to Government for Cabinet endorsement the strategy and LTDP as the long term
Roadmap for reform in Land Administration.
2. Momentum should not be lost from LAMP on innovation and technology development and
application to different places in the Country:
2.1. DALMS should keep the momentum of LAMP by making institutional changes at the two
Township pilot sites as a next step in learning and innovating:
2.1.1. The LAMP technology could be imbedded into normal operations by setting up a small
service centre in the DALMS Township consisting of those staff with more IT aptitude.
The service centre would perform the update of all Kwin maps in the Township and
the issuing of correct LUC and the maintenance of the database of farmlands. The
surveyors would perform the Kwin map digitizing and field work; the service centre
would run the LRMS and requests for corrections and missing documents much as the
TA Team performed during LAMP.
2.1.2. The deed registration system should be reinvigorated first at the two Townships with
DALMS NPT issuing an initial Guide on Registration on Farmland Transactions (see WI
D4).
2.1.3. The two LAMP pilot sites should be given resources and set clear targets as well as
access to further training.
2.2. The LAMP systems should be applied in Townships selected to represent different social,
environmental and farming conditions. In LAMP there were two Townships; one in Bago
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region and one in Mandalay Region. To further adapt the LAMP technology Townships in
places such as Shan State, Mon State and Ayeyarwady Region should be implemented.
2.3. Training given to DALMS NPT on:
2.3.1. A new 3‐month course on third order control and geodetic surveying should be
provided (see TA Report 9a);
2.3.2. Software development, maintenance and support for LRMS and system
administration;
2.3.3. Operation of LRMS at Township level;
2.4. The LRMS database application should be further developed;
2.5. Moving away from expensive GIS software to open source software GIS as soon as
possible, such as QGIS for which there are manuals produced by LAMP (see several work
instructions of LAMP especially WI A1) and building new training courses;
3. DALMS to develop and issue the following guides based on LAMP work instructions and follow up
implementation and necessary changes:
3.1. Correcting and update of land records and maps of DALMS;
3.2. Cancelling LUC and Replacing or Correcting LUC in manual and computer based system;
3.3. Registration of Land Transactions on Farmland;
3.4. New program for village tenure;
3.5. Authority to create and keep computerized Form 5 and Register I‐A;
3.6. Authority to create and keep computerized Kwin Maps and powers to keep maps up to date
by approval of sub‐divisions by the Staff Officer.
3.7. New farmland land tax system (after new policy is agreed);
3.8. New geodetic reference system and formal adoption as standard (after agreement by
Government);
3.9. Controlling encroachment on farmland and controlling land speculation in rural areas.
4. Establish land performance key indicators for national level reporting in consultation with the
Finance and Planning Ministry (see as example, Error! Reference source not found.);
5. Initiate with other Ministries and Departments and relevant bodies land policy review and reform
on high priority subjects described by LAMP and which have major impacts on the outcomes in
the land sector (see section Error! Reference source not found.):
5.1. Village Titling [Report 24];
5.2. Registration of Land Documents [Report 17];
5.3. Farmland Taxation [Reports 19 & 20];
5.4. Crop Statistics Reporting [Report 22];
5.5. Geodetic Reference System [Report 9a];
6. Secondary policy issues that the MoAI should take a lead in reform, in co‐operation with other
agencies of Government, because they affect the efficiency of land administration include:
6.1. Land Conversion and Expansion of Settlements and Change of Land Use;
6.2. Urban Land Tax;
6.3. Urban surveying and mapping for update of maps and land register;
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6.4. Urban land tax reform;
6.5. Special land value increment tax on change of land use;
6.6. Revised land transfer tax to make compliance with formal registration attractive to all
people;
6.7. Cost recovery;
6.8. Register of Grazing land;
6.9. Register of all Government land indexed to the parcels shown on the cadastral maps of
DALMS1.
6.10. Customary Tenure;
6.11. Community Title;
6.12. Tertiary Education for spatial sciences, land surveying and land administration.
7. DALMS to actively engage with Government on review of key laws:
7.1. Replace the land document registration parts of the Registration Act to a suitable kind of
Land Title Registration;
7.2. Revise the finance regulations related to land tax to adopt a land value based system,
starting with farmland tax;
7.3. Farmland Law;
7.4. New laws emerging from new policies as shown at item 3 above.
8. DALMS to initiate discussions with Government and SD in particular on a national Geodetic
Reference System (GRS) which is suitable for large scale mapping, based on the lessons and
recommendations of LAMP (section Error! Reference source not found.. refers).
2.2. Suggested Packaging of Immediate Tasks into LAMP Phase 2

It is recommended that Government consider immediately implementing a package of tasks based on
the above scope of reform. This was envisioned in LAMP Phase 2 of a 5 phase intervention. The
momentum should not be lost because the needs are great and goodwill was already established. It is
suggested that LAMP Phase 2 be launched quickly starting by engaging with a donor.
The outline of a strategy is given at section 3.4 Getting on the Right Path to Reform of Land
Administration Services.
The first priority should be on committing to producing a Land Administration Reform Roadmap as at
recommendations 1 above. This is to ensure that choices and priorities and best practices are made;
that cost efficiency is recognized; that money spent in the future on land administration
modernization is money well spent. External expertise on land administration reforms in the Region
should be used to provide valuable inputs on LAM options, best practices and critical analysis.
There are high priority policy studies and guides that cannot be delayed. A special paper should be
prepared on the advantages and characteristics of a more suitable kind of formal land document
registration system that is based on land title registration which would be very valuable preparation
ahead of the discussions on the replacement / re‐writing of the outdated registration of deeds law. In

1
These cadastral maps are Kwin maps (rural) and Block maps (urban and village).
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parallel, momentum should not be lost on gaining further experience and deeper training on LAMP
new systems and possibly expanding the pilot Townships to other parts of the country such as Shan
and Mon States and the Delta Region. Once the MoAI has a firm idea on the scope it would be
appropriate to discuss with a donor so that LAMP Phase 2 could begin without too much delay.
The tasks are:
1. Review of Terminal Report:
1.1. MOAI, Planning Department and DALMS study the terminal report and discuss;
1.2. MOAI decides on preferred scope for immediate action (bundled as LAMP2
Project);
1.3. MOAI seeks donor support based on the Terminal Report and MOAI priorities;
2. Project / Activity Description:
2.1. MOAI and Donor prepare activity description;
2.2. Approval of activity;
2.3. Budgeting and approval of funding;
3. Leadership:
3.1. MOAI establishes high level leader, Land Administration Reform Steering
Committee, Government task team and stakeholder advisory team (including civil
society and private sector;
3.2. Donor secures technical assistance team;
3.3. LOA / MOU agreed;
3.4. Media launch.
4. LAMP2 commencement.

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3. LESSONS AND FUTURE DIRECTIONS ON LAND GOVERNANCE IN

MYANMAR
3.1. Land Governance Challenges

Myanmar is a resource rich country with a relatively low population. Good governance of the land can
lead to great prosperity for all. Weak governance in land administration and management will at best
lose opportunities and more likely continue a socially and economically structured society with
growing conflict and high poverty. In this chapter big lessons from LAMP and lessons from abroad are
brought together to indicate to Government a reform path in land administration.
This section comments on the implications for an improved performance in the land administration
and management sector. Other sections in this report deal with the technical and project related
lessons.
Much of the big lessons are not yet addressed by Government. A crisis in land administration is coming
unless the Government makes major reform. This crisis will be due to uncontrolled land development,
lack of accurate and up to date land records and little dissemination of land information to the market.
The indicators of a land system under stress can be seen in inaccessible land records and unreliable
maps; non‐functioning registration of land rights outside of three major cities; land grabs and land
conflicts; rampant and unchecked land speculation and change of land use; informal settlements
across the country; inefficient land taxation; un‐informed rural communities and inadequate funding
for local development.
The management of land is complex. Land is a limited resource in a recently created market led
economy. Efforts to control the land market through new laws have been slow and ineffective, there
is evidence of elite capture and abuse of power, and Government was not prepared for the change in
behavior of the market players. In this situation the less educated and those with less power and
money can suffer disproportionally.
The adoption of a market led economy is both an advantage and a risk. One of the first risks is always
runaway land speculation and inability to meet the demands in land services. However, while the new
Constitution of 2008 created a sudden demand by the people and business for land tenure security
this was not the main problem; the prime problem stemmed from the fact that the land system had
been neglected for 50 years prior to 2008 and was in a poor condition. The implementation of the
Farmland Law made matters worse as explained in this report. The pressure on access to urban land
is making land prices rise quickly. Development demands on land have grown and created conflicts
because the availability of land is limited and because the normal frameworks for development and
acquisition of land are missing. Knowledge on land prices is limited and the land market is not well
informed. Land taxation and compulsory land acquisition are implemented badly. The Government
has started to respond in a limited way but it is too little and the pace of change is too slow to meet
the challenges of the new era.
The Government’s land services are in disarray and the change of name from SLRD to DALMS did not
help the people and business to understand the functional responsibilities, powers and authorities in
land in accordance with the Constitution.
3.1.1. Government Response to Land Governance Weaknesses

Key features of the Government’s response have been:
 The Inter‐Ministerial Committee on Land Allocation and Utilization Scrutiny (LUASC)
was replaced late in 2014 by a higher level Council on Land Resource Management
which continued the work of the LUASC on preparing a draft land use policy. The Land
Use Policy was adopted by cabinet in January 2016. The implementation of the land
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use policy will be challenging. The replacement of the land related laws will require
extensive professional effort and consultations and information programs.
 Key over‐riding land policy matters are not yet decided: a framework for resolving
land grabbing cases; returning of displaced persons to their former lands;
decentralization as a policy especially in respect to rights on natural resources
including land; VFV land which has been used by people for a long time; a proper
process for compulsory land acquisition; a holistic land taxation regime that has
economic, land tenure security, land use and social objectives not only finance
objectives.
 The institutional setup for land management is also complex: forest lands are
managed by the Forest Department; agricultural lands come under the MoAI; grazing
and fisheries come under the Mo Fisheries, Livestock and Rural Development. Urban
lands come under the various Committees as well as the GAD of MoHA and also the
Ministry of Construction. The Survey Department is responsible for the national
geodetic coordinate system and the topographic mapping at medium and small
scales.
 With the sudden emergence of the land market after 50 years of being largely
dormant there have emerged opportunities for irregular activities such as land
speculation, informal land development, informal land transactions, large number of
cases of change of land use with loss of agricultural land, rapidly rising land prices and
pressure on land.
 The Farmland Law was a badly conceived law, did not involve the civil society and has
been poorly implemented.
 Starting of a pilot land titling of residential village land plots by GAD and DALMS.
3.1.2. Land Governance in Myanmar

The MoAI, under the Constitution, has a major role in land administration but not all land
administration functions are under DALMS or MOAI. Conversely, DALMS performs tasks such as
agricultural crop reporting which are outside the scope of land administration.
The other major agency in land management is the forest department which is concerned with forest
land as a sustainable resource as well as environmental conservation and protection. Its powers to
assign land rights to individuals and communities is weak but is expected to be strengthened with a
new forest law consistent with the new land use policy and the future Land Law.
With a wide and deep mandate (many LAM functions, vertical structure and geographic spread) it can
be seen that DALMS should be the main focal point for reform in land administration in Myanmar.
This is illustrated in the diagram below which shows the main institutions of Government concerned
with land:

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Figure 2 Land Administration in Myanmar

GAD DALMS SD
Deed Registration National Survey &
Mapping
•Urban / Village
•Farmland •First & Second Order
Geodetic Network
Lease Issuance •Topographic Maps
Lease Register •Height Datum
•Urban & Villages
•Urban & Villages
Land Tax Collection
Land Tax Collection
•Land Data
•Urban
•Tax Roll & Vouchers
•Farmlands
Farmland Title (LUC)
•Register of LUC
•Issuance of LUC
Survey & Mapping of
Parcels
•Urban & Villages
•Farmlands
•Third order control

Because the limitations in LAM rest with the antiquated land laws and the weak implementation of
the land processes it may not be appropriate to re‐arrange the functions at the same time as the
reform. It could make matters worse by confusing the main reform effort. At least now there are staff
with a basic level of skills and knowledge as well as existing land records.
The approach, from an institutional point of view, would be to ensure cooperation and easy flow of
land information between the three main agencies (GAD, DALMS, SD) instead of a re‐organisation.
This new policy should be done under an NSDI framework.
3.1.3. Land and the People

A well‐functioning and efficient land market is a pillar of a modern market led economy. Investment
should be not only from big business but across all segments of society and especially the ordinary
people who with basic security can use their own initiatives to improve their lives.
Important factors to the land market in any country are confidence in the Government’s land
administration services, lending from the finance sector and justice through the Courts.

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Figure 3 Five Key Factors for an Efficient Land Market
Property Rights
Secure &
Transferable
Transparent &
Lending
Informed
Available
Market
Land Well‐managed
Confidence in
Market Release of
Land Market &
Responds to Development
Justice System
Investment Land

At this stage of its early development of a modern and market led economy the Government could be
well advised to assign an economic manager / adviser to monitor and report continually on the status
and the reform measures happening on each of these key factors in the above figure.
We suggest that right now there is: confusion and apprehension in the land market; lack of access of
people to land records; many informal transactions and inaccurate land records; very limited lending
on land; variable performance and confidence in the Courts due to the notoriety from land grab cases.
In this report we concentrate on the factors which are under land administration.
Land administration and land management work hand in hand to complete the tools for maximizing
access to, and protection of, the land as well as promoting sustainable economic and financial benefits
from the land. At the same time land administration and management should be safeguarding the
social connection of traditional communities to their land. The linking in a functional context is
illustrated at APPENDIX 11 LAND ADMINISTRATION FUNCTIONS AND LAND MANAGEMENT
FUNCTIONS.
The land administration functions include; survey and mapping; registration of rights and transfer of
rights and secondary rights; property valuation; land information and NSDI; spatial planning and land
use planning; IEC to the people. These functions are normally managed by Government either at a
national or sub‐national level. The nature of the functions is one of “services”. This is important
because it means that Government can establish and report against service standards as well as
recoup expenditure from fees and taxes. This provides a ready means to force rapid reforms and
identify high performance staff and managers. It provides a way to measure performance to remove
bottlenecks and inefficiency.
The processes behind the LAM services are based on the national land laws which are rooted in the
nation’s history, cultures, economic, environmental and social conditions which are unique. In this
context the means to achieve rapid advances in the condition of land administration seems very
complex. However, this is not necessarily the case as LAMP has shown in just 20 months of operations
(this report) and in the performance of overseas land agencies attests. It’s a matter of making the right
strategic decisions, establishing leadership at a suitably high level and managing change.
Indeed, as a service oriented sector the land sector can be one of the first to be reformed unlike more
political sectors which involve policy, finance and monetary matters, internal security and
infrastructure. Business and people all have land dealings from time to time and all pay land related
taxes annually and all return to their homes each day. Most people’s greatest asset is always their
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land. Better land services impact directly on people. All people want better land related services and
security of land tenure.
Government must exercise its responsibility to look after the interest of all the people and not let
individuals gain huge benefits at public expense. In particular, the poor and uneducated are too easily
disadvantaged as a country opens up its economy. Further, the social and spiritual nature of land must
also be respected as it relates to traditional communities. This is understood from the perspective of
the land to people relationship.
The laws and land services must address the differing requirements in each relationship and not only
one or two. Of course, resources are limited and this can be managed by recognizing that the
requirements for each relationship can differ; for example, the kinds of surveying, the maps, the
records, the rights and limitations and so on can be different across the relationships and thereby,
allow Government to both meet the people’s needs and at a manageable cost. The worst scenario is
to force a “one size fits all” approach. For example, in very expensive commercial land the need for
rigorous surveys and land records to underpin land investment is different to that required in forest
lands. Indeed it is not only unnecessarily costly but also too restrictive if all relationships in the figure
below are forced to fit into one or two land title types. Each relationship can have its own prescription
of rights, responsibilities and limits as well as technical matters such as surveys and land records.
Indeed, in some cases it may be appropriate to have no formal records other than a perimeter
description for an area under a traditional community2.

Figure 4 Land to People Relationship in Myanmar
5. Forest
4. Public parcels 6.
land (eg
Customary
grazing)
3. Farms‐
not 7. Urban
surveyed parcels
(woodland)
8. Informal
2. Village
settlements
parcels
(incl slums)
Individuals,
1. Farms‐ 9. Government
surveyed Community (incl Military)
& Business

The recently Cabinet adopted national land use policy addresses some of the relationships especially
the rural relationships but is weaker in some of the other relationships such as public land, urban
land, Government land and forest land. The drafting of the ‘umbrella’ land law is an opportunity for
describing the rights and responsibilities and interests of all people on all tenure types.

2
This is from the perspective of land tenure but from the point of view of environmental protection for
example, there may be a need for more land information.
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LAMP focused largely on relationship 1 under the Farmland Law. But LAMP also had small activities
on relationships 2, 3 and 7. LAMP also included surveying of the lands under relationships 4 (grazing
land, water bodies) and 8 (encroachment of villages on farmlands) during the Kwin mapping. Note,
that with the LAMP designed LRMS and GIS it would be quite easy to assign grazing land parcels with
a unique number and thereby allow DALMS to record and report on all grazing land parcels for
planning and management purposes including land protection from loss to speculators or others.
3.1.4. Land Policy Lessons

Prominent Land Policy Lessons
There are important land policy lessons from LAMP which the Government should recognize:
(i) The Government made two over‐riding mistakes in the policy on farmland tenure which
has made the work of DALMS very complex:
a. Firstly, proceeding with first time land titling of farmlands with Kwin maps that
were 50‐60 years out of date meant that the titles were in error and misleading
on location and size as well as name of owner in some cases. All ASEAN countries
have experience in first time issuing of titles. No country has done this. In other
countries where the titles were issued based on approximate surveys a proper
process of issuing titles was made as ‘limited to boundaries’ so that the owner
and the market was informed as to the limitations. But in these cases the
ownership was determined rigorously on the ground and the parcel sketch map
was up to date, albeit to low accuracy.
b. Secondly, by ordering the issuing of some 8 million titles in less than 12 months
without any additional resources had forced the DALMS staff to make many short
cuts on land record documentation, IEC to the farmers and internal processes and
check and balances.
It will take much more effort to correct the mistakes because first time titling only occurs
once as an administrative process. Henceforth, changes / corrections must be processed
carefully from the point of view of internal processes and public explanation of changes
because the LUC are legal documents. In hindsight the lack of consultation by Government
in forming the Farmland Law meant that the many relevant lessons from the Region were
not considered and the hasty implementation was a mistake.
The advantage is that LAMP studied the multitude of problems in the records and
developed effective processes and techniques for the finding of the errors and missing
records and the correcting of the records under a controlled environment of the LRMS;
maps, LUC and land records (see 6.2.1 and 7.1 of this report). Through the LRMS changes
to all LUC are tracked and are transparent.
(ii) The land records of DALMS are in very poor condition. The land records of the farmlands
have many errors and omissions; the records and maps of the urban sector are dilapidated
and scanning is not possible on many of them and in addition, the urban register and maps
are way out of date. It is difficult to see how the records can be kept up to date and
complete and accurate without the use of technology.
(iii) The land records and mapping of the land plots in villages do not exist. However, GAD
has aspirations to issue some 5‐6 M grant leases quickly. The dangers in the approach
outlined by GAD were subject to LAMP study and Report 24 (see item vi below).
(iv) Land transactions are not being registered across the country. The Registration Act and
its Rules are not appropriate. The system in DALMS is hardly used in urban area and not
started yet in farmlands. The study by LAMP showed that; (i) Myanmar should replace the
deed registration system by a suitable form of title registration so that it is relevant and
15 | P a g e

easy to use by all the people; (ii) in the short term streamline the existing system and

inform the people (see Report 17 and WI D4).
(v) There are major issues related to policy on land tenure of settlements. While several
issues in the land sector are already well known such as land grabs, land of IDPs, VFV lands,
customary land practices which are not respected in the law and so on, less well known is
the problem of massive encroachment of settlements onto farmlands across the country.
It’s been a problem for 60 years but is worsening. It appears that recently the approval of
‘change of land use’ has accelerated as the land market responds to demand for serviced
land. The gaps and shortcomings in Government policy and practice include:
a. Large areas of informal settlements around towns and villages have no planning
structure and inadequate roads and public space;
b. Approval of ‘change of land use’ occurs without an approved site plan and
structural plan for the development of the settlement;
c. Extensive encroachment causing loss of farmlands;
d. Growth of settlements is driven by speculators and without compliance with any
Government sub‐division control;
e. No mechanism for Government to recoup the massive increase in land price when
land is re‐classified to non‐farming use (a one off land tax on the increase in land
value is appropriate) while at the same time the Government is left with the
problem of installing services.
(vi) The population living in rural areas has no formal security of tenure on their house land.
This applies to all village land and much of the town land. Until recently there was no
policy to encourage such security. The majority of these rural people are not located on
formal settlement land but on agricultural land. In short, the expansion of settlements in
the last 60 years has been largely informal. The situation is very unsatisfactory for
communities and for local officials. In June 2015 the GAD ordered the commencement of
titling in rural villages on a pilot basis. In January 2016 this was formally declared as a
national programme. However, this new policy of Government on titling village land will
lead to bigger problems in the future in the living conditions in these settlements because
spatial planning is being completely ignored. The approach is ill‐advised. It formalizes
occupation by the issuance of grant lease before regularizing the roadways and public
land. There are land locked parcels too. The future road network requirements are
ignored. This will make it much more difficult and more expensive to change later because
the people will already have a grant lease and will demand their rights and lose sight of
their community and public responsibilities.
In the Report 24 we suggest a limited occupancy document ‘subject to boundaries’3
(based on a rapid approximate survey which would still allow identification of the plots
and future land tax) so that regularisation4 can proceed at its own pace and grant leases
(based on a better survey and on a block map) would only be issued in the future after
regularisation is satisfactorily completed. This gives an incentive to the people for
cooperating with land regularisation.

3
In general any form of title ‘subject to boundaries’ means that the title has a defect. The defect is that the
survey and mapping is approximate. It is a warning to the land market. But the owner is still a valid owner of
whatever rights are shown in the title and the land parcel exists (but its land area is not certain). The title can
be upgraded later to a full title.
4
The approach of land regularisation involves combining surveying, titling and structural planning of
settlements in one smooth process to avoid future problems in settlements where roads are irregular, ill‐
formed, and too narrow and there is no public space.
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Figure 5 Informal Settlement
In most rural areas of Myanmar settlement roadways are narrow and variable in width because the
settlement is informal and the development is not based on any approved settlement plan.

(vii) The work programme of DALMS as prescribed in the existing laws, rules and practices
would demand more time than is available for DALMS survey staff. There is a looming very
large amount of land tenure work; there are some 8 sub‐programs of Land Tenure that
the TA Team has anticipated will be required of DALMS in the next 5 years and all are
hardly being started yet (see Table 1 Analysis of Looming New and Expanded Land Tenure
Services of DALMS). This situation can only be resolved by innovation and strategic
planning otherwise there will be failure to achieve Government and community
expectations as well as undue stress placed onto DALMS.
(viii) The institutional orientation of DALMS has been to serve the MoAI. The intention in
the Constitution and the requirement for any land administration organisation in a
country with a market led economy are to serve the People, Business and Government at
all levels equally. Accordingly, a re‐orientation of DALMS is required; this will require
change management of the highest order.
These primary land policy lessons indicate the need for much more hands‐on leadership from the
top level of Government, the need for a strategic planning process and more meaningful
engagement of DALMS with the users of their services.

Specific Land Policy Lessons
There are a number of specific lessons on land policy that emerged from the LAMP project (we
continue the numbering from above for ease of reference to policy matters):
(ix) Government Land Services are Severely Constrained
DALMS has a charter to perform land administration services which are onerous technically,
influenced politically and have complex legal implications. At the same time the resources to perform
the functions are well below standards for similar countries in ASEAN. There has been neglect of the
land system for over 50 years. DALMS receives a lot of criticism from civil society. While the need for
reforms is obvious DALMS could not make the necessary changes on its own. The political environment
has been one of picking the low hanging fruit but in DALMS the benefits will only come from long term
hard work in restoring the land processes and land records and in turn, the confidence in land
administration and related Government services.

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(x) Land Administration and Management (LAM) Long Term Vision
A principle of projects in the good governance mode of development assistance is to create a long
term goal and have that goal placed at the top of the Project Results Frame. This gives orientation to
change which in governance is always long term. To underpin this goal LAMP created a long term
vision (see APPENDIX 4 A 15 BY 15 VISION ‐ LONG TERM VISION FOR DALMS). In the implementation
of LAMP while the work was largely that of designing and testing pilot innovations in survey and
mapping and the control of land records, LAMP studied how the immediate priorities of DALMS would
fit with the looming demands of the country and would fit with its existing work load.
(xi) Geodetic Reference System
Different geodetic systems are used in Myanmar which makes the comparison and sharing of maps
difficult especially at large scale mapping, larger than 1:10,000. This is because the resource
management sector tends to use WGS.84 (e.g., Forestry) while the land administration sector uses
Myanmar 2000 (Survey Department and LAMP)5. The difference between the two systems is about
400 metres on the ground in Myanmar but varies across the country. Using WGS.84 produces a large
geoid slope which affects height determinations. There should be one standard geodetic reference
system adopted by Government and the network of control stations readily accessible for free.
Otherwise, the trend to use GIS will create spatial data on different systems which are incompatible
and introduces positional errors which cannot be tolerated for large scale maps. Also, with ignorance
there can be mistakes made.
DALMS is about to start in 2016, a third order network campaign. In the LAMP Report 9a
recommendations were made to strengthen Myanmar 2000, re‐adjust the network making it
geocentric and minimizing the geoid slope and finally, publish the relationship (transformation
parameters) with WGS.84 and all the control points for free access by all. Then Government should
adopt this system. In any case a proper plan is needed ahead of extensive surveying for a new third
order network.
(xii) Land Use Policy
The national land use policy was adopted in January 2016 by the Cabinet of the outgoing Government.
On examination it can be seen that the LAMP already anticipated many of the new policy directions
and is very relevant to the emerging agenda of the Government on land administration and
management. This analysis is presented at APPENDIX 6 HOW LAMP DESIGN IS CONSISTENT WITH THE
NATIONAL LAND USE POLICY .
(xiii) Urban Titling
The condition of land tenure records in urban areas outside the 3 main cities is very poor. DALMS
understandably is not keen to tackle the rejuvenation of the their urban records (Register I‐A and Block
maps) without Government policy since there is a lot of work to be done and it will involve land
adjudication with the owners and will no doubt need to deal with dispute settlement from time to
time.
The only proper way would be to tackle this issue is in the framework of land policy and clear roles,
responsibilities and powers, inter‐agency cooperation (GAD and DALMS) and a properly resourced
work programme. It is unrealistic to expect this to occur spontaneously. The TA Team appreciates that
the planned LAMP pilot urban survey in Myingyan Town did not get DALMS and GAD approval for
good reasons.

5
Note that the existing maps of DALMS show no map grid (Kwin maps and Block maps).
18 | P a g e

(xiv) Land Tax
The collection of rural farm land tax is very small compared to the cost of operating the DALMS
Township office (less than 1%). The farmland tax system should be reviewed as a policy initiative of
DALMS and Finance Department. LAMP has provided a better approach which has distinct advantages
to the existing system and wider benefits to the land market (see Output 4: New application systems
developed, pilot tested and evaluated. Also see Reports 19 and 20).
In these reports a suggestion is made to introduce a land conversion tax which is a one‐off tax based
on the incremental increase in land value when approval is given for change of land use from
agricultural use to urban / town / village land use. This would provide Government with funds for
servicing the newly created expansion areas of rural towns and villages.
In towns and cities the land tax is not applied6 and the annual tax is a building tax. A land tax based
on land value is far more efficient and more progressive tax than a building tax.
In villages there is no annual tax at all. A small land tax should be introduced. The land information for
this land tax assessment task should be provided from the issuance of new land occupancy documents
(provisional title) based on rapid approximate surveys (see above).
Land related annual taxes should be gradually introduced in all areas of villages, farmland and urban
land to provide funds for local government to supply better services and living conditions for the rural
people. It should start as a small tax based on land value and there should be exemption to very low
value land.
(xv) Property Transfer Tax
In the LAMP scoping document it is shown how the transfer tax on land is much higher than any other
country in the World. It was explained that it would lead to avoidance through informal transactions
or corruption. In April 2014 the law changed the rates from 37% to a schedule ranging from 3% to
30%. This is still far too high and impossible to implement. (This matter is also part of the general
malaise with the land registration system which is discussed later in this report‐ see section 6.3.2).
More recently we understand the minimum rate has increased to 10% on property value.
The annual land taxes should be the main source of property related revenue while transfer taxes
should be low but sufficient to cover the costs of Government in operating the land tenure
programs in the long term.
(xvi) Property Valuation and Land Acquisition
As the prime land administration authority DALMS should have property valuation skills and
knowledge. This should be used in property related taxes that are applied by DALMS such as the
registration fee on land transactions and the future farmland tax and other. However, the skills in
property valuation are lacking. In addition, to limiting the application of land tax a lack of knowledge
on property valuation also limits the implementation of any land acquisition actions which can result
in slowdown in land development for Government projects and also, in a worst case, disputes and
great loss for vulnerable families with no power to argue. No doubt the land acquisition act (1894 as
amended) will be one of the first laws to be revised once the umbrella land law is completed and
DALMS should be in a better position to assist in its implementation by providing expert knowledge
on land values.
(xvii) Government Land
DALMS keeps the Kwin maps and Block maps of rural and urban land resp. but does not keep a register
of Government land. Such a register could be effectively and efficiently maintained by DALMS since

6
There is an exemption for plots below ¼ acre which makes collecting land tax uneconomical.
19 | P a g e

the mapping is already available. This could ensure that all Government land is accounted for in a

register‐ there would be a big advantage in using the LAMP technology which provides for matching
every land parcel to a title and it could be quickly applied to Government land parcels. Secondly,
confusion over private land and government land is a major factor in many land disputes. This occurs
when land has been acquired by Government and ‘allocated’ to the private sector under various
arrangements. Such a register could transparently inform on the nominated Government authority
managing the land parcel and the land use if used by Government; and record the conditions of land
rights allocated to the private sector. This would assist in building transparency.
(xviii) Policy Should Precede Legislation
An important lesson that can be learned from the last year of activity in the land sector is that if
government had developed a land use policy prior to enacting legislation such as the Farmland Law
and VFV Law, this could have resulted in more consistent/cohesive laws and better laws and more
widely accepted laws. Also these laws show little learning from the wealth of knowledge from the
Region. Such a process would have helped to build confidence with civil society. Instead, civil society
has spent much time and resources debating the motives of government behind each Law and
Rule/By‐law. A land policy document could have informed the public of the government’s vision for
land use and land management, and civil society would also have provided guidance to government
officials at all levels. The process of policy formation would have allowed engagement with civil society
and farmer’s representatives which the writing of laws does not. An extension of this lesson is that a
long term development plan for reforms is needed as a vehicle of informing the people as much as an
internal document for Government.
3.1.5. Land Tenure Security in Myanmar

Government is responsible for managing the land tenure of the country in accordance with the
Constitution and laws issued by the law makers in Parliament. In chapter 4.2.2 risks in the mortgage
market are illustrated with real examples from the baking industry. Below there are comments taken
from a newspaper article:
Figure 6 Fake Land Deeds
Fake Land Deed Causing Trouble for Real Estate Dealers [MMTIMES, 11 Aug 2015]
Fake documentation for land has spiked according to the Myanmar Real Estate Service Association General
Secretary Daw Moh Moh Aug. Traders and land owners are forced to spend money hiring experts to tell
the real deeds apart from the fakes, but some still end up getting stuck with forgeries.
“We’ve seen some cases where there are two or three grant letters, and five or six slips and land permits,
all claiming ownership over the same piece of land,” said Daw Moh Moh Aung.
CB employs lawyers to check out documents with YCDC, according to managing director U Pe Myint. One
problem encountered by CB is people attempting to borrow from three or four banks simultaneously.
Pedro Jose Bernardo at Kelvin Chia Yangon said, “the problem here is the reliability itself of the records in
the land office, and we have had situations where the records in the land office have not been updated or
where records no longer exist.
Ko Min Min Soe, a real estate agent at Mya Pantha Khin said that particular in outskirt areas people will
even put up buildings on land that other people claim to own, with the problem only becoming apparent
after the building is constructed.
Myanmar also has a registration system in place under the 1909 Registration Act, though the practice of
registration is not widely followed.
The outcomes of operating land tenure services from the client’s perspective (i.e., business,
Government, people and communities) are to achieve the following outcomes:

20 | P a g e


Figure 7 Land Tenure Performance Indicators
Maps Cover all Land Records
Farmland & Correct /
Settlements Complete
Registration of Registration of
Sub‐Division Easy New Rights is
& Maps Up‐to‐ Easy, Fast & Low
Date Township Cost
Level Land
Tenure
Operations

Land tenure security will be enhanced when these indicators for each Township of DALMS are
fulfilled to everyone’s satisfaction.
The aim is to achieve the required performance level on each of the performance indicators on a
regular basis, day to day, equally for all and within a reasonable budget and avoiding over servicing
and reducing risk of mistakes to a minimal level. On these measures the current system is failing.
The aim is to include all land tenures. The size of the task can be assessed partly by the following
chart which estimates the degree of completion of titling:
Figure 8 Status of Titling7
Estimated Status of Titling (2016, IL)
10,000,000
9,000,000
8,000,000
7,000,000
6,000,000
5,000,000 Total Parcels
4,000,000 Titled Parcels
3,000,000 Untitled Parcels
2,000,000
1,000,000
0
3 cities town & village farm upland
cities residential holdings

7
These figures are based on estimates at January 2016.
21 | P a g e

The diagram indicates that over half of the parcels in the country are titled, the biggest gaps being in
village land, town land and uplands / forest lands.
However, the above data is not a good reflection on the state of land tenure; the bigger problem is
the poor quality of the formal land title records kept by Government. The records are incomplete,
inconsistent, erroneous and do not reflect the reality on the ground. The maps are out of date as are
the registers of title. This is a big problem and holds back attainment of land tenure security
throughout the formal land tenure system.
This meant that in LAMP the data capture and correcting of land records had to be processed in
parallel prior to confirming and uploading the land records to the database. In the absence of quality
land records the advantages of investing public funds in land administration services will be lost. In
the absence of reliable quality records the staff does not want to release their land records to outside
persons.
An overall framework to formalize the informal transactions which have occurred in the past decades
in urban and rural areas is needed as part of the long term development framework for land
administration.
Once a Township’s land tenure records are reliable, accurate and up to date there are many
advantages:
Figure 9 Impacts of Better Quality Land Records
Repository
of Records
Information Fast
Exchange Transaction
Quality
Records
Confidence No Disputes
Transparent

From the above figure it can be seen that having quality land records is central to the proper servicing
and running of the Township Office. It leads to better staff morale and public confidence as well as
tangible outcomes in better service delivery in land transactions such as buying and selling. While in
the short term of LAMP the DALMS was the main beneficiary the ultimate beneficiary is the
community.
3.2. Work Programme of DALMS

Most operational work of DALMS occurs through the Township Offices. There are some 300
Township Offices and most of the staff work at this level. The District Offices are quite small and
22 | P a g e

perform a supervisory and reporting role. The work programme of DALMS Township offices consists
largely of 4 components:

Figure 10 Work Program of DALMS
Land Tenure
Land Services
Land Taxation
Crop Statistics
Land Information &
Special Services

Land Tax Assessment and Crop Statistics are both very time consuming tasks taking almost all the
time of the staff. Land information and special services varies according to the urgent demands of
Government. Normally very little time is spent on land tenure. But this will have to change. DALMS
needs to plan for serving 8 sub‐components of the land tenure programme which have been mostly
dormant for 60 years.
The table below shows that to fulfill its mandate in the new land market led economy DALMS will
need to expand its land tenure effort enormously from a very low allocation of human and other
resources:
Table 1 Analysis of Looming New and Expanded Land Tenure Services of DALMS
No Sub‐Program Status Resource Demand Condition
on DALMS
1 Update of Operating for Now‐ little In the last 50‐60 years there was
Kwin Maps 80 years but generally no updating of farmland
showing farm maps out of Future – large Kwin maps. In many cases the LUC
holdings date. demand initially to are not consistent with the Kwin
get all maps up to map.
date, then moderate
demand for
maintenance
2 Maintain Operating Now‐ none Many errors and omissions and
Farmland since 2013. inconsistencies between the Form
Register Update not Future‐ moderate to 5, the LUC, the Case File and Kwin
(Form 5) started yet. high demand map and with the reality on the
(depending on ground. Farmers not understand.
location) No system yet to keep the
Farmland Register up to date.
3 Deed Operating for Now‐ little in urban, In cities use of deed registration is
Registration 80 years in none in farms avoided for most transactions.
major urban
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No Sub‐Program Status Resource Demand Condition

on DALMS
centres; Future ‐ high In rural areas it has not started and
Registration demand would be not attractive to farmers
Act (1909) as it is too complex, expensive and
inconvenient.
4 Create Village Program Now‐ none Likely major national program to
Block Maps of never started. start in 2016 for some 5‐6 Million
Land Plots Pilot in one Future‐ large work plots. General problem of absence
village per effort to survey and of planning in most village areas.
Township in map 5‐6 M plots Special risk of formalising irregular
2015 ahead of and informal roadways/ pathways
the main making it much more difficult to
program. regularise later after title issuance
GAD keen to thus creating a big problem later.
issue grant
leases.
5 Update Block Block maps Now‐ little Very old and dilapidated block
map in Urban created since maps need to be rejuvenated and
towns and 80 years ago Future‐ large as updated and linked to the title.
secondary but very much economy grows, and No program has started. As land
cities. out of date development prices rise the poor mapping will be
and in error. increases and people exposed as disputes arise.
move to the urban
areas
6 Maintain Operating for Now‐ little Register is dilapidated and seldom
Urban 80 years in updated so contains few of the real
Register of most Districts. Future ‐ growing to transactions. Not promoted by
Grant Leases Actually used high demand DALMS. People not informed on
little. the Register I-A.
7 Other land Operating for Now‐ small & Other land tenures are shown on
tenures in 80 years growing (change of the Kwin map such as grazing land,
agricultural land use, VFV) water bodies, roads and recorded
land in Register IB. Not up to date.
Future‐ moderate Opportunity for adding value by LIS
for business, society and
Government.
8 Third Order Does not Now‐ none Survey Department maintains the
Survey exist. first and second order control. For
Control Future‐ initially large scale mapping there needs to
Network moderate to create be third order control. The
the network then alternative is a CORS system which
small work load for would require large initial
maintenance investment and high initial service
costs.

The column above on ‘now and future resource requirements’ is very revealing. The implications are
large on the need in the near future for much more effort on land tenure. Generally, there is little
recognition in DALMS and in Government to this imminent large work program of land tenure and
the extensive demands on human resources that will ensue. Land tenure has not been given many
resources for 60 years because 70% of the population had no formal rights.
24 | P a g e

The work load of land tenure will consist of two parts: (i) rejuvenating the land records and bringing
them up to date, consistent and complete and in a form that can readily be kept up to date (this is
the big hill to climb at the start); and (ii) on‐going maintenance of the land register and maps (day to
day servicing of clients). Many emerging economies have faced this problem suddenly.
The first set of decisions of Government concerns the relative resources to be allocated to the 4
programs of DALMS.
The second set of decisions concerns strategic decision making by Government on each of the land
tenure sub‐program priorities and resource allocation within the land tenure component. We can
identify at least 3 criteria for this analysis;
a. functionally (1‐8 sub‐components above);
b. land tenure type (see Error! Reference source not found.);
c. Jurisdiction (district / township across the country).
So where should the reforms begin?; on what land tenure types first?; what resources should be
allocated to the 8 land tenure sub‐programs and on what timeframe?; what parts of the country to
start in first? These questions must be addressed by Government now and not put off.
The decision making should meet a range of stakeholder interests. Government should involve civil
society and business in answering these questions. The decisions should also meet a number of
social and economic tests. Some indications of these are given in section 3.3 below but is not
exhaustive.
3.3. Effective Change in Land Administration

The roll‐out of LAMP technology throughout the country will certainly happen and the sooner the
better but it will not be fully effective until a strategic plan is developed and adopted by
Government for guiding the overall reform of land administration and reform of DALMS. This is
because human resources and finance resources are limited and because technology will not
address all of the problems.
This assertion is illustrated in the next sections. There are questions that are not easy to answer but
with proper analysis and inclusive engagements and decision making good choices can be made.
Together these choices and decisions can form the necessary roadmap for reform of land
administration.
3.3.1. Analysis of Land Tenure

Taking into account all the parameters at one time is not easy but the bubble diagram below
indicates a kind of analysis that can be useful for stimulating discussion. The chart shows the relative
value of land (x‐axis) for the 5 main tenure types. Land value is very useful because it’s a proxy for
potential land tax and for economic growth prospects.
The y‐axis shows relative level of tenure security. Village residential land while not having formal
documentation is seen as being quite secure due to long held use and possession in a closely knit
community. Hence it is seen as secure as city land because in the city the land documents are not
always reliable. Due to land grabs and erroneous land records and pressure on farm land from
speculators and investors, the farmland is seen as slightly less secure. Uplands is seen as insecure
due to; past history of land grabs; reluctance to map and title; and, lack of customary community
titling processes and suitable title instrument.
The size of each bubble is the numeric number of parcels in each tenure type (i.e. the total parcels
shown in Figure 8 Status of Titling ). The larger bubble means many more land parcels which have
both advantages and disadvantages. A larger bubble would mean; (i) more work effort needed to
25 | P a g e

complete the register rejuvenation (i.e. it relates directly to cost to perform the work); (ii) more
people would be better off (i.e. advantage); (iii) greater potential for land revenues (i.e. advantage
to Government finances).

Figure 11 Status of Land Tenure Security in Bubble Diagram
Analysis of Land Tenure in Myanmar (IL)
Note: Bubble Size is Number of Parcels
90%
80%
70% 3 cities
Tenure Security
60%
town & cities
50%
40% village residential
30%
farm holdings
20%
10% upland
0%
‐20% 0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100% 120%
Land Value
Note, for grey scale printing: the bubbles along the top line are (right to left) 3 cities, towns & cities,
village. Vertically top to bottom along the left side they are village, farm, upland.

Other data such as GDP and social conditions are not included in this diagram but can be considered
in other diagrams. For example, on a social level it is unreasonable to have the upland holders of
land low on the tenure security chart especially when their numbers are not so numerically large. On
immediate inspection of the chart it is justifiable to develop a program to raise the level of tenure
security for such upland people; and in accordance with the land use policy which would be in terms
of their traditional ways.
A second finding is that the tenure of villages is already reasonable even without land documents. In
our TA Team report on the village titling pilot (see Technical Report 24) we do not support the
suggested method of GAD for land titling. We propose the fast and low cost issuance of a limited
title or occupancy document; limited to survey. This would be subject to upgrade later to a grant
lease as resources are available and as the village is regularized. It would still allow the plots to be
subject to land tax. It would not tie up too many valuable DALMS resources which could be used for
other higher priority land tenure tasks.
The larger towns and the cities will be the ultimate drivers of family incomes in the long term. Land
tenure security and responsive land services are essential‐ there is much to be done. For example,
updating the urban block maps is a large task. There is an estimated 17,000 block maps existing in
the country of which 8,000 would be under DALMS update program (excluding the 3 cities) and an
estimated 50,000 block maps to be eventually created under DALMS survey and mapping program in
support of urban and village titling.

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Figure 12 Urban Block Maps for Update and New Creation by DALMS (estimate)
Estimate of Number of Urban Block Maps in the Whole
Country for Various Land Types
60,000
50,000
40,000
30,000 Block Maps for Update
20,000 Block Maps for Create
10,000
0
3 cities town & cities village total
residential

While urban areas offer higher incomes the process of stepping out is gradual. In the meantime the
family farm is essential for sustenance of poor and uneducated families. A decision on the balance of
priorities is needed and put into a strategic context for assigning resources of the land
administration sector of Government.
The vast majority of Kwin Maps are out of date by 50 years and there is a lot of work to do to bring
them all up to date. But most of the farmlands are covered by Kwin maps. Excluding any decision on
the kind of mapping for uplands the status is estimated as follows:
Figure 13 Status of Coverage of Kwin Maps
Existing and Un‐Surveyed Kwin
Maps in Farmlands
100,000
80,000
60,000
40,000
20,000
0
Surveyed Un‐Surveyed

Unsurveyed agricultural land where the land is farmed by individual families should be surveyed and
Kwin maps made to avoid loss of rights to speculators on so called VFV lands.
3.3.2. Analysis of Land Tax and Crop Statistics Programs of DALMS

The Farmland tax system is grossly inefficient. It should be stopped or reformed. It is manual and
very tedious to operate. It costs 150 Kyat to receive 1 Kyat in the best situation. It consumes a huge
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amount of DALMS human resources on land tax assessment. The problem cannot be solved by
increasing the tax rates. The whole approach is ineffective.
LAMP performed a study on how to improve the tax assessment program. The first LAMP report
describes the history of farmland tax and makes a detailed proposal for a new approach with
benefits explained. The second report demonstrates the approach with real examples and gives
detail on the cost in staff labour of implementation compared to the existing method. The approach
uses land value as the basis of taxation where land value is determined from capitalized net income
not from market sales (due to the limited knowledge and few sales).
Figure 14 Tax Assessment Roll by Computer

The report describes the many positive impacts that the proposed approach would provide and the
much greater cost effectiveness and practical feasibility. Beyond immediate benefits of land taxation
there are benefits to policy makers: (i) policy makers need only to set one figure each year as the tax
rate not multiple rates for different crops (also if the policy maker does not set the rate for several
years the tax will still increase due to increasing land value); (ii) the process generates information
on land values in each VT and in each Kwin which is useful for other government programs and for
the land market generally; (iii) tax rates can start low and be increased later; (iv) the method is
progressive and encourages best land use; (v) no distortions; (vi) transparent (vii) it is easily
explainable to the people because the farmers already have some idea on the value of the farm land
per acre.
The savings in DALMS staff are very large; up to 80%. More details are given at section 7.4 of this
report (see also TA Reports 19 and 20); there are 9 recommendations in TA Report 20.

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for an Average Village Tract (5 Kwins)
Comparison of Effort for Annual Land Tax Assessment
(person‐days)
300.0
250.0
200.0
150.0
Annual
100.0 Effort
50.0
0.0
Simple PC Tools (Without Existing Conventional
Access to LAMP Data Base) Process (Register II)

The crop statistics and reporting system is similarly manpower intensive and inefficient. The
effectiveness of land holding level and field level crop data is in question. The extent of reporting is
in question. The LAMP study makes two major recommendations to dramatically reduce the cost of
the crop statistics programme; to implement sampling technique and use at least PC
computerization with spreadsheets. This will help to allow time for DALMS to visit all Kwins 3 times
per year and will remove the chance of transcription errors in the many steps of reporting. As a
result the quality of reports will be higher and standardized. The cost analysis shows up to 85%
saving in labour. More details are given at section 7.4 of this report (see also TA Report 22).
An advantage of moving the basis of land taxation to a land value base is that any conflict in data
with the crop statistics program is removed.
Both programs would need to be phased in and the Township roll‐out would need to be carefully
planned under a change management program taking care with establishing the necessary skills in
the staff, quality control and would almost certainly involve re‐organizing the offices.
3.3.3. Land Information System and One Map Policy of Government

An extension of the study on crop statistics reporting considered land information in rural areas. This
is an application commonly called Land Information System.
Many Government agencies would like to have access to large scale maps8 in their area of work for
planning and operations. This is equally true in urban and rural areas. In the absence of such maps
the agencies work on whatever is available. The concept of sharing land information within
Government and the community is growing in interest. The new national land use policy of
Government emphasizes the management of land information in computer form and the sharing of
such data. Already the Government has launched the “One Map Project” under donor funding from
SDC (Swiss) but it will only be as effective as the available maps; currently there are very few large
scale topographic maps available in rural areas.
The concept as it might apply to DALMS in rural areas is as follows: “Once a DALMS Township has
digitised their Kwin maps it has a very valuable asset which could be shared with other local
agencies. LAMP has provided the technology and know‐how to create the DCDB of the Township.

8
Large scale maps are usually considered of scale 1:10,000 and larger (1:4,000 or 1:2,000 or 1:1,000).
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LAMP also provides an integrated data base for recording land ownership and other data linked to
the land parcel. It can produce both hardcopy maps and digital spatial and textual files. There is also
high resolution imagery taken recently from a space satellite which is stored within the database. All
the data is linked and compatible through the LAMP LRMS database. This provides an opportunity
for DALMS to add greater value to the economy than only from its discrete and standard work
programs”. The study considers the kind of products that could be supplied by DALMS in the future
once LAMP technology is installed at a Township DALMS office. The applications of topographic
mapping are considered in addition to mapping of types of crops and land valuation zones. This is
shown at section 7.4 of this report and at TA Report 22.
Nevertheless, the recommendation of this report is that DALMS should give top priority to its
mandated functions and to the 8 new sub‐components of land tenure before embarking on LIS.
3.4. Getting on the Right Path to Reform of Land Administration Services

From a close reading of this chapter it can be seen that there are serious limitations in the LAM
services and land records of the country, that the ongoing work programs cannot continue, that
expectation of change for the better by the people and business are high, and that the work load to
fix the problems is daunting.
DALMS on its own cannot cope with the changes needed because its scope of power rests with
technical solutions only. Much effort is spent on fixing each particular land problem while the root
cause of weak land administration is not being fixed. DALMS cannot expect to get much more
increase in staff and will need to use the existing staff ceilings and operating budget much more
effectively. The innovations of LAMP indicate the benefits that are possible but this will not be
enough without a reform strategy and leadership of the reform.
Without external intervention from top levels of Government there will be only little improvement.
There are choices to be made by Government as explained above.
There is a major reform to be designed and implemented so that the land sector of Myanmar meets
the expectations of all of its citizens and that Myanmar is competitive in the Region. Good
governance of the land sector is the aim. The national land use policy is useful but in the context of
establishing a well performing land administration it is a part of the solution only because the
implementation of better services is the bigger problem.
This report is based on LAMP experience shows that there are ample opportunities to meet the
needs and demands of the community and business for much improved land administration services.
Figure 16 Change Management
One of the keys to success will be adopting a change management approach. The health
of the land sector depends on the Government land systems. However, DALMS has too
many complex problems to handle on a day to day or ‘business as usual’ basis.
There needs to be leadership from the top and a carefully crafted Roadmap. LAMP
already has established a Vision and it needs to be enabled by the planning of many small
steps on a suitable timescale. Building staff skills and institutional strengthening must be
progressive throughout the journey to the Vision. The land sector must be re‐focused on
its clients‐ the people, the business man as well as Government. There must be
milestones defined and independent monitoring of progress with transparent
adjustments to the plan.

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Reforming the operations of DALMS can only be properly addressed in a change management
context over time. DALMS is a very large organisation with some 8,000 surveyors and 14,000 staff
overall. DALMS has a huge amount of rules and laws directing it from over 100 years and most of
the laws are from the Colonial period.
Figure 17 Update of Kwin Map (Thayarwaddy, 2015)

Getting onto the right reform path for land administration and making adjustments along the way
to stay on an effective reform path should be a top level objective of Government. The matters to
consider in framing the way forward include:
(i) Establish a strategic framework for reform of land administration based on; the reality
on the ground, in the land record cabinets and in the Township service performance;
based on the land use policy and other policies; based on the needs of the community,
business and Government sectors; based on the human resources of DALMS9; and
based on the opportunities shown in LAMP. Make the choices and inform. Obtain buy‐
in to the long term reforms and obtain leadership at high level of Government for the
reforms.
(ii) Determine the required relationships, cooperation and information sharing protocols
between the 3 main land administration agencies (DALMS, SD and GAD). Determine
the degree of inclusion into the reforms of the functions of SD and GAD.
(iii) Set the priority for each land administration sub‐program within the strategic
framework. Involve stakeholders in making the strategy and priorities. Establish high
level indicators of performance of land tenure security for all and measure and report.
Reform existing work programs of DALMS to release resources for the big 8 functions
that are required to support land tenure security.
(iv) Anchor the implementation of the strategy in a long term development plan which
describes the detailed nature of the changes and resource requirements.

9
In the strategic planning process the role of human resources is to shape the methodology and to influence
the pace of change but not to distort the strategic direction. The strategy should materially change the HR
policies, re‐organisation and training and recruitment plans as well as the mix of in‐house and out sourced
functions. This especially applies to “the Hill” above; this is the large load of work at the start of each Township
when the land records are captured and missing and erroneous records are corrected.
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(v) Continually monitor and adjust the programs within the strategic framework.
Resources must be assigned in line with the priorities and strategic objectives. Targets
must be set according to the strategy. The accountability must be to a high level else
the chance that the reforms will get off the right track.
(vi) Institutional change needs to be well managed because there are deeply vested
interests in keeping the current system as it is. Resistance to change in all agencies of
Government is well known but from experience change is always strongly resisted in
the land sector in all countries. Performance management must be established for
accountability, for cost effectiveness and to maintain the momentum of continual
improvement. Leadership must be from Government at a high level. There are choices
and priorities to be clearly set by overt action and communicated with all.
(vii) Engagement with professional experts and the land sector to revise land related laws
is important to meet the land use policy (such as customary land) and to allow more
effective and efficient implementation of the land administration services. Reform of
land laws and rules must be prioritized and aligned to the strategy and the pace of
reform especially on registration of land transactions, land taxation, NSDI, expansion
of settlements (villages and towns). The reforms should not wait for the land laws to
be revised but should run I parallel;
(viii) The pace of change must be carefully crafted. The pace of change would be better
dictated from outside DALMS. Otherwise, immediate problems will take priority, cost
efficiency will not be a driving force of reform and the comfort in using the old systems
will blunt the move to much greater effectiveness. Whatever the pace of change it
must be within a long term development framework because there is so much to
change and so much opportunity for far greater effectiveness.
(ix) A service oriented culture will take time to take root. An attitude of service can be
accelerated through consistent and clear leadership and implementation of change
management.
(x) Service standards and quality control must be the kernel of future DALMS activities.
The nature of the changes must be aimed at both establishing working land
administration services initially and continuing the services. The career of senior staff
must rest on delivering according to the standards not on political connections. Land
records must not be entered to the database while in error (i.e. avoid ‘garbage in –
costly garbage out’).
(xi) Cost of services must be controlled and benchmarked and cost consciousness
imbedded into operational management. Eventually, once the land records are
rejuvenated in a digital form and land services fully operational, cost recovery can be
considered at Township level at places where the land market is active.
(xii) The price of formal land registration to the client must be reasonable and encourage
full participation by all the people so that all enjoy land tenure security equally. Land
Transfer taxes must be low while annual taxes should be higher and with a waiver for
low value land to protect the poor.
(xiii) The land tenure systems can be much more efficiently implemented as
demonstrated by the LAMP innovations. Revision of the work programs, work
methods, resource allocations, organisation and job descriptions and technologies is
needed as well as re‐skilling staff and re‐organizing around specialist tasks and routine
tasks.
(xiv) Wide public information campaigns with the people are needed. These can be better
implemented in partnership with the private sector and selected NGOs.
(xv) The role and engagement with stakeholders should be established so that the clients
of the land administration services of Government have a ‘buy‐in’ to helping on the
reforms. Civil society and business have resources which can assist greatly.
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(xvi) The DALMS office buildings which support the staff and the land records and serve the
customers at the Township levels are in very poor condition. There are no strong
rooms for valuable land records. There is no customer service area. A new building
construction program is required based on a properly designed Township Office.
(xvii) Once core services are being delivered DALMS could introduce value added products
either on its own or in partnership with private sector. LIS products such as large scale
maps could be introduced.
This is the strategic direction for DALMS and largely for land administration reform in Myanmar. We
believe that this is only achievable with high level ownership and leadership. This is the time for
seriously taking on the reform. With a bold and clearly visible move the Government will find there
are plenty of people, donors and others of good will who will come on board and assist on this
“change”.

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4. DESCRIPTION OF LAMP
4.1. Introduction
LAMP is a program of 5 phases and it is also a project. This report is the terminal report of the LAMP
Project which was the first phase of the long term program. The vision and long term program is
described at APPENDIX 4. LAMP Project was implemented by DALMS within the Ministry of
Agriculture and Irrigation and with technical assistance from UN‐Habitat in accordance with the LOA
between UN‐Habitat and DALMS. The funding was provided by LIFT according to the agreement
between UN‐Habitat and LIFT. The project design was completed in 2013 and documented in the
report on LAMP Project Scope (August 201310). A summary of the project is shown at APPENDIX 3.
The key information on the LAMP Project is as follows11:
Table 2 Key Information on LAMP Project
Item Date Item Date
Project Location Thayarwaddy, LOA Signed between SLRD 18 June 2014
Myingyan / DALMS & UN‐Habitat
Contract Start 2 October 2012 Operational Duration 20 months
Contract End 29 February 2016 DALMS Project Leader U Min Min
Start of Project 1 January 2013 Location of TA Team Yankin
Amendments to Agreement 2 Project Budget US $ 2,329,736

The project is a technical assistance project and is concerned with identifying the real limitations and
addressing them. The TA Team acknowledges the implementing agency, DALMS, for its commitment
to facing 60 year old problems and for working closely and sincerely with the TA Team. This is the only
way that an institutional building project can be successful. The views in this progress report are those
of the LAMP TA Team. The TA Team is equally pleased with the strong support of the LIFT staff
involved in monitoring the project and the strong interest of the farmers such as at Myingyan below:
Figure 18 Public Display of Land Maps and Land Rights Builds Trust and Confidence

10
Updated third draft on March 2014.
11
During the period a project web page was established at UN‐Habitat Myanmar’s new web site at
www.unhabitat.org.mm ‐ the LAMP Project page contains a number of articles on various aspects of the work
of LAMP.
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4.2. Relevance of the Project Design

The Land Administration and Management Program (LAMP) has relevance on several dimensions to
the existing condition of the rural people of Myanmar. These areas of relevance are social, political,
economic and institutional:
Socially, the culture and traditions of the main groups and the many small ethnic groups each have a
unique connection to land which have spiritual and community as well as personal and family aspects.
The land to people relationship must be well appreciated by Government and be reflected in the
service delivery mechanisms for people to actively and freely participate in the formal system.
However, the current formal system does not meet the needs of some of the people such as in
customary held lands and deed registration is too complex for the poor and less educated.
Politically, there are several issues. The Constitution requires that only citizens may hold primary
rights in land and that the State owns the land. These principles do not always sit well with the land
to people relationship that has existed for a long time in traditional communities. Further, there are
many cases of loss of land without due process, and the development of a grievance process is
undeveloped. In addition, access to land for the landless is a problem which has potential for causing
instability. The issue of returning IDPs to land which has already been re‐allocated is also a political
problem. The so called squatters in urban areas are also a political problem because the poor complain
that they have nowhere to stay.
Economically, the outputs from the rural farmlands are low by regional standards and there are a
number of reasons, including lack of tenure security and ability to raise loans on reasonable terms and
amounts. Access to markets and job opportunities for landless and under‐utilized labour is also a
problem. With very high rural poverty the objective of the donor community is to address this poverty
so that Myanmar may move its people along a steady increase in living standards which will allow
future generations to be much better prepared for higher value occupations in the developing market
economy. Beyond the farmlands, experience dictates that the urban sector will be a big driver of the
economy, health and education services and source of jobs. A well performing land sector is important
for efficiency of doing business and for avoiding a deteriorating living condition in cities and towns.
DALMS has land administration responsibilities in both urban and rural sectors.
At the institutional level, LAMP is being implemented by a partnership of UN‐Habitat with the DALMS
of MoAI. LAMP has developed innovative solutions. However, DALMS is an organisation which has
seen little change in over 50 years and many of the land records and processes were prepared in the
19th Century. The implications of the change are significant on the institution and its culture and norms
and practices as well as HR management and budgets. It will not happen automatically and left to its
own devises the change will be slow. An alternative path is for a higher rate of change coming from
close support and direction from MOAI or higher level of Government.
For farmers, the advantage of better land services and record keeping by DALMS through new
techniques of LAMP will be increased land tenure security and better access to credit. For most people
their land title will be the most valuable asset they will ever own. The issuance of the land use
certificate to families on farm lands provides evidence of security of the asset and reduces the risk of
land grabbing while offering the opportunity for raising loans on reasonable terms. Land grabbing on
farms issued already with land titles should be much more difficult. The person/s named in the LUC
has rights to use the land as well as rights of transfer and mortgage.
About 70% of the population resides in the rural areas and the vast majority earns their living from
the land either as land owners or laborers. Under an accelerated program the DALMS issued farmland
LUC titles during 2013‐14. The number of LUC issued was estimated as 8‐9 Million12.

12
official figures place the total at about 9.3M according to DALMS.
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In placing trust in formal land records to overcome lack of confidence in land tenure there is an
assumption that no mistakes were made in original titling and secondly, that the Government can
maintain the land records accurately up to date. These assumptions have now been tested in LAMP
during 2015 and found to be invalid. The fact is that there are a huge number of errors in land records
and the deed registration system is moribund outside the large cities.
The conclusion from LAMP is that Government needs to take on reform of the land administration
sector as a priority; the institutional, work programme and performance measures, human
resources, technical, infrastructure, land records and marketing with its clients; all need to be
reformed together. Without leadership there will be only technical change and at a slow pace.
When the land administration capacity is weak it is the poor and illiterate who are most at risk. On the
other hand a well‐performing land administration gives opportunities to all for greater social and
economic growth.
As the project was finishing it could be seen that recent developments have amplified the importance
of a successful land administration reform and the place that LAMP should take in leading to the next
stage, the long term strategic planning.
These key developments include:
 The election in late 2015 has demonstrated clearly that the electorate wants change to
improve the living condition of all the people. Land is a fundamental and limited resource that
needs to be well managed.
 The move to a market led economy is gathering momentum. As in all market economies it
will require a much more robust, reliable and transparent land administration system than
the one in place now.
 The assertion of human rights is less muted than before. Past grievances are being aired. This
is a positive sign for the better protection of the rights of the poor and less educated who are
often the first to lose in a rampant market led economy.
 The national land use policy was approved by the Cabinet. This immediately leads to the
drafting of an umbrella Land Law and the subsequent replacement of many obsolete land
related laws. Many of the new directions of LAMP appear as new policy directions‐ these are
shown at APPENDIX 6 and are focused around land tenure security, quality record keeping
and sharing core digital data in a whole of Governance model.
 A number of donor funded projects in the land sector are operational. The National Land
Resource Council has issued policy on data integration and sharing and the SDC funded One
map has started as well as USAID’s TGCC.
 More and more DALMS is getting special requests for land information and assistance which
is very hard to achieve due to the manual records, missing records, dilapidated records and
erroneous and inconsistent records. This makes the work very difficult for the staff and
frustrating for the Government and public.
 There are attempts by the Parliament, Courts and NGOs to resolve land grab disputes. The
resolution relies to some large extent on the records of DALMS in farmlands.
 Recently the GAD issued an order to start pilot titling of residential rural villages. There are
some 5‐6 million plots to be titled.
 It can be anticipated that property taxation will become much more important in the future,
albeit beginning small. At the moment the property taxes are inefficient. LAMP has carried
out a study which would allow the Government to begin a new and more effective farmland
tax and could be extended to residential property because it is based on land value.
 The country has a problem with registration of land transactions. Many land transactions are
informal and never registered. LAMP has prepared a short term and long term strategy.

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4.2.1. Land Sector Performance

The land sector is contentious with past and ongoing land grabs by influential persons, conflicts and
attempts by many INGOs and NGOs to protect vulnerable communities from future loss of land and
farming traditions. As an example, there is a major emphasis of NGOs and donors on protecting
customary land rights and this has seen the new land use policy reflect a change in policy on customary
rights. A near term problem will be IDPs wanting to return to their homes which, in many cases, have
been lost. Their farms have been taken. This will test the goodwill, the ability to negotiate new policy
and will require the best practices in land administration, especially land adjudication, ADR and land
records rejuvenation.
More broadly there are military conflicts in some parts of the country and a push by particular ethnic
groups for a fully federal system of government. At the same time private industry is active in seeking
to secure access to farmlands for commercial plantations and farms. In the bigger picture the land
mass of Myanmar is in a strategic location lying between India and China, being part of Asian, and
already providing strategic pipelines for oil and gas to S‐E China and to Thailand, by‐passing the usual
shipping route through the Strait of Malacca. Myanmar has valuable mineral and timber resources as
well as arable land. The result is strong investment interest in Myanmar and related threats of uneven
economic growth for the people and very rapid increases in land prices. An uncontrolled and non‐
transparent land market can further disadvantage the poor especially where land records are
unreliable.
With all these forces on the land sector the Government’s lands offices are feeling the pressure to
provide reliable land records and responsive land services. The systems and records are in poor
condition and have not been well maintained for the last 60 years. Buildings and equipment are
dilapidated. However, DALMS offices are well staffed and have busy work programs mainly in
agricultural crop reporting and land tax assessments. The land tenure function is in major need of
strengthening; both the deed registration system and the maintenance of Register I‐A of ownership
have been variously abandoned or run down in Township offices. In addition, the foundation for the
land tenure system in farmlands, the Kwin maps, have not been updated for very many years. Of most
concern the quality of the newly issued titles is very poor and the backup and supporting documents
in the office have many errors and gaps and conflicting information.

4.2.2. Market Led Economy

With the market led economy it is essential that the Government operates a trust worthy land
administration system. It is not optional. LAMP scope and directions must be pursued into Stage 2,
the preparation of a long term development plan and beyond with the roll‐out of the plan.
Two articles below emphasis the awareness in the banking industry of the need but also the
limitations of the existing system.
Figure 19 Mortgaging Farmlands Starts with First Commercial Bank
News Article [From MyLAFF on 11 June 2015 http://www.mmtimes.com/index.php/business/14962‐
apex‐to‐lend‐against‐farm‐permits.html ]
Myanmar Apex Bank will begin allowing farmers to access bank loans by using their work permit
certificates as collateral, according to bank chair U Chit Khine. The Form‐7 certificates [LUC‐ added by
IDL] were created with the 2012 Farm Land Law, functioning as a farmland work permit certificate for
people with the right to farm a particular plot of land. Apex will now offer three‐year loans to
farmers of K400,000 per acre using the certificates as collateral, U Chit Khine said at a ceremony held
in Danubyu township of Ayeyarwady Region. “We haven’t seen enough support to the agricultural
sector to develop. That’s why we’re launching this system,” he said. “It should become widely
37 | P a g e

adopted, but we’ve launched it in Danubyu first, as a test.”
U Chit Khine is not only the chair of Myanmar Apex Bank but also head of local conglomerate Eden
Group, with businesses in the agriculture industry. The program started lending against the Form‐7
of 275 farmers in Danubyu township, with total value of K596 million (US$542,000). Interest rates are
13 percent a year, the maximum allowed by law. U Chit Khine said Apex is the first bank to lend
against Form‐7. Land titles is by far the preferred method of collateral for domestic banks,
accounting for over 90pc of lending.

The article goes on to add:
Apex will try not to take possession of the right to work the farmland if a farmer has trouble with his
or her debt, he said. Land that is seized due to non‐payment will be sold to other farmers. “Farmland
should be in the hand of farmers. That’s why we plan to adopt a system where default farmers’ land
is sold at auction to other small farmers, who can continue their business,” said U Chit Khine.
Agriculture experts say there is a significant need for capital in the sector, though some question on
what scale the program can be implemented.
Myanmar farmers generally use the cheapest techniques, often skimping on inputs like fertiliser and
insecticide that would improve yields. Still, it generally costs K80,000 to K100,000 an acre for the
difference costs, including to hire labourers. “The number of workers for planting and harvesting
paddy is growing scarce, so we have to hire machines,” said U Thein Win, a farmer from Hti Kway
village in Danubyu. “Costs are going higher – thank god we are getting a better price for paddy these
days.” U Thein Win, who farms on 15 acres, said he is keen on Apex’s loans partly due to their long,
three‐year term. He added that the market price for 100 baskets of paddy is K300,000 to K350,000,
while an acre’s lowest yield is about 60 baskets.

Figure 20 Risks in Mortgaging Farmlands
News Article [Htoo Thant, Myanmar Times, 02 July 2015]
“The Central Bank asked all the banks if they would offer loans to farmers by mortgaging farmland.
Out of 22 banks, only five banks said that they would. The other banks said they would be reluctant
to do so,” said U Set Aung to Vice President U Nyan Tun, the head of the leading committee.
He added that banks are concerned about the risk of fake ownership documents, because they have
already had to deal with false ownership documents for properties including houses, apartments and
land.
“Even for houses and residential land, fake ownership documents are made and people can even
take out loans from two or more banks by showing them each the original documents. Banks are
concerned about this,” U Set Aung said.

He didn’t say which banks have faced such cases. The Central Bank has been working with the
International Finance Corporation to tackle issues with false ownership documents.
Banks are beginning to adopt an electronic security registry, said U Set Aung. When the system is in
place, farmers will be able to use not only farmland but cattle as collateral.

4.3. Background
Key milestones to the start‐up of LAMP were:
 Approval of LAMP by FERD, 11 February 2014
 Soft kick‐off on 26 February 2014;
 Signing of Letter of Agreement between DALMS and UN‐Habitat, 18 June 2014
 Approval by LIFT Board of revised scope, work plan and budget and signing of the Revised
Agreement between UN‐Habitat and LIFT, 20 June 2014;
 Kick‐off in the first Township (Thayarwady), June 2014;
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 Kick‐off in the second Township (Myingyan), August 2014;
 Renovation of the DALMS office in Yangon for UN‐Habitat LAMP staff to take office in first
week August 2014;

Figure 21 Signing of the LAMP Letter of Agreement between DALMS and UN‐
Habitat occurred in NPT on 18 June 2014.
At the meeting on 18 June 2014 the DG of DALMS assigned an overall coordinator (U Min Min, Deputy
Director Lower Myanmar DALMS located in Yangon) and a technical coordinator (U Min Thein, Deputy
Director Survey and Mapping Division, NPT).
The amendment to the Agreement for funding of LAMP was signed on 20 June 2014 after approval by
the LIFT Fund Board. The timeframe of LAMP was extended to 29 February 2016. A summary of LAMP,
its development and changes, is given at APPENDIX 3 SUMMARY OF LAMP A plotting of the events
on the path to project approval is documented at APPENDIX 5 KEY DATES DURING LAMP.
A Letter of Agreement was signed on 18 June 2014 which allowed the project operations to fully
commence.
Change is challenging to
Government staff. The
process of change must be
well managed with a clear
vision and set of ‘road
markers’ or progress targets,
and with a sound appreciation
of the existing situation. The
organisation and competence
of the staff must be aligned to
the targets and not to out
dated modes of operations.
Work program efficiency and
impacts must be measured
and accountable.
39 | P a g e

4.4. The DALMS Project Township Sites

There is one project township in lower Myanmar (Thayarwaddy) and one in the Dry Zone (Myingyan).
Both have a long history of keeping land records.
Thayarwady Township (Lower Myanmar)
The township is mostly agricultural land with a The district records office contains land records
little forest land in the north‐east (shown) and maps over 80 years old

Kwin maps need updating where roads and irrigation canals were made in the last few decades
Figure 22 Photos from Thayarwaddy Township (2014)

The key data on the township at site selection stage is shown below:
Table 3 Thayarwaddy Key Data
Item Value Item Value
Travel time from 3 hours Area (sq km) 255,290 Acre
Yangon (road) (1,033 sq km)
Population 156,000 Village Tracts 48
Staff ‐ field 36 Villages 262
Staff ‐ office 4 Towns 2
Staff – vacant posts 3 Cities 0
Forest land yes Kwin maps 331
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Unsurveyed areas yes Block maps exist13 32

Space for IT room yes Internet yes
DALMS owned land yes Existing GPS‐D yes14

DALMS also made a short list of two townships in the dry zone as candidates for the second site. UN‐
Habitat team visited both sites and discussed with DALMS staff and made a report on suitability on
each. Both Myingyan and Khuekse were identified as suitable but Myingyan was judged as more
suitable. The kick‐off meeting took place in August 2014.
Myingyan Township (Dry Zone)
Figure 23 Myingyan has need for rural and peri‐urban update mapping as well as urban
mapping
(see town map above and briefing to staff by LAMP team in 2014)

The key data on Myingyan at project site selection is as follows:
Table 4 Myingyan Key Data
Item Value Item Value
Travel time 1.5 hrs (flight to Area 239,544 acres
Bagan) plus
(969 sq km)
1.5 hrs (road to
Myingyan)
Population15 273,345 Village Tracts 66
Staff ‐ field 51 Villages 185
Staff ‐ office 5 Towns 1

13
Block maps are produced in formal urban areas at map scale 64 inches to the mile.
14
GPS computations are performed at the training centre (CLRDTC).
15
Urban population (wards) = 79,809, Rural population (villages) = 193,536
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Staff – vacant 16 Cities 0

posts16
Forest land None (0%) Wards 20
Unsurveyed areas None Kwin maps17 392
Space for IT room Yes Block maps exist 69
DALMS owned Yes Internet No
land18
Computer PC 2 Existing GPS‐D 1 RTK‐GPS set

The particular features are:
Rural Pilot (Main):
There are 10 priority Kwin maps for updating and 15 Kwin maps for re‐survey. See list
attached.
There are about 100 maps in all need to be subject to process of updating. There are
no areas requiring original survey. There are 392 Kwin maps in the township which is
larger than most Townships and would be a large task for digitising.
Peri‐Urban Farmland Pilot:
There are 6 Kwin in peri‐urban area needing to be updated.
Urban Pilot:
There is an area of the formal town that needs survey for making block maps. It is
Ward 19. During May 2015 we were informed that DALMS no longer wishes to pursue
this work.
LIS Pilot:
The town has a very large population and will expand into the nearby farmlands. There
is a need for land information to help to properly manage this land conversion
process.
Valuation Zoning Pilot:
The land market is active especially in farming land along the roads.
The DALMS allocated office space for the UN‐Habitat lands team inside the DALMS main building in
Yankin, Yangon. The renovations were completed and furniture and equipment procured. The team
moved in during August 2014. This was an important step towards better change management as the
team is located in the same building as the DALMS’s LAMP coordinator.
The renovated office was also used as a delivery point for the equipment where items were checked
and software loaded onto PCs prior to shipment to the three DALMS offices.

16
Field staff vacancy = 13, office staff vacancy = 3
17
excluding alluvial land; total number of kwins = 427
18
DALMS has applied to GAD for grant land for district/township office.
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5. LESSONS FROM PROJECT IMPLEMENTATION

This chapter reviews the overall lessons specific to the project’s purpose and results. Details on
project completion are provided in chapter 6 and 7 as well as in the Gantt chart at APPENDIX 18.
PROJECT PURPOSE: “The purpose of the project is to strengthen land administration and management
in rural and urban pilot sites.”
This would be achieved through five outputs (see LAMP results frame):
i. Effective first registration system developed and pilot tested;
ii. System for subsequent registration of land transactions developed and tested;
iii. Change management process designed and implemented;
iv. New application systems developed, pilot tested and evaluated;
v. Lessons documented.
5.1. Lessons on Project Purpose

The purpose of LAMP would be achieved by delivering better land processes and correcting land
records at the Township level of DALMS. This was the main thrust of the Minister’s direction for the
project re‐design in 2013. It is understandable because the systems and procedures in DALMS are
from the colonial era. While the project would not change any laws or policies the Minister wanted
the project to develop and demonstrate innovative and better ways of delivering its services and
keeping its land records.
There were 4 key steps to attaining the project purpose; (i) creating innovative solutions to the
existing limitations in land services at DALMS; (ii) testing and documenting the new methods and
technologies; (iii) ordinary DALMS staff actually applying the new methods in the work place; (iv)
recognition of the improvements.
Advancement on the reforms / change through these 4 key steps has been:
i. The team has performed internal studies to identify and understand better the limitations in
the key operational areas concerning land tenure and related work programs. The studies
describe better approaches. There were land tenure studies on; land adjudication and land
records; land surveying; deed registration; Kwin map digitizing and map update; database and
software design; data capture strategy; village titling; and cost of mapping. Land records
management was addressed through the design of a computerized data base system. All of
these studies were documented and completed. The reports show the way forward to better
systems for DALMS (see list of reports at APPENDIX 13 LAMP PRODUCED TECHNICAL
DOCUMENTS). In particular a prototype system was developed and progressively improved
based on actual experience in using it at the townships. In this way the most relevant system
was designed and developed and ensured full feedback from the users as the staff of DALMS.
Further, beyond land tenure, the LAMP Project examined better ways for land tax assessment
and also for crop statistics and new opportunities to add value from the land data base with
LIS applications such as large scale topographic mapping.
ii. The new methods were implemented, tested and proven at two Townships. In less than 12
months some 70,000 sets of land records were captured into the new database system and
20 Kwin maps digitised to fully test the new applications. For sustainability and consistency in
the performance of the new processes LAMP documented the new processes into detailed
43 | P a g e

steps for DALMS staff to follow. The steps were documented in 16 discrete work instructions
for ease of applying at the work place and as training material.
iii. The DALMS staff performed the operational work of Kwin map surveys and digitizing the Kwin
maps and Block maps as well as third order surveys after receiving the LAMP training. Survey
staff also operated the quality control and matching software for identifying the errors in the
existing records and followed up missing and erroneous land records. The DALMS staff at
township level has many tasks. Some are more time consuming than land tenure related tasks.
LAMP developed township work plans. The work plans included time bound output targets
for each activity. But at the same time, the work plan was not complex and allowed the staff
officer to assign staff across activities as he feels appropriate. The ownership of the work plan
rested with the staff officer. The Staff Officer at each site assigned the staff. This staff doing
the operations was the staff that was trained so that there was maximum efficiency in the
training program. Lessons were learned on the staff capacity.
iv. DALMS recognizes that the modernization of the Township offices is the only way to meet the
requirements of their large and growing work programs and to attain quality and up to date
land records. The LAMP LRMS is of great relevance to DALMS since the volume of land records
is huge and can only be managed within a RDBMS environment. The easy user interface,
emphasis on correcting land records and transaction control is of most direct importance. In
the absence of a baseline questionnaire the level of confidence of farmers could not be
objectively obtained. However, through village meetings the FAB and farmers reported a
higher level of satisfaction in the ground survey and the publishing of the Kwin map and list
of names at the VT Office.
At the wrap‐up workshop with DALMS HQ at NPT on 26 February 2016 Dr Win Htut said that LAMP
had provided a lot of information and DALMS had got a lot of experience and would try to extend to
other Townships. The Deputy Director of Department of Planning Daw Khin Mar Oo said at the same
meeting that capacity building of DALMS was a priority of the Ministry and that the Ministry would
look forward to the Terminal Report on LAMP. She also mentioned that the PS has said that LAMP was
a good project and it is needed to know how best to include other Townships. Near the end of the
wrap‐up workshop Dr Win Htut said that challenges for DALMS are to change the institutional culture
and attitude of the staff, to coordinate with some other departments and to have more discussions
with Government on the complexities in the work.
A strategy and long term plan is needed to address how to roll‐out the modernization since the HR,
training, technology, logistic, cost effectiveness; financing and management challenges are daunting.
DALMS is responding at the technical level in surveying but much more needs to be done and support
given to DALMS.
This final report should assist DALMS in informing Government on these matters and the best way
forward, and not to leave DALMS on its own to ‘navigate through the rough waters’ of reform of land
administration.
5.2. Challenges in Implementation

The major policy related lessons and challenges are detailed in this report in section Error! Reference
source not found.. Here we describe the main operational challenges and responses during project
implementation:
(i) Quality of Land Records
 It was recognized at project design that the Kwin maps were not up to date but the very
poor condition of the recently prepared LUC and case file documents was a surprise. The
land records underpin the validity, authority and integrity of the ‘root of title’. Most
efforts in system development in LAMP have been directed to identifying the many
44 | P a g e

errors and providing simple and effective tools for fixing the errors while at the same
time ensuring the integrity of the process of change.
 A suitable database system for recording the land records with a balanced approach to
scanning and key data entry was an important development approach.
The paradigm is illustrated below where the main elements involved in the solution to fixing
the errors are shown:
Figure 24 Elements Necessary to Purge Bad Records and Restore Missing Land Records
Digitise
Kwin
Map
Public LUC Case
Display File
Quality
Records
Land
Matching
Register
Records
(form 5)
Update
Survey

 In every Township office the initial task of data capture and cleaning and updating the
land records will be large effort. But thereafter the work will be much easier and reliable.
 The DALMS staff came to quickly realise the importance of accurate, up to date, complete
and compatible land records and maps.
 The condition of the urban land records is something that ‘frightens” the staff.
(ii) Logistics
 Installing IT equipment at the Township level of DALMS such as servers, GIS workstations,
large format plotters and scanners and document scanners and so on had not been done
before. The buildings are dusty and generally poor condition and electricity wiring of
limited strength. These problems were overcome by renovations. The only residual
problems were the power outages and the lack of proper record keeping room or strong
room.
 LAMP TA Team hired IT system admin specialists for each Township on a full time basis
which worked very well. They also assisted greatly on the data capture.
 Local staff was hired into the Township office by the TA Team for key data entry and
scanning. This worked very well.
(iii) Resources
 Funds cash flow was always of sufficient amount and did not limit the Project in any way.
 TA consultants were sufficient to perform the work.
 TA had insufficient resources to translate all of the knowledge products.
(iv) Delays
 There were delays in UN procurement especially on survey equipment which caused
LAMP to miss the main part of the 2014/15 survey field season.
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 The initial procurement of GIS software and IT programing was not successful which
created delays. The TA Team overcame the GIS software by testing open source software
and finding it suitable for the main GIS based data capture while the maintenance of the
database would be successfully implemnted by a software application developed by the
TA. The IT software encoding was achieved by hiring in local programmers rather than
contracting out the IT development. These two procurements delayed the start of IT
development by about 3 months. Failure to recruit an international IT consultant delayed
the start of IT Phase 3 which created the need for a ‘no cost extension’.
 The LAMP extension allowed the system development of LRMS Phase 3 and the LIS study
to proceed as well as the performing of remaining update surveys in Kwin maps during
the 2015/16 dry season.
(v) Failed Procurement
 The baseline survey by contractor was not approved by DALMS. Subsequent development
of questionnaires by the TA Team was approved and also tested by the TA Team were
never approve for implementation.
 The four out‐sourced studies (4) were contracted to a research firm in December 2015
but were not approved to start by DALMS.
(vi) Project Re‐Design
 The initial project design became quickly dated and the Minister requested a re‐design
in Marchn2013 (see APPENDIX 2). This took time to complete but had the advantage of
much greater involvement by DALMS in the deign process and a design that was more
focused on Township operating systems.
 The steps of approval of the LOA through the Government took much longer than was
expected; from September 2013 to June 2014.
(vii) Coordinate Reference System
 The adoption of the coordinate reference system is not quite straight forward. LAMP
adopted the national geodetic system (Myanmar 2000). All LAMP maps show a map grid
on this system so that the maps can be related to other maps. This is the first time that
Kwin maps and Block maps made by DALMS show a map grid. This is important for the
future integration of maps and spatial data exchange.
 The geodetic study by the TA team made recommendations for changing the national
geodetic reference system and also making the national second order network of survey
control points easily accessible to all users. In the absence of this many users are
adopting local systems or systems approximately located on WGS.84. This shows the
lack of NSDI policy.
 A third order survey control network does not exist. LAMP set out specifications for the
network and produced 25 control points under contract and 9 points by LAMP staff.
5.3. Lessons Identified by DALMS Operational Staff

A project lessons workshop was held on 10 February 2016 at CLRDTC for those staff who was
assigned to LAMP from the two Townships, CLRDTC and the Office of the Project Coordinator (Lower
Myanmar). Also, in attendance was LIFT; see details at APPENDIX 17.
The main lessons expressed by DALMS staff were:
 Multitude of errors and missing land records requires a lot of work to fix but the
surveyor should fix immediately;
 Quality control is important;
 More training is needed on data correcting;
 The list of owners, lot number, land area etc can be printed by the LRMS and taken to
the field to make the work go smoother in the field;
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 FAB must be involved in resolving cases of encroachment of village onto farmland;
 IEC to FAB and farmers is important because their knowledge on Farmland Law and
DALMS procedures is little;
 First time survey in un‐surveyed area must include land adjudication and involve the FAB
as well as the farmers;
 On register I‐A it is better to capture the whole history not only the latest recorded
ownership;
 Confusion on deed registration as there is not instruction from DALMS HQ yet;
 Digitizing of urban block map and Register I‐A must be carefully done because the land
prices are high;
 The computerization is needed to be able to link with the new One Map policy;
 Need participation by all levels of Government and other organizations to fulfill the long
term Goal of the Project;
 Without encouragement of higher level of Government the LAMP reforms will not be
successful;
 The new systems will require a change to job descriptions and allocations of work;
 Not all LAMP training manuals / work instructions are in Myanmar language.
5.4. Institutional Lessons and Project Management

LAMP was a largely innovative technical project operating at two Township offices of DALMS. LAMP
worked within the DALMS and the lead was taken by the DALMS. There are some institutional lessons:
(i) Assignment of Project Coordinator
 Given the large amount of field trips, training and organisation required it was a big
advantage to be working close to the office of the PC and have the PC join to the field
and trainings on many occasions.
 The staff of the PC also received valuable experience.
(ii) Need for early and consistent engagement with government partners
 One key lesson learned by LAMP is the need for early and consistent engagement with
government. Even when requests for assistance have been received verbally and in
writing from the concerned government department, it is best for the project proposal to
be written in collaboration with officials from the relevant department and with a formal
team established under the department. This ensures government "ownership" of the
project and its outcomes and also provides for relationships and trust to be established
from the beginning.
(iii) Policy Coordination
 LAMP was well aware of inconsistencies and gaps in the new land legislation but it
recognized that any efforts to address these should be led by DALMS. LAMP also
acknowledged the desire of the DALMS to focus on improving internal capacity and not to
pursue policy studies or law reviews which was the domain of the LUASC / NLRMC. LAMP
coordinated with other projects and with civil society groups through various forums to
share information, especially the consultants assisting the Government on the draft land
use policy.
(iv) Adapting to Government Initiatives
 In the land sector the Government moved very quickly on new legislation on the Farmland
Law and the VFV Law. This left parts of the original LAMP project design quickly
outdated19. A further example of the speed of policy development was the government’s

19
Originally, LAMP intended to inform the writing of the Rules & Regulations of the Farmland Law by means of
the LAMP Steering Committee, but the Rules & Regulations were codified sooner than expected, and the NSC
took up the role envisaged for the LAMP Steering Committee in the original proposal.
47 | P a g e

creation of an inter‐ministerial committee on land, (National Land Allotment and
Utilization Scrutiny Committee or LUASC which later became the Land Resource
Management Council). Formation of such a committee had been an important objective
in the original LAMP proposal draft: “6.11.1 To assist the Government in establishing an
inter‐ministerial consultative committee (IMCC) to guide and support policy deliberations
on land‐related issues and concerns informed by research, studies and deliberation”. This
experience reinforces the lesson that donor projects should be flexible and adaptable to
changing circumstances, priorities and opportunities.
(v) Project Steering Committee was Never Established
 The LAMP project steering committee was never convened. The PSC was the peak body
to oversight LAMP as described in the approved Project Scoping Document and LOA. The
consequences were that all meetings of the UN‐Habitat and DALMS were technical
meetings. Project policy, priorities, resource issues and administrative policy was never
properly addressed.
 The CPM of UN‐Habitat and the DG of DALMS could not properly function as oversighting
principals of LAMP.
 Too much emphasis was placed on formal correspondence.
 Administrative issues on finance reporting and some procurement were not properly
discussed and resolutions made in the context of the LOA.
 The PC worked well in operational management but did not have the authority that the
PSC would have had on project policy matters and LOA interpretation.
 The Minister said that he did not want the project to operate in NPT but without the PSC
it meant that there was too little interaction between LAMP and DALMS HQ.
(vi) DALMS Staff
 Staff had to perform their normal duties as well as LAMP duties placing too much load on
the staff. The staff would return from training and go to their normal work and lose some
of the knowledge before applying it. There should have been dedicated staff on LAMP for
the operational period from February 2015 to February 2016.
 Staff has limited experience with PC and keyboard. LAMP engaged local hired (temporary)
staff for routine data entry purpose which proved very effective.
 Staff has limited education in Spatial Science and Land Administration. Training from a low
base of education places a lot of strain on the training effort. The objective of training at
the work place is for skills to perform a certain task. Training is not a substitute for
education.
 There were wide differences among staff in their aptitude to learning the new technology.
The staff took on the field work quickly but not so quickly on the office processing. This
indicates that some form of specialization and hence re‐organisation will be needed in
the future for the maximum impact from new technology in DALMS.
(v) Project Monitoring
 The project monitoring did not involve senior staff of DALMS because the Directors at NPT
were too busy. Monitoring was conducted by PC, LIFT and TA Team.
 In LAMP there was no formal role for the Head of the DALMS District Officer. In hindsight
it would have been better to have assigned a specific project monitoring role to the
District and made the District Officer a formal member of the monitoring team.
(vi) Interdepartmental Cooperation and Coordination
 The LAMP team identified early unwillingness for communication and coordination
between government offices concerned with land administration and management.
These institutional issues reduce the efficiency of government.
 The project design proposed ways to address this issue such as through a NSDI and in
particular, a common spatial framework for exchange of maps and plans. In many
countries the land tenure agencies of Government share land data and coordinate
48 | P a g e

programs. In Myanmar the land sub‐sector consists of GAD (MoHA), DALMS (MoAI), the
forestry and survey departments (MoECAF). They ought to be closely working together to
avoid duplication, avoid inconsistencies in records and to maximize efficiency. However,
there was no policy to enforce co‐operation in sharing data and coordinating land related
programs.
 The LAMP project document identifies the importance of the country developing an
agreed NSDI which would underpin a more cooperative effort. This has been taken up by
the new One Map project of SDC.
 On the standard for the national coordinate system to be used for the new mapping under
LAMP, the desire of DALMS was not to adopt the existing national system because of the
difficulty in obtaining access to the second order control network; Myanmar 2000 is
managed by the Survey Department.
 TA Team recognizes the difficulty getting access to Myanmar 2000 but it is the only official
system in Myanmar. The policy gap on the standard system and how to access it should
be addressed quickly. LAMP adopted Myanmar 2000 so that all mapping, especially large
scale mapping would fit together and be entirely compatible. It can also be noted that the
initial land classification mapping in Tangoo District of Bago Region in 2013/14 as part of
the land use planning pilot of the LUASC was on the WGS.84 coordinate reference system
not Myanmar 2000‐ the difference is of order 400 metres and is confusing to users.
Elsewhere in this report we reiterate our advice from TA Report 9a on adopting a modified
Myanmar 2000 co‐ordinate reference system.
(vi) Transparency in Land Records
 The TA Team developed a major data base application, LRMS, for management of the land
records and maps of DALMS. It makes the land information consistent and available to all
who have access. It has a transaction tracking system which records all the steps in
processing the land transactions and the date‐time of the action and the name of the
officer performing the action. This provides transparency and accountability.
5.5. Gender and Vulnerable People

Given the long history of human habitation in Myanmar and the large proportion of rural folk, the
many different ethnic and religious groups provide for a rich range of beliefs and values relating to
ownership of rights on land. The intrusion of conflict and powerful groups has made the scene more
complex. Some people are more vulnerable than others such as the illiterate or the very poor. Many
lands have been grabbed already since the 1980’s and even earlier.
There are several distinct types of loss of land that has been grabbed as can be seen in the media and
NGO literature such as: (i) land taken by government for public purpose without due compensation;
(ii) land taken by government agency staff with intention to use for personal gain; (iii) land taken by
government for public purpose but the public purpose never materialized or only a portion of the land
was used for the intended purpose; (iv) land taken for private sector use by government acting as a
go‐between but due compensation and due process not followed; (v) land of IDP grabbed while people
were fleeing armed conflict; (vi) land under rotational cropping and laying fallow grabbed as vacant
land. In issuing title for the first time or validating the initial title it is important to record the real
history of the land parcel and obtain agreement of neighbours.
There is a Land Acquisition Act but it is very old and the rules are not clear. Also, the Constitution and
the law do not recognize rights accruing from long term peaceful occupation and use of rural land;
this opens opportunities for abuse. The recently adopted land use policy addresses this gap.
LAMP did not find any disputes in its 20 Kwins of map update and in its one Kwin of new survey.
49 | P a g e

A gender challenge for LAMP was the fact that there are very few women employed in DALMS
especially at the Township level although DALMS has some 8,000 surveyors and about 14,000
employees overall. The future offers opportunities for this to change as it is clear that more office
work and more specialization positions will be required.
A fundamental weakness in the Farmland Law of 2012 is that it lacks provision for issuance of land use
certificates jointly. Joint holding of land between spouses is important to women’s land rights. The
law states that the title (LUC) shall be issued in the name of the head of household which is a copy
from the land tax assessment law. In the 20 Kwin maps of LAMP only 24% were in the name of women.
Chapter 2, Paragraph 8 of the Farmland Rules does provide the opportunity for one or more additional
persons to apply for land use right on the same holding, but that person(s) must have worked on the
farmland which would exclude spouses engaged in non‐farming livelihoods activities. Also, an
additional form (Form 3) must be submitted by the applicant and processed by the FAB, presenting an
additional paperwork burden on both the applicant and on the FAB. The Farmland Law and Rules do
not establish clear rules for inheritance. In order to avoid unnecessary court cases, inheritance of land
in case of death of the head‐of‐household should be explicitly stated in the Rules.
Hence, the processes for both first time issuance of the LUC and subsequent transactions need to be
changed to be more gender inclusive. LAMP has produced a LAMP Form 1 for adjudication at the time
of map update / map revision / map creation to show the names of both spouses. The LAMP form also
contains entries for the history of the land holding to help protect against future land grabbing.
Further, the new computerized land tenure register of LRMS allows for spouses to be named
individually in the computerized register and gender disaggregated data is kept and can be reported
easily through a special function already provided in LRMS.
A further safeguard is that the result of the map updating / map revision is placed on display for
validation at the VT. It shows the map and the owners name for each land holding.
Figure 25 Staff of DALMS Performing Kwin Map Data Capture (LAMP Office, Yankin)

The project has addressed gender awareness through the IEC program to VT FAB and to farmers. In
the pilot areas IEC was done in all 20 Kwin areas to inform the men and woman to be more aware of
the importance of the title.
Training and workshop and IEC programs captured attendance data by gender. However, it is
recognized that the DALMS is staffed almost exclusively by men.

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Figure 26 IEC Meeting with Female Participants
5.6. Technical Matters of Interest

There are many technical matters which this project highlighted because it was an innovative
project. The reader is directed to the various reports and work instructions for details. In this section
we discuss some of the more important technical findings.
It is not surprising that the concept behind the modern Cadastre is not deeply known in Myanmar
because in the past there was limited acknowledgement of land rights held by individuals in rural
areas.

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Figure 27 Cadastral Concept (FIG)
The cadastral concept is built
on the land parcel as the
largest land area of continuous
land tenure and ownership in
the landscape.
The land parcel has spatial
properties which are surveyed
and recorded according to the
situation and needs. Recorded
by reference to the land parcel
are the tenure information,
ownership of rights and
restrictions, land value, land
tax assessment, actual land
use, land class and other
information necessary for land
tenure security, the proper
functioning of the land market
and other purposes.
The method of recording is
modernized so that one
database of land information
serves many functions.

There are a number of technical matters of interest:
(i) The new land systems that were developed and pilot tested in LAMP will be of interest to all
sectors wanting reliable land data. The major finding is that the initial uptake of land records
to the database is a bigger task than originally expected because the quality of the land records
both urban and the recent rural land records, is very poor.
(ii) The aptitude of staff to the new technology, especially the database and GIS technology varies
greatly. This will have implications on future planning for the long term in regard to
organisation, recruitment, specialization and tertiary education.
(iii) Decisions on the kind of technology can have very big cost impacts on a national roll‐out
programme. For example, selection of open source software GIS is suggested since LAMP
showed that QGIS can accomplish the tasks required for the initial take up of spatial data.
Further, the selection of ground survey method has significant investment cost implications‐
see section 6.5.
(iv) The building of a database with an industry recognized RDBMS is needed since the data will
be large and the data model is complex. The need for security and audit features is clear. The
LRMS provides a very solid foundation for the future database system of DALMS.
(v) On urban surveys LAMP did not perform any such survey.
(vi) On village surveys the DALMS used the LAMP GNSS equipment. The LAMP evaluation report
questions whether a fast and approximate survey would be more appropriate before
regularisation is complete in a village. It also does not endorse the adoption of local origins
and the preparation of block maps without a map grid compatible with that of the rural maps.
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(vii) The staff of DALMS HQ sent to the training on LRMS showed enthusiasm but are too
inexperienced at this stage to maintain the application software and develop the future
phases of LRMS. In the next donor assisted project there should be a more effort on training
the staff assigned to the project; extensive on the job training is more effective since the staff
are in attendance all the time. Also, DALMS must recognize that a major part of its business in
the future is managing land data in a database system and should recruit IT specialists for
advanced support to the LRMS. Since the LRMS is easily configurable to each Township there
must be only one LRMS software product and this can be developed and supported in any of
the major cities according to the decision of DALMS.
(viii) Modern courses need to be developed and delivered at CLRDTC. A long term plan for
the strengthening of CLRDTC should be linked with the long term development of tertiary
courses in spatial sciences and land administration.
(ix) LAMP LRMS ensures that the rural and the urban land titles are maintained in the one
compatible database; both spatial and textual information. This is important to avoid overlap
and to maximize efficiency. The new methods and technology greatly increase efficiency and
allow Kwin Maps to be updated much more regularly and reliably.
(x) The decisions for survey method and survey control requirements are very important from a
cost perspective. The decisions should start at the program level not the technical level.
Decisions on the work program will determine the level of survey required and its timing,
while the unit cost will dictate the methodology. This is outlined at section 3.2 and 3.3. In
particular the need for a third order network of survey control should be carefully planned
and related to actual use of the network and the expected timing of that need. Otherwise,
resources will be wasted.
(xi) The LAMP systems are more accountable and transparent than current manual systems in
DALMS since the records are computerized, cannot be lost and all transactions are tracked
(see a simple explanation of the transaction tracking at APPENDIX 12).
These and other technical lessons from LAMP can inform government for forming a national strategy
for reform of land administration.
Figure 28 Technology Meets Old Maps
The LAMP activity on
generating the Cadastre of
land holdings is of great
importance to DALMS. The
project addressed
identifying and correcting
erroneous and missing land
records, updating the Kwin
maps, improving the quality
of surveys, using modern
technology for better land
records keeping and linking
the land surveys to the land
titles through a
computerized data base.

The new methods required innovation and adaptation to the real situation in DALMS Township level
offices. LAMP captured the know‐how into technical reports and work instructions.
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Figure 29 DALMS Staff place a GNSS Survey Instrument over a Third Order Control Point
established by LAMP

The technical systems and the digital data of DALMS is of great relevance to other programs of
government and other projects, especially land use planning (One Map) and land development. To
this end a NSDI policy will be needed to ensure that data is shared and data standards ensure
maximum usability of spatial data. This will be facilitated by a homogeneous land system operated by
DALMS across the country.
Government and donors should acknowledge that there will be only one land system in the country
and should not encourage others to develop parallel land administration / land tenure systems. The
one land system must be able to be configured for the different situations across the various
Townships in the Country and able to handle all existing and future kinds of titles and rights.

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6. RESULTS AND ACHIEVEMENTS
6.1. Introduction
The work of LAMP was to design and build new systems and put in place in two pilot Township sites.
The new systems and processes are designed to be able to be replicated in other Townships in a future
national program of capacity building of DALMS.
Updating of Kwin maps had not been systematically undertaken by DALMS for many decades.
Similarly, quality control of land records had not been given a priority. There are many errors and
inconsistencies and omissions in the land records. However, because the LUC were issued already a
change to land records requires a careful and well documented process. Future demands on land
records by Government, society and the Courts dictates that DALMS must substantially improve the
quality of its records. The land records are no longer merely used for internal MoAI purposes.
The processes necessary to allow the identification and correction of the land records formed a large
part of the LAMP challenge. These processes must be effective but also must be doable by the staff
and at a reasonable timeframe and cost. Design of the processes, configuring and adapting the
technology and writing brief and clear work instructions was a major focus.
For detail on completion of project outputs according to the indicators of the results frame is shown
at Chapter 0. The completion rates on various tasks can be seen at Error! Reference source not
found.APPENDIX 18.
6.2. Summary of Results

After delivery of equipment in early 2015 the training and operations in office and field work began in
February and March. Both operational targets and development targets were achieved by end of the
project.
UN‐Habitat team planned that the new methodologies would be captured into 15 specific work
instructions. These work instructions are pivotal to the purpose of successful technology transfer as
they give ordinary staff detailed instructions on how to go about their various tasks using the new
technology. These were completed and are shown in APPENDIX 14 LAMP PRODUCED WORK
INSTRUCTIONS.
The use of IT is important to updating the Kwin maps and other land records. The system design and
data base design for 3 Phases of LRMS was completed and fully documented. A special purpose
database application has been designed and implemented for identifying errors and allowing
corrections at 3 stages of the processing. Valuable feedback was obtained from the DALMS staff. A
team of 3 IT specialists working with the STA developed the IT systems in accordance with the system
design documents. This we named Land Record management System (LRMS).
The tangible outputs were made using the new techniques as a demonstration of the viability. The
overall final results on all key outputs and 20 Kwin maps is shown at APPENDIX 15 OPERATIONAL
OUTPUTS of LAMP. The highlights of the tangible outputs are:
 The 20 Kwin maps were all surveyed and mapped (10 maps in each of Thayarwaddy and Myingyan;
14 maps by Image Survey and 6 maps by GNSS survey) as required in the project document;
 Information programs completed for FAB and farmers in VT covering the 20 Kwin areas;
 One Kwin map was made in an unsurveyed area to demonstrate the method;
 Land records for over 70,000 land holdings were captured (land use certificate, land register, case
file records) with both scanned documents of the case file and text data entry to the data base;
 Over 200 Kwin maps were scanned, image enhanced and saved to the database at full size;
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 1,000 square km (247,000 acres) of high resolution geo‐referenced ortho rectified imagery was
obtained and saved into the database;
 Computer infrastructure of server, database, networks, workstations and peripheral devices were
installed and made operational in suitably renovated building space;
 Over 5,000 plots in urban areas were captured from Register I‐A and 3 urban block maps digitised
in Myingyan Town;
 25 third order survey control were installed initially and later another 9 DALMS third order stations
were surveyed;
 30 GCP surveyed for geo‐referencing five urban block maps.
These outputs were produced by the Township staff supplemented by local hired staff for field and
office support. The imagery and 25 third order control were outsourced from the private sector.
LAMP conducted a number of formal and on the job trainings on subjects which are core to the work
of LAMP and to DALMS; LAMP installed modern technology at the Townships and made it operational
with DALMS staff. The LAMP training room at the CLRDTC Training Centre provides a modern GIS / IT
training environment for intensive training of up to 20 students at a time. Sixteen (16) formal training
courses were implemented in the period. The training objectives were targeted at directly providing
trainees with the knowledge and skills to undertake the new tasks. The training approach was to focus
on small class size of typically 20 staff with a mix from 4 offices (the two townships, the training centre
and the staff of the project coordinator).
Figure 30 Practical and fast methods of surveying and mapping are tested including combining GIS
with satellite imagery

The TA Team performed studies on deed registration, land tax assessment, crop statistics and LIS to
inform DALMS on proposed approaches that would be more effective. The Team also completed
studies on evaluation of the village titling pilot and the cost of various methods of mapping.
6.2.1. Innovations in Land Processes and New Knowledge Products

Too often institutional / change management type projects produce broad reports making suggestions
for changes but not actually following through on carrying out the change. If new techniques are
developed they may not be properly documented.
While LAMP had limited time to change century old practices, it was apparent that the use of
appropriate technology with innovative applications could remove much of the tedious work of
DALMS and have a great impact on the quality of the land tenure records and the efficiency of land
services. Innovative approaches were developed and tested and re‐developed in a process cycle. This
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was facilitated by prototyping the LRMS at each of the 3 phases of development with an early release
of the prototype being used at the Township office and at Yankin for feedback from users and data
entry staff. The familiar process is as follows:
Figure 31 Cycle of Continual Improvement
Assess Process
Implement Design Change
Develop New
Training
Process
Test &
Document Evaluate New
Process

Our approach was to design and test new procedures specifically for the actual situation. This was
performed together with the DALMS staff. Good documentation was produced on the procedures so
that DALMS may continue to implement the new technology after LAMP.
The knowledge products were handed over at the end of the project to DALMS on a hard drive.
The work instructions are written for DALMS staff to use at the work place and for trainers to use as
training material in courses. LAMP distributed to all departments of DALMS in Naypyitaw, Lower and
Upper Myanmar, CLRDTC, and 2 Township Staff Officers the work instructions as they were finished
and as they were used in training courses.
There were 16 WI (see APPENDIX 14 LAMP PRODUCED WORK INSTRUCTIONS) and 24 technical
reports (see APPENDIX 13 LAMP PRODUCED TECHNICAL DOCUMENTS) for 40 written documents in
the 20 months. These documents are a major contribution of LAMP to future development of land
administration in Myanmar.
The knowledge products of LAMP are shown below:

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Figure 32 Innovation and Knowledge Capture by LAMP TA Team
Knowledge Products of LAMP:
1) Work Instructions & Guides
[16]
2) Technical Reports [24] Survey &
3) LRMS Application Software Mapping
4) Historic Laws and Rules
scanned onto memory stick
(laws prior to Independence) Land
5) Equipment to 2 Townships & Title
CLRDTC Record
6) VDO of 4 Lectures on Land
Administration Given to Senior Tenure
Stakeholders at CLRDTC on Security
January 2016 (Each set contains
3 DVD Disks).

A summary of the WI are shown below:
Table 5 Work Instructions Prepared by LAMP for DALMS (as of December 2015)
Functional Rural /
No Name of Work Instruction
Group Urban
Digitising Farmland Holdings and Identifying Holdings Update Kwin
A1 Rural
to be Validated and Updated by Field Survey map
Preparation and Operation of Update and Re‐Survey of Update Kwin
A2 Rural
Farmland Holdings by Using High Resolution Imagery map
Creating Land Parcels from GNSS Survey Data using Update Kwin
A3 Rural
QGIS map
Update Kwin
A4 Printing Maps in QGIS (Draft 1) Rural
map
Update Kwin
A5 Digitizing Farmland Fields (Draft 1) Rural
map
First Time Adjudication & Titling in Unsurveyed Original Kwin
B1 Rural
Agricultural Lands map
Cadastral Surveys by GNSS in Unsurveyed Agricultural Original Kwin
B2 Rural
Lands map
Original Kwin Rural /
B3 Third Order Control Densification‐ Thayarwaddy
map Urban
Original Kwin Rural /
B4 Third Order Control Densification‐ Myingyan
map Urban
Block
C1 Digitising Urban Plots from Block Maps Urban
Mapping
Cadastral Surveys in Urban Areas by Total Station and Block
C2 Urban
GNSS Mapping
Land Record Management System, Second Revision Maintain Data Rural &
D1
(Myanmar Language) Base Urban
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Functional Rural /
No Name of Work Instruction
Group Urban
Land Record Management System, Second Revision Maintain Data Rural &
D2
(English Language) Base Urban
Guide on Identifying and Correcting Erroneous Land Maintain Data Rural &
D3
Records (English original; Myanmar translation) Base (Phase 3) Urban
Maintain Data Rural &
D4 Guide on the Manual Deed Registration System
Base Urban
Guidelines on System Administration of the LAMP
Rural /
E1 Computer Server System Installed at DALMS Offices Other
Urban
(Myanmar Lang)
E2 Generating Land Tax Values using QGIS (Draft 2) Other Rural

Figure 33 List of Historic Laws Scanned onto Memory Sticks and Issued by LAMP
1. The Burma Land Records Manual (Fourth Edition 1946), (reprinted 1958)
2. The Lower Burma Town and Village Lands Manual, 1945 (reprinted 1963)
3. The Lower Burma Land Revenue Manual, 1945
4. The Upper Burma Land Revenue Manual, 1939 (reprinted 1957)
5. The Burma Settlement Instructions, 1929 (Second Edition, published 1956)

6.2.2. Project Management

The UN‐Habitat TA team held office in the Lower Myanmar Settlement office at Yankin close to the
Project Coordinator, Deputy Director Min Min. This proved very effective for communications and co‐
ordination with U Min Min and his staff. A second smaller room which was renovated by LAMP was
set up for the IT development team and for key data entry by Yankin staff in support to Thayarwaddy
Office and also for data entry of land tax data for the LAMP pilot. The originally planned period of
LAMP was 24 months of operations and was actually 20 months of operations.
The year 2015 was the main operational year of the project‐ the second half of 2014, since the LOA was
signed in June 2014, was concerned with procurement and recruitment of specialists and preparing the
details of the new methodologies to be tested. In year 2016 there was just two months concerned mostly
with evaluation, lessons gathering and concluding the studies.
A project plan was updated at least monthly to control major tasks and their timing (see APPENDIX 18).
While DALMS led the Project UN‐Habitat performed the management of the LIFT funds allocated for
LAMP in accordance with the Funding Agreement. Major project management achievements
included:
 Annual reports 2013, 2014, 2015 and six month reports;
 UN‐Habitat team operated out of DALMS’s office in Yankin in Yangon;
 Maintaining good coordination with Project Co‐ordinator;
 Regular weekly meetings with Project Co‐coordinator, joint field visits, ad hoc meetings
and formal correspondence as a gateway to all points of contact in DALMS on LAMP;
 Completed all major purchases of equipment, services and internal room renovations;
 Provision of supplies and services for Township operations (e.g., drawing supplies for the
automated plotter; internet services);
 Payment of per diem to Township staff for field operations and training;
 Hiring of local land record encoders and scanners;
 Recruitment and mobilizing of consultants;
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 Monthly report to DALMS consisting of; update of work plan, update finance report and
narrative progress report;
 Monthly meeting with Senior Management Team of UN‐Habitat on progress and
obstacles;
 Participation in monitoring review by LIFT personnel, independent evaluation team and
one visit by LIFT Board;
 Monitoring reporting (internal each 3 months);
 Liaising with UN‐Habitat Myanmar central office on LAMP expenditures and on
procurement;
 Control and approvals of training, field travels and operational activities;
 Technical Meetings with DALMS HQ in Naypyitaw;
 Senior Stakeholder meeting in two townships and at CLRDTC;
 Design and approving of on job training courses to back up the formal training;
 All 3 phases of the LRMS system development was developed tested and set up in
Thayarwaddy, Myingyan and Taykkyi. Trainings for the users and maintenance staff of
DALMS were given.
The failures in delivery of services were: (i) baseline survey services; (ii) small technical studies; (iii)
urban pilot survey. The reference books are on order but not delivered yet at the time of project
completion.
LIFT agreed to extend LAMP for 5 more months from 1 October 2015 until February 2016 using the
existing budget. The existing overall budget for the completion of the activities is still sufficient after
re‐allocations. The rationale for the no cost extension is to complete the LAMP outputs after a delayed
start due to a protracted period waiting for the LOA to be signed.
6.2.3. Procurement
All major procurement delivery and installation was completed into the two pilot Townships of DALMS
and to CLRDTC. The summary of the equipment is given below:
Table 6 Equipment Procured and Installed at DALMS Offices
Equipment Type No Units Remarks
PC Computer 22 for 2 townships & CLRDTC
Large Plotter 3 for 2 townships & CLRDTC
Map Scanner 3 for 2 townships & CLRDTC
Server 3 for 2 townships & CLRDTC
Server Software 3 for 2 townships & CLRDTC
GIS workstation 33 for 2 townships & CLRDTC
GIS Software 33 for 2 townships & CLRDTC
GPS‐D 18 for 2 townships & CLRDTC
Total Station 1 for 1 townships
Tapes & Off‐set 18 for 2 townships & CLRDTC
Printers (small format) 17 for 2 townships & CLRDTC
Scanner (A4, A3 format) 6 for 2 townships & CLRDTC
Total Items 160

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Figure 34 Equipment for Land Surveys Provided by LAMP to CLRDTC

Figure 35 Equipment Installed at CLRDTC, Myingyan and Thayarwaddy (left to right)

LAMP required both local and international procurement of goods and services. Some of the
procurement and clearances for tax free status took longer than planned:
 Surveying Equipment‐ while the contract was signed 18 November 2014, the equipment was
delivered to LAMP only at end of February 2015. It was hoped to start survey field work in
Thayarwaddy in December 2014 straight after the harvest. Field surveys started in March
2015. The field season was therefore shorter than planned. In addition, the April new year and
the onset of the rains restricted the field work from April until November.
 IT Equipment‐ the IT equipment arrived in country in the second week November 2014 and
was delivered to LAMP on 2 January 2015. The procurement and delivery process took quite
a long time. Consequently, the start of digitizing of maps was delayed. The project delayed
the arrival of the GIS adviser until the equipment delivery was imminent.
 IT Services ‐ procurement of a suitable company for IT services failed. The bid evaluation
committee considered that the prices did not provide good value for money. The procurement
process had started with local industry consultation, an EOI step, bidder briefings and a step
of short listed bidders responding to the RFP but it still failed. In response, the project
contracted individuals after a UN recruitment process. This put the work some 3 months
behind schedule. Secondly, recruitment failed for the fast tracking of system development of
IT Phase 3. The fix up was to use the current IT team in the LAMP extension period (Oct 2015
to Feb 2016).
 The delivery of the reference books was delayed until April 2016 due to slow shipment from
abroad.
The procurement status is summarised below:
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Table 7 LAMP Procurement
No Name Status at end of Project
1 PCs, GIS Workstations, UPS, Received
Network Servers, Server Installed at all 3 DALMS offices
Operating System Software,
RDBMS software, development
tools, anti‐virus
2 Surveying equipment: GNSS / Received 26 February 2015
GPS and total station and Delivery to DALMS completed in March 2015
ancillary equipment and
software for GPS and total
station and network
computations.
3 Scanners (A0 map format / A3 Received
flat bed / A4 high speed Installed at all 3 DALMS offices
document scanners) and
software.
4 Printers (A0 map size / A4 size) Received
Installed at all 3 DALMS offices
5 Survey & Mapping Services‐ Services completed
Thayarwaddy Mapping product installed at server at Township
 3rd order survey
control;
 Satellite imagery;
 GCPs
6 GIS Software Packages (for Licenses installed (Manifold runtime) and QGIS
workstations; servers and (open source).
runtime licenses)
7 IT Services (software Recruited directly 2 local IT Staff for software
development services) coding under the international IT consultant.
Services were completed:
 LRMS Phase I & II finished Sep 2015.
 LRMS Phase III finished February 2016.
8 Baseline Survey (2 townships) Baseline failed to be undertaken. Endorsement
was sought from DALMS for the Contractor
selected by UN Procurement but it was never
received. The questionnaire was subsequently
developed by TA at the request of DALMS,
negotiated with DALMS and the agreed
questionnaire successfully tested in the field with
10 farmers. A report on the test questionnaire was
sent to DALMS in December 2015 for approving of
implementation but no reply was received by the
end of the project.
9 Survey and Mapping Services‐ Services completed. Very recent Satellite Imagery
Myingyan loaded onto servers at two Townships.
10 Renovations‐ Team Office, Finished
DALMS Building, Yankin
11 Renovations‐ DALMS Finished
Thayarwaddy Office
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12 Renovations‐ DALMS CLRDTC Finished

(Training Centre)
13 Renovations‐ DALMS Myingyan Finished
Office
14 Office equipment for UN‐ Finished
Habitat Office, Yankin
15 Furniture for DALMS (Table / Delivered
Chairs 55 sets)
16 Studies (4) TOR drafted by TA Team and agreed by DALMS.
Procurement contracted to Myanmar Market
Research and Development (MMRD) Company in
December 2015. Three of the four studies did not
receive the necessary approval of DALMS by end of
the project.
17 Technical Reference Books On order from overseas by supplier and due for
delivery in late April 2016.

6.3. Achievements Review

This section examines the achievements in the core functions.
6.3.1. Design, development and make operational of improved systems

Under the design of LAMP, as required by the Minister, one of the major benefits to DALMS would be
the design and piloting of new streamlined systems and procedures. This was the top priority focus of
LAMP. All systems were original designs for the Myanmar situation and based on best practice from
overseas. The systems feature innovations. The systems and procedures are well described in succinct
work instructions (WI).
The innovations and changes to approach and technology from the existing systems in use at the two
pilot Townships are outlined below:
Figure 36 Innovations in Surveying and Mapping
New Process New or Changed Technique
Survey control  Adopt Myanmar 2000 survey network.
 Connect third order, base stations (RTK) and GCP to
Myanmar 2000.
Map standard  Adopt UTM map projection as standard.
 Standard maps defined with Map Grid; including CIM,
Kwin maps, Block maps.
Imagery from High  Specification for high resolution.
Resolution Satellite Over  First time used systematically for Kwin re‐mapping.
Township Used for Re‐  Imagery captured new (Jan / Feb 2015).
mapping of Kwin  Multi‐use (Kwin map; tax assessment; crop stats, LIS)
Third order survey control  Not established before.
 New networks done in 2 Townships.
Base station for Kwin  Established from third order control consistent with the
mapping by GNSS ‐ RTK national network.
Survey control for digitising  Urban Block maps digitised (first time) using GCPs of third
urban maps order control (Myingyan).
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Land Survey of Land Holdings  Parallel adjudication & survey.
in re‐survey and unsurveyed  Survey done by GNSS‐RTK method and Image method
farm lands (comparison was made).

Figure 37 Innovations in Land Adjudication in Un‐Surveyed Area
New Process Changes
First time farmland titling (in  IEC to FAB and Farmers;
formerly unsurveyed area)  Parallel surveying & adjudication;
 Gender‐ record spouse details;
 History of holding recorded;
 Both primary & secondary rights recorded;
 Map & owner lists on public display.
Land adjudication accompanying  As above
Update / Revision Mapping

Figure 38 Innovations in Conversion of Land Records to Data Base
New Process Changes
Digitising maps  Map scanning and Digitising;
 Land area calculation;
 Correcting errors in holding boundaries;
 Print suitable maps for the field use.
Capture of Land Records  Scanning of Form 5, LUC & Case File (supporting
documents);
 Missing records identified;
 Data Entry to database of most important data;
 Quality control screen;
 Data Base of LUC (titles) & Register of Farmland and Urban
land.
Matching of land records  Checks made across land records for the first time &
by unique software systematically corrected.
solution  Comparison of content of key land records; LUC (form 7),
Land Register (form 5) and Form 4.
 Comparison of LUC with the updated Kwin map to find
errors & omissions [missing titles; unconnected parcels or
titles; inconsistent land area; missing or erroneous
records];
 Ensure maps and land records are consistent.

Figure 39 Innovations in System Development
New Process Changes
Data Base of owners  Not existed before;
names and other details  New technology for the township.
 Industry strength RDBMS on computer server.
Data Base of land parcels  Not existed before;
and surveys (farmland  GIS used to create spatial data;
and urban)  Data base used for management of spatial data;
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 Spatial data in one uniform data base with textual & image
data;
 Special software for quality control.
 Print out Form 105.
 Print out LUC (Form 7).
Data base of land  New application for DALMS;
transactions  Registration of land transactions is fast & LUC is printed out;
 Tracking of changes for audit purposes;
 To maintain the land tenure database always up to date.

The main focus was updating Kwin maps, correcting the land records and creating a land data base
including the Land Register so that the land records in the future would be maintained up to date and
accurate:
 The system for capturing the land records and checking the quality, fixing errors and
capturing missing records and storing in a data base has worked well. Combined with
UN‐Habitat’s hiring of outside personnel from the local town to perform the data
capture there has been a large volume of land records captured which has proven the
new application software.
 The system for spatial data capture and update of Kwin maps allows for either GNSS
surveys or Image based surveys. It allows for holdings or holdings and fields. The
system uses open source GIS software for the mass data capture of the Kwin maps
and thereafter sub‐divisions can be processed by either simple application of LRMS or
for more complex sub‐divisions by GIS. Field surveys for update surveys, revision
surveys and surveys in unsurveyed areas are described in WI. Unit costs for mapping
by various situations were determined (Report 23).
 For update / revision mapping there is a standard 9 step process which includes office
pre‐processing. Office preparation makes the field work much easier and faster
especially using Imagery. It also provides valuable checks on the existing Kwin data
such as land area.
 The overall data capture and matching process respects the legal status of the LUC
titles and provides a transparent and accountable process called transaction
processing in the LRMS to control the replacement of any titles for purpose of
correcting errors. An order on replacing erroneous LUCs was drafted by the TA
Team‐ see WI D3. MoAI will need to issue the Order.
 LAMP provided all of the third order control points required (10 control stations in
Thayarwaddy and 15 control stations in Myingyan) through contract services. In
addition, at the request of DALMS additional points were surveyed as on the job
training exercise by the TA Team’s GPS Consultant (9 control stations)
 The urban survey pilot did not proceed. Both the GAD and DALMS at Township
Myingyan decided in April 2015 that the community concerned was not ready for a
new survey. The reason given was that there was a lot of confusion with the informal
nature of the sub‐division and there were some disputes. With the increasing land
values and growing informal settlements the very poor condition of urban mapping is
not being addressed only being put off to the future.
 The capture of existing urban land records was pilot tested in Myingyan with a
planned 5 block maps20 and related entries of title into Register I‐A being captured to
the LRMS. Only 3 of the 5 planned block maps in Myingyan Town were digitised due
to inadequate resources of DALMS Myingyan. A suitable system for Geo‐Referencing

20
Block maps are usually at scale 64 inches to the mile (1:960).
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the maps was designed, tested and proven on 3 block maps. All corresponding title
records were captured (990 plots in 5 block maps). Only the most recent entry in the
Register was key entered to the database (this is the latest recorded owner but the
full history is not keyed). However, all Register entries are scanned providing the full
history of the plot. The major problem was that the Register could not be scanned as
it is too fragile; therefore, the TA Team used a good quality digital camera to capture
the images of the register book. In Thayarwaddy 6,000 urban plots were scanned
(3,000 pages) and 4,186 key data entered.
Figure 40 Urban Block Map Digitised at Myingyan (Dec 2015)

 A new activity was added to the program at the request of DALMS. An assessment of
the pilot village survey. Myingyan Township at the request of GAD performed a village
survey of residential plots and block mapping for the first time in parallel with GAD
issuance of grant leases. Myingyan used LAMP equipment (GNSS, GIS, plotters etc)
and methods to perform the survey successfully. The assessment was made by the TA
Team which contained a number of serious findings concerning the whole approach
but also found that the technical part was largely successful (see Technical Report 24).
The many errors inland records cannot all be administratively corrected by DALMS because the title is
a legal document and issuance of title is the domain of the FAB. As a result the process of correcting
the problems needs to be properly validated and processed and tracked with a sequence of proper
documentation. LAMP has provided this system. The LAMP solutions to address this situation of both
erroneous maps and erroneous land records are very effective in identifying the errors and correcting
/ updating the land records.
Once each township has a complete set of consistent and accurate land records the operation of land
administration in that jurisdiction will be much easier and efficient and more importantly, the public
could rely on DALMS for contributing to social harmony and economic development.
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It would be very limiting to try to fix the problem of land records quality without computer and GIS
systems. The application of the technology has been supported by training courses and with
documented work instructions and most importantly, UN‐Habitat team guiding the staff in the various
tasks‐ both office and field work.

6.3.2. Registering Land Transactions in the Farmland and in Urban Land

LAMP in its limited time achieved progress in establishing a new system of registration of land
transactions (buying/selling; inheritance; mortgage; lease etc) but there is a lot more to do in both
the short and longer term. The finding is that in DALMS offices outside the 3 main cities the Deed
Registration is moribund. It appears, subject to more objective assessment, that more land
transactions are being transacted informally than formally in urban areas. In farmlands the land
transactions are not yet to be subject to issuance of instructions from DALMS NPT. In both cases the
Registers are getting more out of date.
For a typical transfer of grant lease in urban area it takes 3 ‐ 6 months on average in CDC while at
DALMS in towns and cities it would take 2‐3 months. By comparison in Thailand it takes less than 1
day. This should be a long term target for registration of land transactions in Myanmar.
In land recording and transactions in farmlands the primary or secondary land registration can be
done by township DALMS office and the Farmland Administrative Bodies at different levels. It means
that there is less complexity in organizational coordination for farmland registration than for urban
land registration. On the other hand in rural areas the immediate issues are that the farmers are not
practiced to carry out formal land registration and have little knowledge on it
There are many land transfer cases already which have never been presented for deed registration‐
they are informal transactions on registered urban land and unregistered settlements as well as
unregistered transactions on farmlands, such as buying, inheritance, leasing and sub‐dividing. These
are technically not in accordance with the laws but so numerous that a smooth process to formalize
is needed as well as a new system to stimulate and encourage formalizing of all future transactions.
An overall framework to formalize the informal transactions which have occurred in the past
decades in urban and rural areas is needed as part of the long term development framework for
land administration.
The procedures of deed registration and subsequent land registration are greatly constrained by the
law and regulation. The amount of streamlining and efficiency gains possible under the existing law
is limited. Full streamlining will require changes to the law or an entirely new law based on more
modern principles of land title registration.
There needs to be urgent attention given to the operation of the deed registration system at DALMS
Townships (Registrar) and the updating of the Land Registers at DALMS Townships (Registers I‐A and
Form 5, for urban and farmland resp.). LAMP provides DALMS with the following take‐off points for
action:
 in the short term: the guide on deed registration (WI D4) should be developed into
an instruction to Staff Officers to begin to rejuvenate the deed registration of urban
transactions and start the formal registration of transactions in farmlands; training
courses should be arranged for registration staff; IEC to the public on registration of
land transactions; the authority and responsibility of staff positions should be
clarified for both deed registration and updating the registers as shown in the Guide;
a review made of safe and secure keeping of the Register Documents;
 in the medium term: a review of the registration act and rules be performed with a
view to a form of title registration suitable for farmers and urban people alike. The
aim is to lead to greater simplicity, flexibility and land tenure certainty as well as
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reduce steps and costs and time. It would offer greater land information
compatibility. It would allow a range of tenures to be integrated. It would allow
extension easily to registration of community title and customary title under local
norms;
 as funding permits: Township Offices be fitted with a service counter, land record
filing cabinets and strong room;
 in the longer term: the deed registration law and rules be replaced by a modern law
of land title registration which is administratively simpler and more flexible for
different tenure types; and, the LRMS updated to build upon the existing provision
for deed registration data.
Figure 41 Steps of Deed Registration in Farmland
Standard Form of VT FAB approves
Presenting to the
Deed filled in & transaction &
Registration
signed at VT by Executes the
Office
farmers deed
Proceeding & Owner applies for Processing and

Reporting to LUC to township Issuing
Tsp/FAB (7days) DALMS (Form 9) (registered deed)
Permission by Update Land

Tsp/FAB to issue Register (Form 5) Tsp/FAB issue
new LUC & cancel & Receive Fees new LUC (Form 7)
old LUC (15 days) for LUC

6.3.3. Capacity Building of Institutional Participants and other Project

Partners
The main focus on capacity building in LAMP was on capacitating the staff of two townships of DALMS
to perform the new LAMP systems and secondly, for the staff of the CLRDTC to gain valuable
knowledge to allow them to improve their existing courses. The overall lessons on HR are given at
section 7.3 (see Lessons on Human Resource Development). Specific issues on the accomplishment
are:
 The range of course subjects required was accomplished albeit with restricted time as dictated
by the timeline of the Project and the availability of the staff. The staff of DALMS was trained
on capturing the various land records in the office, updating the Kwin maps (field work and
office processing) and on error detection and correction as well as the use of the new database
system. The new systems are far more efficient in yielding high quality land records and
capturing in a database for accuracy and ease of future updating. The tendency was for staff
to return to their office and immediately perform their other duties with too little time for
firming their knowledge gained on the training by practicing and operating the LAMP systems.
This is a lesson for management of the next intervention‐ the technology is very new to the
staff and they need much more practice back at the work place.
 The IEC to FAB and farmers in all 20 Kwins was accomplished but attendance rates of farmer
families varied (see table above).
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 The Gender profile for training is very skew reflecting the male dominance of staff in DALMS.
While this is unsatisfactory as far as the TA Team is concerned it is out of the Project’s control
because there is almost no female staff at the pilot Township offices of DALMS.
 The knowledge transfer to CLRDTC staff was accomplished and the Director provided strong
support to LAMP. The strongest interest is in the LRMS and the GIS21.
 The workshops on knowledge sharing on the TA Team performed studies (land tax
assessment and land value zoning; LIS and crop statistics) generated strong interest from
DALMS NPT. This achieved its purpose and provided well documented results and
recommendations for follow‐up by DALMS;
 The DALMS has a working relationship with GAD. The GAD’s role as chair of the FAB is critical
and the GAD issues title in urban areas and soon in village areas. In LAMP the GAD
participated in the LAM workshops, the IEC, the pilot village titling, and all the field work in
the villages.
 The Survey Department has a mandate on maintaining the national survey control system.
After the initial study on the survey control system there was little involvement with the
Survey Department. Moving forward there must be more collaboration so that access to
second order controls is a smooth process‐ this would be helped greatly once the Government
adopts an appropriate NSDI.
 Land administration and management issues were discussed with the concerned department
of YCDC and a presentation on best practices was given by the STA to a meeting of the
Planning and Land Administration Department. A member of that department also attended
the LAMP LAM workshop in January 2016.
 The tertiary education in the spatial sciences is very limited and should be explored more so
that a realistic approach to providing the future local spatial science specialists could be
determined. A nation of 50 million people with a market economy will need annually many
graduates in courses such as land surveying, land use planning, property valuation, building
surveying and geography. In the longer term, beyond LAMP, discussions should be held with
the academic community on establishing forward plans for the creation of post graduate
courses in land administration subject areas or even an undergraduate / polytechnic level
course in spatial sciences with emphasis on land surveying and land administration;
 The lack of a profession of land surveying and spatial sciences should be addressed in the
longer term and links made with established international bodies. An ASEAN Secretariat
initiative started already last June 2015.
6.3.4. Capacity Building of Beneficiaries, NGOs and CSOs

A progressive development under the Farmland Law was the creation of the village tract level
Farmland Administrative Body where the members are local people and a number are elected.
Similarly, the Ward and Village Tract Law established the village tract administrator position as an
elected official whereas it was formerly an assigned position under the GAD. These bodies are a focal
point for community information programs and services to farmers. In LAMP field operations the
community entry phase coordinated closely with these persons and provided information on the land
related laws and the LAMP procedures. LAMP used the local leaders as facilitators to inform the people
and in its field programs at the time that field work is starting. The education program for farmers and
VT FAB is described in this report.

21
On GIS the DALMS should review its long term commitment to a commercial product such as the existing
system (GeoMedia) and adopt the open source software system that LAMP showed could achieve all the work
required (QGIS). LAMP has produced a lot of learning material based on QGIS and there is a very active world‐
wide community of users as well as extensive use in Myanmar.
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The LAMP team coordinated with donors, NGOs, INGOs, consultants and other stakeholders to both
inform and obtain any advice or recommendations from others. Meetings were held with many
consultants working on various projects:
 The Land Core Group is an important venue for NGO coordination and information
dissemination. UN‐Habitat maintains an involvement in these meetings and circulation of
discussion papers.
 The STA is on a small advisory committee to assist the TGCC and has coordinated with the
TGCC which is providing land policy advice to Government.
 The UN‐Habitat lands team coordinated with the MRLG activities (SDC), the working group
and consultants on the land use policy drafting (USAID and LCG), the TGCC on Customary Land
(USAID), the One Map Project (SDC) and the land use planning and classification project under
LUASC / NLRMC (EU), the GRET land project (funded under LIFT .
 With the World Bank the LAMP team provided information for an upcoming agricultural
project and also on the upcoming LGAF.
UN‐Habitat often engaged with UN (such as the FAO managed land study by Shiva Kumar) and other
donor agencies, consultants, and NGOs. The February 2015 submission of the UN on the draft land
use policy was largely written by UN‐Habitat LAMP team; LAMP presented to the USAID team on deed
registration. UN‐Habitat team participated on the Human Rights Theme Group which advises the
UNCT on human rights issues. Land rights have been identified as one of the priority rights issues for
the UNCT.
The STA also met with the Chamber of Commerce to discuss land related issues of interest to the
business sector.
6.4. Benefits of LAMP Innovations

The benefits of LAMP can be seen at the strategic level and at the project level. At the strategic level
the analysis of the wider condition of land governance and recommendations are arguably more
important than the mere technical solutions. This is shown by the statement that leaving DALMS to
simply roll‐out the technology will not be successful in addressing the long term malaise in land
governance. On land governance LAMP has conceived a roadmap that starts with a strategy
formulation for the sector and major reform of DALMS. Key elements of that strategy were identified
(chapter Error! Reference source not found.).
At the project level there was land administration innovation designed and put into operation at the
Township Office that demonstrably improved the capacity of the staff to perform their functions. The
new solutions address; creating an accurate, consistent and complete and up to set of land records
and maps; supporting the continual update of the land records with minimum cost and maximum
convenience through the LRMS; easy dissemination of land information in hard copy or electronic
format; and most importantly, fast and reliable land services to the clients through the transaction
tracking system of LRMS.
The new processes and systems introduced by LAMP have already had an impact on the township
offices as evidenced by:
 the large number of land records identified to be in error or missing;
 the concerted effort to fix the problem records using the new methodology;
 the extensive changes made in Kwin maps and the progress on update field surveys;
 the demonstration of the relative efficiency of image based update surveys compared to
GNSS surveys;
 the successful adaption made by DALMS staff in the village survey pilot requested by GAD;
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 the wider understanding of land administration reforms by DALMS and related departments
at the Township level based on the two workshops held.
On its own one of the new processes is not enough but together all the processes strengthen the
township office concerned. For example, update surveys are not enough as there is office work
required to replace the existing Kwin map and there are inconsistencies with the land records and
LUC to identify and to correct. Most importantly the new surveys must be in a digital form so that the
next time updates are due, the updates can occur quickly.
The benefits of the successful implementation of LAMP innovations will be to yield strengthened land
administration with the important characteristics listed below:
Figure 42 Benefits of the LAMP Developed Land Record Management System (LRMS)
 Kwin Maps and Land Use  Improved efficiency of DALMS
Certificate documents are in digital  Errors and omissions in land
format records are removed
 Easy to update  Future land transactions can
 Easy to access be quickly completed
 Easy to reproduce  Reliable Land Record System
 Cannot be lost or destroyed  Fewer land holding disputes
 Many new queries may be  Improved working
answered environment
 Higher productivity of staff
 Enriched training at CLRDTC
 More work can be done in
the office
 Kwin Map Updating  Improved National Economy
 Boundary survey from  Better integration with other
satellite image is easier and land data (e.g., One Map)
faster  Reliable and complete land
 Farmer confidence in data for land taxation
updated maps  More secure tenure
 Better access to mortgage
lending
 Improved trust in
Government administration
 Transparency
 Land data is in suitable form
and quality to share with
other government agencies
 Changes are tracked in
database

6.5. Cost Benefit

The successful reform of DALMS and realization of its potential role in land administration for
Myanmar is heavily dependent on the leadership of the Government to get DALMS onto the ‘road to
reform’. The actual pace of change will depend to a large extent on the cost. This is very important
because Government has many demands on its budget.
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Low cost will be a key consideration in any decision to accelerate the modernization of the
Township offices, whether by Government alone or in partnership with a development bank.
Indeed, any development bank will look closely at the unit cost compared to other options and other
countries, and look at the overall cost benefit. Consequently, UN‐Habitat during preparation and
implementation of LAMP was careful in its choices of kinds of technology and mode of use. Also,
LAMP made cost analysis of those activities with most potential impact on cost savings; cost in
money terms and cost in time of staff.
Cross‐cutting the considerations in designing new systems and in the procurement have been the
factors of ease of use, reliability, replicability and low cost.
All three main programs of DALMS (land tax assessment; crop statistics; and land tenure) were
subject to study by LAMP on unit cost and labour usage.
Land Tenure
LAMP addresses the unit cost of the main land tenure program of updating the Kwin maps. For
example, the GIS used in LAMP is open source and is very well suited for DALMS’ applications. Further,
the data base is being hosted on a standard RDBMS of reasonable cost. The spatial data and land
record data is integrated into the RDBMS and managed under software developed by LAMP, so it is
not product dependent.
LAMP studied the land surveying methodology because land surveys are usually the highest cost
component in the roll‐out of a national land administration reform program. LAMP surveys were
70% by low cost surveying (imagery) and 30% by survey instrumentation (GNSS).
Based on the Kwin map surveys made in two pilot Townships of LAMP an analysis was made of the
unit cost and projected cost for map revision for the whole country assuming that the end result is an
up to date digital parcel database in GIS format of farmland land holdings22 (Report No 23):
Figure 43 Cost Comparison for Completion of National Coverage of Update Mapping by Two
Survey Methods
Survey Cost [USD'000] For 8
Million Holdings
25,000.0
20,000.0
15,000.0
10,000.0
5,000.0
0.0
GNSS Image

Image surveying is much lower cost and also other advantages (see section 7.1). The difference is
about $15M. Across the country there are approximately 8‐9 Million Holdings and 76,000 Kwin
maps.

Land Tax Assessment

22
Excludes cost of farmland fields. This was calculated also and shown in the same report.
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The unit cost of fully complying with the law under the existing manual system was determined and
compared with the proposed approach. From the figure below the ratio of efficiency is almost 500%
and great savings in DALMS staff effort could be made in operations of the proposed tax assessment
system.
for an Average Village Tract (5 Kwins)
Comparison of Effort for Annual Land Tax Assessment (person‐days)
300.0
250.0
200.0
150.0 Annual Effort
100.0
50.0
0.0
Simple PC Tools (Without Existing Conventional Process
Access to LAMP Data Base) (Register II)

Alternate options for implementing the land valuation based method were investigated for both the
first year of the general revision and the subsequent years of calculation of the land tax assessment
only.
Figure 45 Amount of Effort Required each Year for Various Options for Land Tax Assessment
System Based on Land Value (average VT)
Comparison of Effort for Land Tax Assessment Using
Land Valuation Method (person‐days per year)
140.0
120.0
100.0
80.0
60.0
40.0
20.0 First Time
0.0 Subsequent
Simple PC Simple PC Manual GIS With
Tools With Tools Without Process Access to
Access to Access to Without LAMP Data
LAMP Data LAMP Data Access to Base
Base Base LAMP Data
Base
Crop Statistics Reporting
The reporting system on crop statistics is a manually intensive operation. It is also field work
intensive if the surveyor visits to every holding three times per year as required. The study showed
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that by using sampling and PC spreadsheets that greater time could be spent on quality of data and
there would be less risk of clerical errors in reporting. The sampling error can be limited based on
sampling all Kwins and sampling at about 15% of holdings (see above on output 4). The cost savings
would be about 80% of labour and transport costs.
Together with the above reforms the manually intensive Register II Book could be retired reducing
the work load and tedium greatly.

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7. Outputs
Progress on outputs is given below based on the LAMP Results Frame (see APPENDIX 8 RESULTS
FRAME .) and the final report on outputs (see APPENDIX 15 OPERATIONAL OUTPUTS of LAMP).
7.1. Output 1: Effective First Registration System Developed and Pilot Tested.
This output 1 is the primary output of LAMP. It is concerned with improving the land records
evidencing the initial land registration of farmland holdings. Secondly, the new system should be
much easier to keep the land records and maps up to date.
Table 8 Completion on Output 1
Indicator Current Milestone Period and Cumulative Results since Beginning
INDICATOR 1: Pilot designed & Field work started in March 2015 in Thayarwaddy
tested in 20 Kwin / and in April 2015 in Myingyan.
Land holdings
5 Block maps.
shown on cadastral Land holding surveys were completed in all 20 Kwin
maps / DCDB in maps out of the total project target of 20 Kwin
pilot areas maps for two Townships (10 in Thayarwaddy and 10
in Myingyan). All 20 maps have been digitized.
Public Display of 18 maps (2 maps not yet on display
in Myingyan) was done and the final Matching 2
process was completed on all 10 maps in
Thayarwaddy and 3 of the 10 maps in Myingyan
(work in progress due to other priorities in
Myingyan).
Two methods of survey were used: satellite image
surveys (7 Kwins in each Township) and GNSS
surveys (3 Kwins in each Township).
In addition, one new Kwin map No. 1512 with 33
holders was surveyed in an unsurveyed area
(original Kwin map) and before issuing new LUC
titles it was public displayed in April 2015.
INDICATOR 2: Quality control In the 20 Kwins most of the land holdings already
process on issued had LUC title prior to the start of Kwin map update
Land holdings in
titles by field but due to the process there were many errors. The
project areas
validation. problem was to correct the mistakes and build the
issued with
confidence of the people in the LUC, maps and
registered rights.
DALMS.

LAMP forms 1 & 2 was an extra requirement
developed by the LAMP Project to validate the
tenure and to safeguard any possible future claims
/ land grabs; the new forms capture from the
farmers the ownership, gender, land history and
secondary rights information. All 10 Kwins were
finished in Thayarwaddy and 8 Kwins in Myingyan.
This allows the checking of the issued LUC at the
same time as the map is updated.
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Gender concerns are also being addressed as

DALMS’s existing systems are founded on a ‘head
of household’ approach which was developed in
the Colonial era and in the context of a tax register.
This is not acceptable practice for a modern land
tenure system. The details of the spouse are
collected during the field update / validation
surveys on to Form 1. Information on any
secondary land rights are collected as well to
protect lessees and mortgagors as well as
prospective buyers and to inform the land market
and policy makers / researchers.
A system for identifying errors and omissions of
land records in the office was implemented. It has
already identified numerous errors in the land
records of the 20 Kwins before field work started
and after map updates.
The final result is a list of LUCs to be corrected
which is output from the Matching 2 process. This
list is automatically submitted to the transaction
tracking module of LRMS for action by the SO.
The validation process has shown very many
holdings which are in error and need issuance of
replacement titles. A draft order on cancelling and
replacing LUC was made by the TA Team (TA Report
D3) for issuing by the Minister to all Staff Officers.
At the moment there is no order on how and under
what circumstances to correct the LUCs.
This process of changing the maps and replacing the
titles has checks and balances so it cannot be
abused.
INDICATOR 3: Baseline and on In the completed 20 Kwin map surveys and the one
the ground unsurveyed area survey there were no disputes. An
Level of Disputes.
investigation IEC program preceded the field work (see later).
The DALMS report that disputes are few in each
township. Any disputes in the LAMP Kwin map
areas would be identified during village community
entry program and on the farm visits.
INDICATOR 4: Design and Issuing titles (LUC) is not enough to ensure efficient
Implementation of and reliable management of the land records and
New procedures
Register of Tenure tenure security‐ a Land Register must be
for creating a
Rights established. DALMS created Form 5 to meet this
register of first
purpose and places the forms into a large register
time title.
book. LAMP has made a computer based register so
that it can be more easily checked for errors and
inconsistencies with the titles and also more easily
updated as future land transactions occur. This is
the heart of the LRMS.
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The land record data capture system is operational
at both Townships and each office has captured the
Land Register and the LUC titles.
By project end at Thayarwaddy the land record
capture status is as follows ( approx. 27,000 LUC
issued by DALMS was the target):
 All folios in all case files23 scanned (25,955
case files);
 Data capture by key data entry completed
for 25,955 case files;
 Scanning of Form 5 land register of 27,026
land holdings completed;
 Data capture by key data entry of the
Register (Form 5) reached 27,026. This is all
of the form 5 entries for the Township.
By project end at Myingyan the land record capture
status is as follows (approx.. 113,000 LUC issued by
DALMS but in LAMP Work Scope targeted 40,000
LUC)24:
 All folios in case files scanned (44,654 case
files);
 Data capture by key data entry completed
for 44,654 case files;
 Scanning of Form 5 land register of 43,552
land holdings completed;
 Data capture by key data entry of the
Register (Form 5) reached 43,658. This is
all of the form 5 entries for the Township.
This is about 40% of the form 5 entries for
the Township25.
Overall this is 70,684 registry entries against the
target of 67,000 (105%). This is very satisfactory as
the work was completed in less than 12 months
operation using mostly temporarily hired data
entry personnel. It is a good lesson for other
Townships on how to perform their data capture.
The procedures include quality control‐ a special
quality control screen was developed and
implemented. The LRMS checks that the Register is
identical to the information written onto the title
(LUC). From Quality Control some common errors
found are:

23
A case file contains the important documents pertaining to the issuance and mutation of a Land Use
Certificate title including the office copy of the LUC.
24
Started for data capture in March 2015 at Myingyan.
25
Myingyan is an unusually large Township with about 110,000 farmland holdings while Thayarwaddy is more
an average size township (27,000 holdings).
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 Form 7 Owner is different from Form 5
 Form 5 Area is different from Form 5
 Missing Form 105
 Missing Form 5
A second level of quality control is called the
matching process; the land holding records are
linked and matched with the spatial Kwin map
polygons to ensure there are no multiple or missing
titles. In addition, it identifies the number of titled
and untitled farmland properties. Matching and
Linking Process errors are commonly found as:
 Kwin map is not updated
 Wrong sketch map in Form 105
 Civil works require new sub‐division and
issuing new title;
 Encroachment of village onto farmland;
 Subdivision / Consolidation by owner.

Figure 46 Data Capture in LAMP Offices
Data Capture in Thayarwaddy Data Capture Process in Myingyan Data Capture in Yankin

Progress & Comments
It’s important to note that all of the field work and most of the office processing work reported herein
was performed by DALMS staff and much of the office work was done by local hired non‐DALMS staff.
The UN‐Habitat TA staff developed the new systems and methodologies, logistical support, formal
training and provided on the job training and guidance during the works. The change was based on
the sound methodology of learning by doing. This is especially important because there has never
existed a tertiary course in Myanmar on land administration and most staff has picked up their
knowledge within the institution of Government by attending training courses. For these reasons the
emphasis on formal LAMP Training is on skills and knowledge training to perform particular tasks
rather than for education purposes.

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Overall Process of Loading the Data Base with Quality Land Tenure Data
LAMP developed a 9 step process for capturing the land tenure records, subjecting them to quality
control and field update and public scrutiny and uploading to the database. The process actually was
revised many times to fit the emerging lessons of the project. The whole process is outlined in Work
Instruction D3. The flow is shown below and will help the reader to orient on the detailed
descriptions that follow:
Figure 47 Overall Steps in Data Processing for Establishing the LRMS Data Base
Data Capture of Land
Quality Control Linking Spatial Parcel
Records & Maps to
(identify missing & with Title‐
Data Base
erroneous records) screen matching 1
(temporary)
Public Notification at
Revise Kwin Map & Ground Survey
Village Tract & SO
Land Records (Update or Revision)
Approves Map
Link Titles with Map, List Actions,
decide actions & Correct Errors & Issue Corrected Land
upload to main Data Omissions under Records
Base‐ Matching 2 Transaction Control

The step of correcting erroneous LUC requires an Order from DALMS to give authority to the Staff
Officer. A draft of the Order was made by the TA Team in January 2016 ( see WI D3 and also see
APPENDIX 16 of this report).
Data Capture and Quality Control
At project conception the main focus of LAMP was to be updating the Kwin maps. This has quickly
broadened to one of building a complete and accurate set of land records to underpin land tenure.
This is because the farmland titles which were already issued have many errors and omissions and are
based on erroneous surveys and out of date maps. But once issued the titles are legal documents and
cannot be treated merely administratively. The quality of the documentation behind the titles is poor
due to the hurried work of issuing the LUCs in 2013 and 2014. For these reasons the quality control
on the township land records became a major issue to be addressed in LAMP. Indeed a bigger problem
than the map updating is the quality of the case file and register and LUC since these are legal
documents.
The two Townships have progressed on data capture of their farmland land records as follows:

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Table 9 Number of Holdings Captured and Kwins Scanned (project end)
No Data Capture Type Thayarwaddy26 Myingyan27
1 Scanning of entire case file28 25,955 44,654
2 Scanning of the Land Register (form 5) 27,026 43,552
3 Key data entry from the case file 25,955 44,654
4 Key data entry from the Land Register 27,026 43,658
29
5 Kwin maps scanned 64 151

LAMP has implemented new quality control means that will ensure that the records captured to the
database are accurate and consistent. This avoids the ‘garbage in‐ garbage out’ problem that besets
many poorly managed projects to build a data base system.
LAMP has also concluded that by using the IT system it is by far the best possible way to identify all of
the errors and to easily fix the problems. There are three groups of errors30:
 Errors in land records (see Table 10);
 Errors in maps (see Table 11);
 Errors between land records and maps (see Table 12) .
The kinds of errors found in land records include:
Table 10 Common Errors and Typical Frequency in Land Records of Farmland Holdings
No Error Type Incidence Impact
1 Missing case file 6 ‐14% serious
2 Missing entry in the Land Register (form 5) 5‐7% serious
3 Missing office copy of the LUC 5‐20% serious
4 Owner name different on the LUC and in the Land 1‐5% serious
Register or spelling of owner name not the same
5 Multiple entries in the Land Register for the same 1‐5% serious
land holding and with different owner name
6 Case file not numbered or wrong number or not the 5%‐20% edit
same number as number on Form 4
7 Missing Form 105 showing the land holding diagram 5‐20% addition
8 Form 105 referencing to the wrong land holding 1% serious
9 Missing office copy of Form 7 (LUC) [Thayarwaddy 5% edit
only]

26
Thayarwaddy total is 27,000 holdings
27
Myingyan total is 113,000 holdings
28
The case file contains all of the land adjudication and survey records which prove the root of the title and
were the basis for the approval of the issuance of the LUC by the FAB. The case file is maintained by DALMS.
29
The number of Kwins in each Township is 331 and 392 for Thayarwaddy and Myingyan resp.
30
Note that errors can enter the process during key data entry. For this reason important data is entered from
both the LUC and the Land Register.
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The LAMP system identifies these problems and prompts the user to follow up and find the missing
records or correct the erroneous records. The data base will not accept flawed records. Since these
records form the root of the title they will be of importance for the very long term and may be required
in future court cases for example. Fortunately, since the records of the case file and the Register were
created recently (in the last 2 years), there is good opportunity for the staff of the DALMS to fix the
problems. The Staff Officer in each Township follows up on the reports of the LAMP data capture. The
issue will be more difficult to solve if however, the roll‐out of the quality control takes many years to
reach all of the Townships (assuming that the LAMP Townships are typical).
Insofar as the spatial data is concerned the update and validation surveys deal with the following types
of errors:
Table 11 Common Errors Found in Kwin Maps of Farmland Holdings in Initial Pilot
No Error Type Incidence Action Needed
A Holding boundary does not match the detail on the 20‐50% Update survey
ground within a reasonable tolerance;
a. Map drawing errors; or
b. Boundary changes.
B Encroachment by village or town on land holding 10% Nullify title and/or
sub‐divide
C Engineering works (roadway or canal) cut across land 0‐60% Sub‐division survey
holdings causing sub‐division needed
D Holding boundary shown on two adjoining Kwin 5% Update survey
maps do not match within a reasonable tolerance
E Sub‐division (private) occurred on the ground but 5‐20% Update survey
not shown on map
F Holding number not shown on Kwin map 1‐2% Update survey
G Holding inside another holding (invalid geometry) 1‐2% Update survey
H Sub‐division occurred on the LUC but not in the map 3‐10% Update survey
Once the above two groups of records are cleaned, the final checks can be made by matching the
spatial data with the land records. The kind of errors found is:
Table 12 Common Errors Found from Matching and Linking Holdings on Kwin Map with Land
Records
No Error Type Incidence Impact
1 LUC is not referencing to a holding shown on the 5‐20% Serious problem that
Kwin map must be addressed
2 Untitled holdings 5‐20% Investigate (could be
valid)
3 Two or more titles for one holding 1‐2% Serious problem –
Invalid title/s & must be
fixed
4 Reference LUC to wrong holding 2‐3% Serious problem‐
Investigate & fix error
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5 Different land area amount between area on LUC 5‐25% Investigate & fix error

and area in updated Kwin map (spatial records) is
large

The lessons on data capture include:
 Documents must be sorted, inventoried, and groomed before scanning and encoding;
 Document errors found must be corrected immediately to avoid delay in data capture;
 After first matching only 20‐30% match;
 Field validation and map update is essential;
 Productivity of encoders must be monitored.

Survey and Mapping Framework
For effective land titling there needs to be standards for the spatial framework otherwise maps will
overlap and data from one department will not match spatial data from another Ministry such as
forest and agricultural maps. The existing 80,000 Kwin maps in Myanmar have no map grid and no co‐
ordinate reference.
LAMP made a review of the Myanmar Geodetic Network (Report 9a). The existing national network
was established over a number of GPS campaigns from about year 2000 up until quite recently. The
recommendations are:
 Strengthen & re‐compute the adjustment;
 Consider an earth centered spheroid and consider the size and slope of the Geoid‐
Spheroid separation;
 Make the control network of second order points easily accessible to the public;
 Provide an intensive 4 month geodetic survey course on survey control network design,
field work and computations for DALMS staff.
The survey and mapping framework was already defined in 2014 in LAMP and the specification was
applied in all our survey and mapping work in the period including the satellite imagery, the third order
control, the GNSS base stations, the maps and the digital data. All LAMP maps show the UTM grid
which ensures there is no overlap with LAMP maps and ensures that new Kwin maps may be overlaid
with maps / digital data from other agencies.
LAMP undertook third order surveys on 25 points by contract and 9 points by LAMP staff while 30
GCPs were surveyed by LAMP staff. All were connected to Myanmar 2000 second order network.

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Figure 48 UTM Map Zones in Vicinity of Myanmar

IEC Ahead of Field Surveys
In all cases the community entry is the first activity in proper land survey work. This is written into
our new work instructions. See later for more details in output 3.
IEC campaign was done in all 6 villages in Myingyan and 5 villages in Thayarwaddy between month of
March, May, June and July 2015. There were meetings with VT/ FAB and farmers explaining about the
aims of the project and procedures of updating the Kwin map, inputs needed from farmers and the
methods of survey.

Figure 49 Farmers and FABs attended IEC

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Kwin Map Updating
A total of 20 Kwin maps were subject to updating surveys. The surveys started later than planned and
much of the 2014/15 field season was lost before the onset of the monsoon season.
Two alternate methods were used for comparison‐ image based survey and GNSS survey. The former
method (image survey) has distinct advantages in farm lands: it is easier, faster and lower operating
cost. Also, it has lower logistics such as no need for survey control or base stations and there are lower
training overheads. Importantly, quality control is easy as errors are immediately visible.

Figure 50 In Thayarwaddy and Myingyan updating maps by image and by GNSS respectively.

For normal farmlands the Image Survey offers many advantages on cost and time and less
complexity than GNSS surveys. In uplands and plantations this might be different. The GNSS has
important applications in urban and towns and villages as well as for third order control and GCPs.
A simple comparison for farmland is shown below:
Figure 51 Comparison of Field Survey Techniques for Farmland Mapping
Characteristic GNSS Image Survey
Base Station required Yes No
Satellite Image required No Yes
Field survey equipment required Much Little
Field work Extensive Little
Transport Much Little
Staff skill High Low
Staff requirement Much Little
Weather dependency Much No
Creation of polygons for holdings Complicated Easy
Amount of GIS work Much Less
Speed of work Slow Fast
Data Accuracy Over Appropriate
Requirement
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The relative cost comparison is as follows (see LAMP Report 23):
Figure 52 Comparison of Field Surveys for Validation and Update of Farmland Holding by using
High Resolution Imagery and RTK‐GNSS Surveying in Thayarwaddy
Cost Per Kwin in USD for Revision Survey
(120 Holdings)
400
300
200
100
0
Thayarwaddy Myingyan
GNSS Image

Note that on average the cost per holding of GNSS method is more than Imagery method‐ it is about
3 times the cost of survey by the Imagery. When the cost of capturing the fields within the holdings
is also included the relative cost will be about 12 and 28 times for Myingyan and Thayarwady resp.
Many of the steps are the same, irrespective of the survey technique, such as IEC, interview of farmer
and filling out of new LAMP forms, identifying the boundaries and signing off by the farmer neighbors
as well as pre and post office processing, public display and confirmation by the FAB. The two new
forms are designed by LAMP to be gender sensitive and to capture the full name of the spouse. As a
future safety measure the history of each land holding is captured in case of future dispute or claim.
In addition, any secondary rights are also recorded (long term lease, mortgage, usufruct rights).
The ground conditions in the dry zone and in lower Myanmar are quite different. In lower Myanmar
the rice land holdings typically include many fields while there are few in dry land areas. The imagery
is applicable in both but capturing the fields off the imagery is so much more efficient than by GNSS
surveys since there may be up to 50 fields in one land holding in Lower Myanmar. The figure below
shows the holdings on the left and the fields on the right:

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Figure 53 Example of Fields Digitised in a Kwin map

The fields are not necessary for land tenure applications. In our view it is more efficient to view the
fields in the imagery than to create separate polygons. Also, fields change much more often than
holdings. This will be a future issue for DALMS to justify capturing and maintaining fields‐ the first rule
in land record management is, ‘if the data cannot be maintained up to date it should not be captured
in the first place’. The second rule is that only one agency of Government should have custodianship
of each kind of land data and each agency shares its data with the others.
The records will need a lot of work to capture. In the example below the fields colored in red are those
without a standard number:
Figure 54 Farmland Fields in Kwin 1329 (Thayarwaddy)

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Kwin Map Creation in Unsurveyed Areas
Not all agricultural areas of the country are covered by Kwin maps. There has been speculation that
these areas are the most susceptible to land grabs and therefore should be surveyed and LUC titles
issued. For many decades there has been no programme for mapping these areas.
LAMP developed procedures and conducted survey in unsurveyed area and produced a Kwin map in
April‐May 2015. The survey technique used GNSS equipment and began with village entry with IEC to
the VT Administrator, the FAB and the farmers. The techniques were documented in work instructions
for continuing work in unsurveyed areas by the staff of DALMS.

Figure 55 RTK‐GNSS survey in unsurveyed farmland (Thayarwaddy 2015); rover at left and base
station at right picture.

Kwin Map Digitizing and Spatial Data Processing
Based on the pilot digitizing results of 2014 (see 2014 Annual Report of February 2015 and Technical
Document 10 of January 2015) a methodology for capturing the Kwin maps was designed, tested and
refined. This is now well documented in the work instruction A1. All 20 Kwin maps were digitized
already in the period. The process includes; (i) map scanning; (ii) image enhancement to make
readable; (iii) geo‐referencing the Kwin map; (iv) digitizing each holding shown in the Kwin map; (v)
digitizing the equivalent holding boundary off the imagery and labelling with the holding number and
calculating the land area; (vi) preparation of field maps prior to visiting the field. For these purposes a
open source software GIS system is used. This ensures that the methodology could be reasonably
rolled out in the future across the country without expenses for GIS. The first time digitizing of the
Kwin maps is performed very well by the open source software GIS; it was configured for compatibility
with LRMS and for ease of use and for making checks on spatial topology.
The digitized data is plotted out in two colors to highlight any significant differences:
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Figure 56 Holding Boundaries in Myingyan: Red=Kwin Map Blue = Satellite Image

The land records are compared in the quality control screen for identifying errors prior to going for
update ground survey:
Figure 57 Checking Land Records (example of conflicting name of owner on two land records).
Each line is a land holding entry. The surveyor can easily check for any inconsistences or missing
records such as owner name not the same on the LUC and in the Land Register. The errors can be
resolved in many cases prior to going to the field. Outputs include tailored maps and tables:
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Figure 58 Tailored maps prepared ahead of the field work

The linking and matching results are best shown in a combination of tabular and map format. They
are printed out and taken to the field for update surveys which make the process of field work run
smooth:
Figure 59 Example automated report on errors based on using the matching tool.

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Figure 60 Holdings with a matching Holding number in the LUC records will be colored green.
Where no match exists, the holding will remain grey for further investigation.

One of the more common errors is the case where the LUC title was issued on a holding that does not
exist on the Kwin map but exists on Form 105 in the case file. There are cases where the LUC was
issued based on an “office sub‐division” which was not shown onto the Kwin map. The GIS makes the
errors very obvious for follow‐up in the field survey (see below).

Holding boundaries on Kwin Map (red) Holding boundaries on Case File (yellow)

Figure 61 Cases where title does not reference to a holding shown on a Kwin Map
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In many Kwin maps during the last 50 years there have been engineering works such as roads and
canals which have never been shown on the Kwin maps and nor have the holdings been sub‐divided.
In the vast majority of cases the sub‐divisions were never made ahead of issuing the LUC title due to
the pressure of time. Consequently there are a large number of erroneous titles. The LAMP system
allows for a straight forward process to update by first validating the new boundaries in the field,
editing the spatial data, creating new parcels and validating the new Kwin map by public display before
uploading the changes to the data base and setting a transaction for issuing a replacement title (after
authorized by the FAB).

Figure 62 Canals intersecting with Holdings before (left) and after sub‐division (right)

Specific innovations and design and development work which was needed to accomplish this
streamlining of land records and quality management included:
 Development of a Folder and File Naming System for spatial data;
 Customizing GIS for LAMP applications on DALMS data;
 Satellite Image Processing:
o Checking for errors;
o Clipping to Kwin Map size;
 Kwin Map Processing:
o Development of scanning procedure;
o Development of enhancing procedure;
o Process of converting Kwin Map format to ECW format;
o Development of geo‐referencing procedure to fit to the Myanmar 2000 and UTM
Grid;
 Digitizing Holdings:
o Development of digitizing procedure from data capture from Kwin Maps
o Development of digitizing procedure for data capture from Satellite Images;
 Update of Kwin Maps:
o Development of maps and lists for survey teams to take to the field for update
surveys;
o GIS processing of RTK‐GNSS data to form land holding boundaries and polygons;
 Data Processing:
o Development of Holding data processing procedure;
o Development of error detection and quality control procedure;
o Preparation of Holdings for LRMS processing;
 Development of work instructions:
 Development of GIS‐ Basic work instructions;
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 Development of GIS‐Advanced work instructions;
 Development of Annex‐ work instructions:
o Editing Vertices and Lines
o Alternative methods of creating Polygons
o Editing Holding Boundaries
o Creating the Attribute Table Template
o Adding columns to an Attribute Table manually in QGIS
o Creating the default Style for Polygons
o Guidelines for Determining Kinds of Update
o Evaluation and Classification of Holdings
 Trainings:
o Carrying out various on the job trainings at Thayarwaddy and Myingyan;
o Carrying out Formal GIS‐ Basic Training at the CLRDTC in Taikkyi;
 Formal training conducted total of 10 days at the CLRDTC
 Basic GIS on 16 to 20 February 2015 ( 20 participations)
 Advance GIS 17 to 21 August 2015 ( 19 participations)
 On Job Training provided total of 24 courses in Thayarwaddy and Myingyan Townships.

Figure 63 GIS and Quality Control Related Training at the Townships

Training
Course Name Date Venue Participants
Days

09‐11/2/2015
Basic GIS and 08 ‐ 2 Townships 5 20
09/04/2015
Advance GIS on creating
unsurvey area map and 01‐02/09/2015 Thayarwaddy 2 7
matching
Matching 15 ‐ 16/07/2015 Thayarwaddy 2 7
Matching 23‐27/09/2015 Myingyan 5 7
Digisiting Urban block map Sep‐15 Thayarwaddy 1 3
Digisiting Urban block map 16/12/2015 Myingyan 2 3
Printing map using QGIS 27/11/2015 Thayarwaddy 1 3
Printing map using QGIS 19‐20/11/2015 Myingyan 2 3
GPS link to GIS 13 ‐ 14/07/2015 Thayarwaddy 1 7
Urban block map digitising 04‐05/02/2016 Myingyan 2 5
Matching 02 – 03/02/2016 Thayarwaddy 2 7
Digitising field 27/05/2015 Thayarwaddy 1 2

System Development of Land Record Management System (LRMS)
The system development activity is very important. It is too easy for a land information agency to
capture a lot of digital data and leave it in individual files, unconnected and confusing to access to use.
LAMP is of limited duration and most land agencies take a decade to fully develop their IT solution for
managing their land information.
One option due to the time limit was for LAMP to store the spatial data in a GIS system and the
attribute data in a low performing data base (eg ACCESS is commonly used). However it was decided
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in the design of LAMP to get DALMS on the right path from the beginning so that it could develop a
robust system for managing land records and maps with a solid foundation.
Accordingly the system of LAMP, LRMS, was designed from scratch for the long term. It is based on
principles of full integration of all data (spatial, textual, image); a rigorous data base model; well
thought out business rules; and, industry strength RDBMS for management of the database. At the
same time a user friendly interface is provided for non‐specialist staff to be able to perform core
maintenance and output functions. The business rules reflect the real situation of the data and
processes of DALMS. The new system was designed to manage the land records and make existing
processes easier so that both efficiency of land services and quality of records are both increased.
The system design is well documented in standard LAMP reports. The design of the Digital Cadastral
Data Base was completed in Phase 2 and released in September 2015 (see Report 12). LRMS Phase 3
design was finished in November 2015 (see Report 21) and software coding completed in January
2016. The data capture strategy was done in 2014 and a prototype system of Phase 1 (land records
capture and data management) was issued in March 2015. The LRMS context diagrams are shown at
APPENDIX 12. The system development tools are standard industry tools.
Figure 64 Design of the LAMP Database

All land documents in the case file are scanned and key data such as owner names
entered to the data base. The maps are scanned and land holdings are digitized as
spatial entities. The records and the map data are linked in a controlled matching
process to ensure that no data is missing, duplicate or conflicting.

The applications of LRMS are:
(i) Data Capture – Captures the information from titles and maps and stores them in a
secured database. The information can be retrieved for viewing and analysis. It also
provide a backup of data for long term storage
(ii) Quality Control – Provides checks on the correctness and completeness of titles. The
registry and title information are also displayed for side by side comparison.
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Appropriate actions to correct and complete the information may be done at this
point.
(iii) Matching Process – The map and the title information is matched and checked for
inconsistencies. Missing titles and untitled lots can be identified. Using satellite image,
road works, encroachments, and other recent changes on the ground can be
identified and the map can be updated with this new information.
(iv) Transactions – Transaction module provides a secured manner of updating land
records by tracking the process and routing the transaction to appropriate users.
History of mutations can also be tracked.
Phases 1 and 2 were software coded in parallel. After failure of bidding for a software firm to develop
the code, UN‐Habitat used direct recruitment to obtain the IT professionals. This delayed the start but
system release and training of Phases 1 and 2 was achieved in August / September 2015.
Phase 3 delivered the following features:
 Land services managed by transactions within LRMS (e.g., land transfer, inheritance);
 All changes to the data base are under transaction control;
 Transaction control keeps track of all steps and the name of person processing each
step (the user can configure the steps for each transaction);
 Security on all transactions;
 Reporting of progress on each transaction;
 Transactions are created either by a request for service from the public (land
transaction) or from DALMS staff (correct errors);
 Deed register;
 New quality control feature (Matching 2 Screen) to ensure that the quality of the land
records is known to the data base.
The peripheral systems present the data to the database applications; the spatial data from the GIS;
the image data from the image scanners and enhancement software; the key data entry from the
scanning of the documents.
The functionality of the database applications includes data quality control (identification of errors
and allowing the users to fix errors), maintenance of the database, reporting and mapping from the
database. The visuals below illustrate these tasks:
1. Map viewing and editing of Kwin Map
a. Provides a common control for viewing the map data
b. Encapsulates the standard functionality in viewing and editing the map
c. Allows for lower training overhead as the functionality is common to all screens.

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2. Document viewing, uploading, and editing

a. Provides a common control for viewing all the land documents related to a land
holding
b. Eliminates the dependence on Adobe reader by using third party open source API
c. Integrates the viewing functionality within the data entry screen. Keystrokes are
used to navigate (zoom, move, etc ) the document is fully handled by the data entry
screen.

3. Localization of the system. Sets the language of the captions, menus, message prompts and
other user display parts to either English or Myanmar language so local users can easily
understand the system (this was a challenge because MS does not yet generically handle
Myanmar font).
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4. Use of a LAMP configured development framework is a technical innovation that provides a
common platform for developing the whole system to allow for the same look and feel on all
the screens. This tool allows for faster coding through the use of reusable codes.

The Screens developed are shown below:
Data Capture of Land Records
1. Title data capture. Captures the data from the scanned documents by key data entry and
stores the document in the database for archiving and easy retrieval. The folios in the case
file may be scrolled by the user.
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2. Registry data capture Captures the data from the scanned documents of the Land Register
(Form 5) and stores the document in the database. The Register Book has one page per
holding.

3. Quality Control. Provides a means to check the quality of data encoding and scanning. It
also checks for errors in the documents. The screen shows side by side (one line for each
land holding) the data from the LUC title and the data from the Register. The results may be
printed and uploaded to the database. The system provides automated checks to identify
the difference of values in owner names, area, etc. Further check is done by verifying the
encoded information against the scanned image. The scanned document is also checked for
scan defects and missing pages.

Build‐ up of the Digital Cadastral Data Base
The more complex processes are the spatial processes. Special tools were developed to identify
errors and violations of the business rules and to allow the user to fix the errors. The emphasis in
system development was to make the process as easy and interactive as possible. The user interface
allows non‐ specialist GIS staff to produce a variety of maps showing different layers such as
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holdings, fields and satellite imagery; different themes, different labels and with different
cartographic styles. The process of linking and matching the spatial data with the title is the most
mission critical process. The parcel information is the digitized data of the Kwin map created in QGIS
and contains table attributes that are compatible with the LRMS (see work instruction A1 on
Digitizing).
The matching process is conducted twice. The first matching process is done primarily to establish
the ownership of lots before conducting the field survey and public notification. This is done by cross
matching the holding number in the digitized Shape file and the encoded title records from the LUC.
As shown below the screen allows the map to be displayed with selected land records and the
system provides an automatic side by side comparison and acceptance / rejection display for each
holding on the Kwin map.

After map update survey is done, the surveyor makes any necessary changes to the Kwin map (or
block map) to produce a final map which is placed on public notice. Any sub‐divisions /
consolidations will be approved by the Staff Officer at this time. If there are no objections from the
public the map is considered up to date and accurate. The next step is Matching 2 which links all the
land parcels in a up to date and correct Kwin map (or block map) to the actual title (LUC) which has
been issued and is active (not past retired titles).

Any errors in LUC issuance can be easily identified in the Matching 2 Screen. Most importantly, the
Matching 2 screen provides a list from which the user may choose the appropriate “update action”
to be conducted in order to resolve the problem. The action is reported but not implemented at this
step. For example, a title may have to be cancelled and replaced because it refers to a wrong
holding.

After all the records are verified (checked) for the Kwin, the land records may then be uploaded into
the final database where they are secured and locked from editing (thereafter changes will be under
transaction control). Uploading the land records simultaneously creates transaction records with the
appropriate transaction types corresponding to the update action selected by the user.

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The second matching process is done usually after ground survey, to update the records with recent
tenure and spatial information. After the second matching is done the records may then be
uploaded to the LRMS database. Thereafter, all changes to the records will be by updating the
database under transaction control.
Uploading of Images
The screen for uploading images is as follows:

Map images are stored in the database as File Stream objects. This is designed to secure the records
and provide fast and efficient retrieval of images.

Map Viewer
The Mapping Tools are available by using the MapControl functionality. The LRMS employs a GIS
runtime (ActiveX) control which encapsulates, simplifies, and automates the spatial functionalities of
a standard GIS application. The purpose is to allow non‐expert staff to perform mapping and GIS
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functions, to make training easier and to make quality control more effective. This control is called
the Mapcontrol. The user interface is intuitive and has been designed for ease of operation of
DALMS staff.
The mapcontrol is generally used to display the spatial information from the database although in
certain screens and depending on the user rights and restrictions, the control may also be used to
modify, subdivide, and consolidate the lots31 in the selected map. It is used in the linking process,
map viewing, parcel entry, data base (DCDB) update, and in other screens where there is a need to
show the spatial data.
The Mapviewer provides a way to view the spatial data of a particular map along with its field
attributes. The user selects a map and the system queries all the data of the map for display in the
mapcontrol. All the functionalities of the mapcontrol are available in the mapviewer.
In addition, the user may load the history of the mutations of parcels. Subdivided or consolidated
parcels are shown with greater intensity of color. Selecting a parcel with history of mutation will also
display its previous information. The spatial information of fields data may also be added to the
display.

Conclusion on LRMS
The LRMS is purposely built for the land records management operation at the township level. It is
currently installed and working at 2 pilot township offices. All the functionalities of the applications
have been tested and made operational. All reports have been customized to provide different
queries related to land records.
DALMS staff needs much more IT skills so that the software can continue to be developed by a core
IT Group. The staff needs additional training in the following;
 Microsoft SQL Server database;
 Programming using Microsoft VB.NET or C#. Either language can be used to develop the
system;
 Developing GIS tools using Manifold Runtime;
 Local Area Networking.

31
Lots or parcels are the same thing and can mean plots in urban block maps or holdings in rural Kwin maps.
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7.2. Output 2: System for subsequent registration of land transactions

developed and implemented
Indicator Current Milestone Cumulative Results since Beginning
INDICATOR 1: Guide on Deed LAMP studied deed registration and
Registration issued opportunities for change and made a major
Time taken for
but DALMS not yet report (No 17 in July 2015). A practical guide on
processing registration
started to operate applying deed registration to farmlands was
of land transactions.
farmland land produced in January 2016 (No D4). There was
transactions. not time for DALMS to review yet and to issue
an order to the Staff Officers. Computerization
will assist but not greatly under the overly
constrained rules of Registration Act (1908)‐
Phase 3 of LRMS includes capture of the deeds.
INDICATOR 2: Work instructions on Sub‐division by GIS is prescribed in WI A1 and by
sub‐division issued LRMS in WI D2. Both methods are fast due to the
Time taken for
and implemented. graphic nature of the farmland Cadastre and
processing land sub‐
available imagery:
divisions No baseline.
a/ by GIS 10‐20 mins;
Time taken in Office
5‐20 mins. b/ by LRMS 5‐10 mins.
In case of field work being required it will take 1
day in the field by Image and GNSS 1‐2 days
depending on how the base station is
established.
INDICATOR 3: Guide on Registration The Guide on Registration (D4) includes the
with streamlined overall flow of all steps in farmland registration,
New streamlined
process and including those of deed registration (see
procedures for
requirements Indicator 1 above). It involves approval of the
subsequent registration
completed. FAB for issuing a new LUC.
of land title

transactions in urban LRMS Phase 3 was
Phase 3 of the LRMS contains transaction
and rural areas completed to allow
tracking for updating the land register for urban
update of the register
and rural titles. This is very fast and convenient
of land under
and the title and form 105 are automatically
transaction control.
printed.

INDICATOR 4: Completed Review of manual system and records was
completed and documented. This was used for
Review conducted of
the design stage of the re‐engineering of this
overall process of
process. In digital form the maps will now be
keeping land surveys up
much easier to be kept up to date.
to date
The system design and coding and
documentation of LRMS was complete on
updating surveys (see technical report 16 and
WI D2) to keep spatial data correct.
Costing of various techniques was done.
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Progress & Comments
The relevant outputs provided by LAMP are the report on deed registration (No 17), Guide on
Registration (D4), WI on LRMS (D1, D2) and WI on GIS processing (A1). The Guide contains:
 Flow charts of main steps;
 Register books and indexes;
 Checklist of requirements for farmland and urban transactions;
 New forms for farmland transactions;
 Payments [registration fee (approx. 0.2% on sale); stamp duty (5% on
conveyance); transfer tax 10% ‐ 30%) for total of 15% to 35%]32
 Duty statements of key personnel;
 Future improvements.

At the March 2015 meeting with DALMS in NPT the DALMS requested attention be given to document
registration because DALMS does not have a clear and complete instruction to staff officers on how
to process land transfers on farmlands which have already been issued LUC. In response the TA Team
developed a short, medium and long term strategy on land document registration for DALMS and
issued for comment and discussion. It is contained in chapters 7 and 8 of the Report No 17:
It is suggested in the TA Team report that there are three stages:
i. In the short term (ie LAMP), prepare simple instructions for farmland transactions to be
processed under the existing law and obtain directions on the basis for computing the
land transfer (stamp duty) tax;
ii. In the medium term, conduct study on the preferred type of land document registration
system for Myanmar, including overseas study tour of 2 or 3 countries. A type of land title
registration system with administrative processing is suggested as superior to deed
registration. The study would compare the clear advantages in finality, simplicity, cost
resources, integration with other data sets etc of each registration system to be weighed
against the disadvantages. The study must consider city, towns and villages, and
farmlands. Document the key features of the new system, example process steps, issues
and recommendations for better streamlining; communications strategy for the people;
institutional matters for implementation.
iii. In the medium to long term, replace the Registration Act and its Rules with a new law. The
new law would either be a kind of title registration system or a major change to the deed
registration system to infuse core principles of title registration.

In the context of LAMP only stage 1 can be supported. The other two stages will need external support
to DALMS which has no experience in other systems. Funding for these two stages should be sought
by DALMS.
Short Term
DALMS has not been actively keeping the registration system in urban areas operating. The
registration of farmland transactions has not started as an order has not been issued. The operation
of land registration is urgently required to maintain the integrity of the land records. Similarly
updating the maps as sub‐divisions occur has not occurred for 50 or 60 years ago. Existing regulatory

32
In SE Asia the average cost is about 3‐4%. World wide experience is that above 5% there is avoidance or
corruption.
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procedures and requirements have caused both the Kwins and land records to be out‐dated and
obsolete (not reflecting reality). The current system is trapped in the past by laws and procedures.
The LRMS system allows sub‐division by either GIS or directly under the LRMS. In both cases the
procedures are fast for office processing. Update surveys of LAMP shows that capturing sub‐divisions
in the field are also fast by using image maps.
In LRMS the sub‐divisions are part of the transactions tracking system which is fast and secure‐ all
changes to the database are tracked and reporting at any time on who made the change of what land
parcel when and under what authority. This reduces the opportunity for “unusual” transactions and
increases the confidence with the land system and the titles and maps.
There needs to be time for the new processes of registering land transactions on farmlands to be
exercised at the two Townships because the Phase 3 of LRMS was only installed in early February
2016. Streamlined processing of land transactions to update the Land Register and to issue new titles
is automated through the Phase 3 LRMS. This is a big advantage for DALMS. It avoids the chance of
transcription errors because the land titles are printed by the computer as well as the land parcel
description (Form 105). There is much greater transparency and accountability because the LRMS uses
transaction processing and the status of all applications is tracked as well as the person processing
each step in the process and this data is kept in the database forever. Hence, any fraudulent activity
such as bogus selling of a title is tracked and reported. Only the SO can approve issuing a title. Other
rules are enforced by the LRMS database.
The next step is for DALMS to issue a Order on registration of land transactions based on LAMP D4.
This is urgent as land transactions in farmlands are already occurring and need to be formalized in
accordance with the Farmland Law. Secondly, DALMS needs to issue an Order on the use of LRMS to
those two Townships operating the LAMP system so that new mapping and new transactions cause
the computer register to be updated. Thirdly, there needs to be follow‐up review of the performance
of the deed registration on farmlands and on the sub‐division of farmlands. Similarly, for urban lands
DALMS needs to take a more proactive role in having the people register all their land transactions.

Medium term
There are a number of constraints to land document registration in Myanmar which requires change
to policy and law. These will take time. The key constraints are; low level of knowledge by ordinary
people on land registration; most people have never registered a land transaction; very high stamp
tax on sales; complex legal requirements (The Registration Act 1908); overly prescribed Rules and
Directions to the Act which makes streamlining of limited impact; complex, laborious and multiple
steps in registration; multiple authorities involved.
The overwhelming conclusion is that the degree of streamlining is limited by the Registration Act
(1908) and its related Deeds Manual (1946) and Rules (1959). This legislation is far too prescriptive
and out of date. It badly needs to be replaced by a piece of new legislation which could allow modern
technology and management to streamline the process and records management.

Further, the institutional arrangements where 3 Ministries are involved is cumbersome and there
should be streamlined system. Both DALMS and GAD are involved in the process of urban land transfer
several times, the Ministry of Finance sells the tax stamps and a committee sets the valuation for the
property to be sold. In Thailand even 20 years ago their manual land document registration system
allowed land transactions to be started and finished in one day. The equivalent process in Myanmar
takes many months.

The Myanmar deeds registration system was developed in Colonial times for well‐developed urban
areas and well educated citizens. It was not meant to be applied to rural areas.

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The current rules and regulations of the farmland law (2012) require that the FAB approves farmland
transfers and that the seller pays a land transfer tax based on the value of the land and accomplishes
a deed of transfer. This is unrealistic for several reasons:
 the process is unfamiliar to the people who use traditional ways to transfer their land,
either verbal agreement with witness or a simple handwritten agreement on paper
witnessed by a village elder;
 the deed is a legal document and is not a document that the farmers understand or have
the education to write;
 access to the township office of DALMS seems too far away for farmers;
 the determination of land value in farmlands, which is the basis for the transfer tax, is not
a skill or discipline yet in Government or understood by the public;
 the cost of the registration does not encourage participation in the formal process;
 there is no clear information for farmers on the whole process and the fees and taxes.

Land Document Registration in Perspective
The very nature of deed registration is one of limited value beyond registration of the isolated land
transaction. Society demands more from the function of land document registration than merely
securing a transaction‐ the land information and financial demands of a modern society require a more
responsive type of system. Most countries have moved away from deed registration and opted for a
form of title registration of which there are many.
In the S‐E Asian Region most countries have adopted a system where the law prescribes that a
Register of titles is maintained which is based on a land parcel and where the register is of primary
importance in ascertaining ownership of land rights. Further, secondary rights can be easily added to
the register (e.g., mortgage, long term lease, easement) and thereby protect those rights. Most
importantly, anyone can at one glance to the Register see all the interests and encumbrances on the
land parcel concerned. This has enormous impact on confidence in land tenure security and in
efficiency of land information exchange.
Land registration / deed registration in a market economy is very important for giving confidence to
the land market and to investors. Outside the three large cities of Myanmar the land registration
system appears to be moribund. There is little encouragement to the people to participate or to
DALMS staff to offer services‐ in one of our DALMS counterpart offices it has been a long time since
the last deed was registered. The system is in disrepair and the transfer taxes for urban lands are too
high.
The policy and law related to land registration needs to be subject to a major revision based on a
serious study on the cost, the process, the form of the land registration and deed registration, the
basis for valuation, applicability in urban and rural areas, scope in settlements and farms and a pro‐
poor process. In addition, specific topics such as problems with the Condominium Law, Customary
Title, Registration of Secondary Rights and Easements, relationship with land use plans and zoning
need to be addressed as it relates to formal land registration. Much of this work has not been
addressed in the Government’s draft land use policy.
Significant resources should be devoted to this study. It could be one of the follow‐on activities from
LAMP but it would have a broader scope than just DALMS / MoAI. It should be performed under the
newly formed Land Resource Management Council or under the Ministry of Planning. It really needs
an outside consultant team to bring Regional or International land registration / land market
experience to the study to satisfy the aims of an easily understood, low cost system.
On the land surveying aspects, a word of caution is offered. The surveying system in farmlands is
practical, well understood locally and very low cost‐ it is highly suitable and should not be disturbed
by a complex and costly western approach to boundary definition.
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Lastly, the study must consider the public access and transparency aspects of the land registration
system. This is a real opportunity to build public confidence, transparency and increase the efficiency
of the land market. The study is too large to be one of the studies under LAMP.
A terms of reference and work plan and cost estimate for this extra work was made already by UN‐
Habitat.
Figure 65 Land Records Improvement is an Important Priority

Land records must reflect the
truth on the ground and must be
kept continually up to date.
It is an exacting task but can be
made easier and more reliable
with the appropriate use of new
technology.
Better procedures will support an
inclusive, well understood and
efficient process.
LAMP is innovative and adaptive
to improving the processes.

7.3. Output 3: Change management process designed and implemented.

Indicator Current Cumulative Results since Beginning
Milestone
INDICATOR 1: Procurement of In 2014 LAMP renovated a training room and
equipment, an attached computer room, including new
CLRDTC strengthened with
furniture and electrical circuit, ducting & regulators to
new equipment
Renovation of support the IT and GIS and mapping
building equipment. LAMP installed furniture and
completed computer equipment, GIS software, database
software. And also supported on repair the
toilet.
In 2015 land survey equipment (10 sets of
GNSS instruments, software and ancillary
equipment) was delivered to CLRDTC in first
week of March 2015.
The new training room was inaugurated in
March 2015.
INDICATOR 2: Not completed All LAMP courses were attended by CLRDTC
trainer staff (assigned by CLRDTC Director).
CLRDTC uses LAMP training
All courses have training material and work
material
instructions. See table below for formal
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courses completed so far. DALMS is most

interested in the LRMS and RDBMS for land
record management.
There has not yet been enough time for
CLRDTC to include LAMP material into their
standard courses or make new courses.
Director said that any changes would need
formal approval from DALMS HQ.
INDICATOR 3: IEC program Field work started in March 2015 beginning
completed with IEC to Village Tract FAB and farmers.
Beneficiaries in pilot areas
well informed The IEC consultant was mobilized to create
IEC materials and IEC work plan. Work
Instruction A2 includes IEC.
All field work is preceded by IEC programs‐
LAMP IEC was conducted in 11 villages of all
20 Kwins. Total of 8 IEC events for village FAB
and farmers (see table below).
INDICATOR 4: Training plan and The training plan was finalized and under
budget prepared. implementing and continual review to meet
Training plan developed and
Implementation the needs of the project.
implemented
of 16 formal and
A training evaluation form was devised for
24 on the job
use by each participant after each training
trainings for 40
event; for short duration training once; and
training events by
for longer duration training two
end of February
evaluation/questionnaire forms. Most
2016.
courses have formal evaluation report
completed.
LAMP team developed and implemented
informal training to ensure that DALMS
project team has more ‘hands‐on’ practical
experience.

Progress & Comments
Information, Education and Communication (IEC)
The IEC program was conducted in the two townships as part of the village entry phase and just ahead
of the start of field work. During 2015 the IEC for the villages was completed in respect to all 10 Kwins
in each Township plus the unsurveyed area of Thayarwaddy.
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Figure 66 Local IEC at Myingyan Figure 67 Local IEC at Thayarwaddy

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Figure 68 Public Notification is an important part of the IEC

After field work is complete the project feeds back to the community by putting onto public notice
the updated Kwin maps and the list of owner names. It is posted at the VT Administrator’s office or
other suitable place at the VT. This allows the people to raise any questions or objection.
The IEC participation rate was an average of 47% with a gender ratio of 72:28 for male and female
resp. There needs to be much more awareness raising on the right of women in land registration,
the right to have two names on the title, and an amendment to the Farmland Law to replace
reference to “head of household” to land owner/s including names of both spouse.
In IEC work the FAB is important. LAMP IEC was conducted to inform the IEC of the laws and the
procedures under the Farmland Law. LAMP also informed the FAB in project villages of the objective
of LAMP and the activity plan for the village Kwin maps.
Overall the conclusion is that there is a lot of effort required in the future to fully inform the farmers
on their rights and the laws and rules and procedures for maintaining their rights as land
transactions occur.

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The LAMP IEC programs are shown below: (TYW = Thayarwaddy, MY = Myingyan)
Total Targeted Status

Date Village Name Location Participated Male Female Male % Female %
Holding Participants Participated
30 ‐
Bi Linn TYW 68 68 35 91% 9% 51%
31/03/2015 32 3
08/05/2015 Na Thar MY 150 80 72 46 26 64% 36% 90%
31/03 ‐
Yae Twin Kone TYW 112 86 35 91% 9% 41%
01/04/2015 32 3
19 ‐
Gwe Pin Yoe & Pyaw Bwe MY 1026 821 128 74% 26% 16%
20/05/2015 95 33
18/06/2015 Nga Pyew VT TYW 40 40 7 7 0 100% 0% 18%
Le Thit, Tu Ywin Bo and
26/06/2015 MY 109 87 46 80% 20% 53%
Ye Taing villages 37 9
Kwin No. 1314 Kyaw
17/07/2015 TYW 72 58
Kyang In
Kwin No 1313 Kyaw
17/07/2015 TYW 109 87 87 56 31 64% 36% 38%
Kyang In
Kwin No. 1316 Kyaw
17/07/2015 TYW 105 84
Kyang In
24/07/2015 Kwin No 1322 Nga Pyew TYW 59 47
24/07/2015 Kwin No 1321 Nga Pyew TYW 102 82 113 69 44 61% 39% 66%
Kwin No. 1327 N Nga
24/07/2015 TYW 53 42
Pyew
2,064 1,582 523 374 149 72% 28% 33%

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Training
The training and learning activities include; (i) formal classroom training; (ii) on the job training in the
workplace / field; (iii) technical workshops.

Figure 69 GIS training at CLRDTC Figure 70 GIS training at Thayarwaddy

Figure 71 Total Station training at CLRDTC

The first training course at the renovated training room at CLRDTC in Taikkyi was the 5 day Basic GIS
Course for 20 DALMS participants from the two townships, CLRDTC and the Lower Myanmar
Settlement Office (Yankin). It was a live‐in course which allowed participants to use their spare time
for further exercises. The participants learned how to scan and perform image enhancement of the
Kwin maps, to digitize, calculate the land area and label the land holdings and to print out their results
to the map printer. They learned how to check the quality of their own work and to work in the UTM
map projection system. The main limitation was the brown‐outs which occurred on two occasions.

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Figure 72 Visit to LAMP by LIFT Board (Thayarwaddy, Sep 2015)

Total Training
CLRDTC staff attended trainings together with project townships staff and as well as learning the
new technology of LAMP they also became to better understand the problems at the township
operational level such as the real condition of the land records and land mapping problems, as well
as the solutions. This would place the CLRDTC teachers in a better position to develop their training
courses in the future.
There were 16 formal training course / workshop events. The total training days in the 13 months of
LAMP operations of the training programme was 48 days of formal training with 254 participants for
a total of 755 participant days. A total of 14 formal courses were subject to evaluation. The subjects
covered land surveying, GIS, land adjudication, land law and IEC, IT and data capture, special
applications and workshops.
There were 24 course events of on the job training (OTJ) for a total of 55 days of on the job training
in the workplace with 186 participants. There were a total of 506 participant days of on the job
training33. Two OTJ courses were formally evaluated.
The total is 40 events on 103 days (equivalent of 5 months every day), with 440 participants and
1,261 participant‐days.
A key feature of the training was two workshops to stakeholders; one each for Myingyan and
Thayarwaddy / CLRDTC. The second workshop was also filmed and 3 DVDs made which contain the
four key lectures given by the STA, IT Consultant, GIS Consultant and the Project Implementation
Officer.
The format of the lessons learned workshops was in two parts. The first part was a Workshop for
DALMS technical participants and it featured 4 groups and 3 breakout sessions with 3 plenary
sessions. The findings were aggregated on topics and reported to DALMS HQ. The second workshop
was an all‐day meeting with DALMS HQ held in NPT. LIFT participated in the first workshop.
The following tables summarize the training provided by LAMP:

33
See Tables below.
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Table 15 Formal Training Courses of LAMP
Sr Training Course Days Venue Participants
Myingyan Thayarwadd HQ CLRDTC Settle‐ GAD Region VT Total Partici
DALMS y DALMS DALMS ment and DALMS FAB pant ‐
(Yankin) Others Days
1 Basic GIS 5 CLRDTC 7 7 ‐ 3 3 20 100
2 Basic GNSS 5 CLRDTC 7 7 3 3 20 100
3 Adjudication, IEC, ADR 5 CLRDTC 7 7 3 3 20 100

4 Adjudication, IEC, ADR 2 DALMS 5 12 17 34
for Non‐ SLRD,MGN Myingy‐an
5 Adjudication, IEC, ADR 2 DALMS 3 13 16 32
for Non‐SLRD, THA Thayar‐
waddy
6 Advance GNSS Survey 3 CLRDTC 7 7 3 3 20 60
7 Total Station 2 CLRDTC 3 3 6 12
8 Advance GIS 5 CLRDTC 6 7 3 3 19 95
9 System Administration 5 CLRDTC 2 2 3 3 2 12 60
10 Workshop for Senior 1 MGN 4 2 3 9 2 20 20
Stakeholders (MGN)
11 Workshop for Senior 1 CLRDTC 3 2 6 4 4 4 23 23
Stakeholders (Thayar)
12 Workshop for Lesson 1 CLRDTC 5 6 2 2 15 15
Learned (technical
staff)
13 Training Course on IT 3 CLRDTC 5 6 4 2 2 19 57
Phase (3)‐1
14 Training Course on IT 6 CLRDTC 4 4 24
Phase (3)‐2
15 Workshop for LIS, 1 Sabuthi‐ri 5 3 1 9 9
Land Tax Assessment, Hotel NPT
Registration, Studies
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Sr Training Course Days Venue Participants

Myingyan Thayarwadd HQ CLRDTC Settle‐ GAD Region VT Total Partici
DALMS y DALMS DALMS ment and DALMS FAB pant ‐
(Yankin) Others Days
16 Workshop for Overall 1 Sabuthi‐ri 5 4 5 14 14
Wrap‐up on LAMP Hotel NPT
TOTAL 48 254 755

Table 16 On the Job Training of LAMP
Sr. On-the-Job Training Venue Course Date Durati Participant Participant
on Day
( day )
1 Basic GNSS 1.DALMS, Thayarwaddy 1 06-09/09/15 5 20 100
2 Basic GNSS 1.DALMS, Thayarwaddy 1 30/4- 2 7 14
01/05/15
3 Basic GNSS 2. DALMS, Myingyan 1 01-05/4/15 5 7 35
4 Advance GNSS 1. DALMS, Thayarwaddy 1 13-14/07/15 2 7 14
5 Advance GNSS 2.DALMS, Myingyan 1 07-10/7/15 2 8 16
6 Basic GIS 1.DALMS, Thayarwaddy 1 09-11/2/15 5 10 50
7 asic GIS 2.DALMS, Myingyan 1 08-09/4/15 5 10 50
8 Advance GIS 1.DALMS, Thayarwaddy 1 01-02/9/15 2 7 14
9 Matching Land Records 1.DALMS, Thayarwaddy 1 15-16/7/15 2 7 14
10 Matching Land Records 2.DALMS, Myingyan 1 23-27/9/15 5 7 35
11 Digitizing & Printing 1.DALMS, Thayarwaddy 1 15/9/15 1 10 10
Maps
12 Digitizing Urban Block 2.DALMS, Myingyan 1 16/12/15 2 3 6
map
13 Printing Map Using 1.DALMS, Thayarwaddy 1 27/11/15 1 3 3
QGIS
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14 Printing Map Using 2.DALMS, Myingyan 1 19-20/01/15 2 3 6

QGIS
15 GPS Link to GIS 1.DALMS, Thayarwaddy 1 13-14/07/15 2 7 14
16 Digitizing Fields 1.CLRDTC for 1 27/05/15 1 1 1
Thayarwaddy
17 Digitizing Fields 1.CLRDTC for Myingyan 1 27/05/15 1 1 1
18 Adjudication, IEC, DALMS, Thayarwaddy 2 30/04- 2 20 60
ADR 01/05/15
18/6/2019 1 20
19 LRMS New Version DALMS , Myingyan 1 23-24/09/15 2 7 14
Installation
20 Quality Control DALMS, Myingyan 1 24/09/15 1 7 7
22 IT Phase(3) Testing and DALMS, Thayarwaddy 1 02-03/02/16 2 7 14
Training
23 T Phase(3) Testing and DALMS, Myingyan 1 04-05/02/16 2 7 14
Training
TOTAL 24 55 186 506

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The on the job training was a very important part of the work plan of LAMP. Training in the actual
workplace and on actual office records and maps is the best way to learn. Internal monitoring found
that DALMS staff have been improving their skill and knowledge a lot compared to before. Maps were
able to be produced by DALMS staffs when Ministry required urgently in Oct 2015 and staff adapted
the rural methods to a pilot village survey in each Township.

Figure 73 LAMP on the job training at Thayarwaddy and Myingyan Township‐
DALMS staff applying GIS technology.

Training evaluation reports were performed on all formal training courses and two of the on the job
courses‐ see the table below.
Table 17 Formal Course Evaluations
Evaluation Total Training Formal

Provided Evaluation
1. Formal Training 16 13
2. Informal Training 24 234

For example, for the Basic GIS course in early 2015 the training evaluation forms from each trainee
were assessed as well as from discussions with the participants. The report includes:
Figure 74 Assessment of Training Programme
OVERALL:
Strength of the training course were:
a. Participants have strong experiences in cadastral surveying, Kwin maps and
holding boundaries
b. Participants have highly committed in the training attendance.
c. Participants are able to bring the real exercises with their experiences
d. Training arrangement were well organized and run effectively
e. The training materials ( work instruction) was simplified
f. The training contents and materials were appropriate

34
In addition another 7 events were observed by the training coordinator.
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g. Participants were interested on the training
h. Nearly 30% of the participants had obtained on‐the –job training before this
formal training
Weaknesses of the training course are:
a. Some participants lack basic computer skills and time was limited to exercise
on basic PC application
b. Some participants has weakness in English and difficulties in reading work
instruction
c. Within the training time there were some electrical failures and it caused
delay the lectures and reduced the practical exercises.
LESSONS:
a. Step by step learning process with practical exercises provided the good
opportunity for the participants to understand the subject matter and obtain
the efficient skills
b. With more practical exercises with the assistance of trainer and facilitator
the participants become more motivated and interested in the subject
CONCLUSIONS:
The training has built up capacity for participants to implement project targeted
works efficiently. The participants committed to apply the skills, understanding
and experiences they learned from the course to contribute to the improvement
of quality of DALMS land management and administrative activities.
In conclusion, the estimated understanding rating on the training course by
participants was 75% in the final evaluation. This shows the high rate of increase
in the understanding gained from training course.

LAMP performed the Evaluation of Impact of LAMP on CLRDTC by LAMP TA in September 2015. The
report is available for review. The methods were based on the conducting of direct interviews and
group discussion with higher level personnel and staff officers from CLRDTC. The purpose was to:
i. evaluate the impact of LAMP on CLRDTC‐ its staff, its courses and the capacity to deliver
modern training
ii. to review the lessons learned from the implementation of training programs at CLRDTC
for the future training courses that will provide at CLRDTC including the effectives of the
approach of training of trainer
iii. to make adjustments and addressing the issues rise during implementation of the project
and course of the project so that a best possible result can be obtained.
The results overall are positive and useful for CLRDTC. But the CLRDTC needs more detailed instruction
from DALMS HQ on how to incorporate LAMP training materials into the existing curriculums.

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Figure 75 Kick off of the Training Program of LAMP for DALMS Staff (CLRDTC Training Centre, Feb
2015)
Figure 76 GNSS Training at CLRDTC in Taykkyi

Procurement for CLRDTC
All LAMP equipment was delivered and installed for CLRDTC. It is the latest equipment suitable for use
in both operations and training, covering land surveying, mapping, land records data capture and land
information management:
Table 18 List of Major Items of Equipment Supplied to CLRDTC
Equipment Type No Units
PC Computer 5
Large Plotter 1
Map Scanner 1
Server 1
Server Software 1
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GIS workstation 20
GIS Software 20
GPS‐D 10
Total Station 0
Tapes & Off‐set 10
Printers (small format) 5
Scanner (small format A4) 1
Scanner (small format A3) 1
Total Items 76

The LAMP renovated training room at CLRDTC is very suitable, spacious and is in the same building as
the living quarters for the participants. It is very convenient. LAMP has delivered to CLRDTC a very
good facility for intensive hands on computer based training for a class up to 20 trainees with each
with a GIS workstation online to the Server and mapping peripherals. The official launch of the facility
was on Monday, 9 March 2015.

Figure 77 Opening of the LAMP Training Room at CLRDTC

There was a delay in delivery of the surveying equipment due to a lengthy UN procurement process,
slow delivery by the supplier (the survey contract was signed in 18 November, but the equipment was
only delivered to LAMP on 26 February 2015) and slow processing of customs clearance. Delay to the
start of survey training was about 3 months. This caused a delay in the training and in the start of field
work. The main part of the dry season, which is the main survey field season, was missed.
Unfunded Training Course
The Geodetic survey consultant identified an emerging need in the training of DALMS staff that was
not included in the scope of LAMP. The DALMS has purchased GNSS survey equipment to perform
new surveys and re‐surveys in village and rural areas. To use this equipment effectively there needs
to be a third order control network in the areas to be surveyed. DALMS has little experience and
knowledge in geodetic surveying to perform such surveys. The LAMP Report No 9a identifies the topics
of a suitable curriculum and timeline and likely cost for the entire training and capacity building
program as about $100,000. This is too large for LAMP which was explained to DALMS. This should be
a priority for the next development assistance intervention.
VDO Lectures on Land Administration
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At the second workshop on land administration for stakeholders held at CLRDTC on 27 January 2016
the project made a VDO. There were 4 lectures and it was captured onto 3 DVD Disks. The DVDs
were issued to DALMS.
Figure 78 DVD Back Cover of Four Lectures by LAMP
7.3.1. Lessons on Human Resource Development

On working with DALMS on the main operational component 1 implementation, there can be drawn
some lessons and recommendations:
(i) Overall lesson is that staff has different aptitudes and attitudes to using office based
information technology. All are comfortable with field work. The management and
organisation of DALMS staff revolves around allocation of particular Kwins to each
survey staff. For implementation of new technology in the Townships the DALMS will
benefit by creating some specialization positions.
(ii) The initial task of mass data capture of land records and maps would be best handled
by a special temporary unit of local persons hired into DALMS at the Township or
District level to load all land records into the DALMS LRMS database.
(iii) The processing of land records to remove the errors prior to uploading to the
database should be a closely managed function so that survey staff diligently attend
to the error correction and have the attention of the staff officer to the many errors
some of which are difficult to resolve at the ordinary surveyor level.
(iv) For the ongoing maintenance of the land tenure related records the Township would
benefit from a dedicated service unit within the DALMS Township which provides
support to all survey staff on LRMS processing. This would be in place for maybe one
generation (up to 10‐15 years) until all survey staff was comfortable and skilled using
the LRMS and GIS. It is assumed that once a Township is declared for computerization
of the records that all Kwin maps and land tenure records will be required to be loaded
up to the LRMS and therefore, that keeping only a manual system is not an option.
(v) Given the past history and the many errors in existing land tenure records and the
huge amount of future land tenure related work that DALMS must handle, it is
unrealistic to expect that manual systems can cope. Accordingly, it is recommended
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that computerization will be phased in at DALMS operational offices at Township
level. The sequence of roll‐out to Townships needs to be carefully planned.
(vi) Selection of staff for learning on modern technology should be based on aptitude;
(vii) IT skills are low and basic IT training is needed for staff prior to attending IT RDBMS
training;
(viii) Trainees should always discuss closely with their SO upon returning to the
office on the learnings from the course;
(ix) Tertiary education in spatial sciences / geomatics / land surveying and land
management is lacking in Myanmar. This makes training less effective than it ought to
be. This is a long term issue to be addressed under the LTDP in LAMP Phase 2.

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7.4. Output 4: New application systems developed, pilot tested and evaluated.
Indicator Current Cumulative Results since Beginning
Milestone
INDICATOR 1: Completed (Jan The study was performed in the period
2016) October 2015 to January 2016 and the report
LIS system designed,
issued to DALMS (Report No 22). Important
developed & tested in 2 pilot
findings.
sites
INDICATOR 2: Completed (Aug The study started on time and the feasibility
2015) study report was completed (Report 19).
Feasibility study on a new
Important findings which DALMS finds most
land tax zoning system for
applicable to the future land tax approach.
farmlands
INDICATOR 3: Completed Pilot The land tax zoning system pilot was
test and report conducted at Thayarwaddy. It demonstrated
Pilot land tax zoning system
completed (Oct with real data how a new approach would be
developed & tested in 1 pilot
2015) implemented. New forms and computations
site.
and use of technology is described in the
report (Report No 20). All holdings for one
Kwin have their land tax computed using
different technologies and showing the
relative time savings.

Progress & Comments
While these activities are small pilot studies they are of very great interest to DALMS which was
confirmed during the December 2014 workshop and the workshop at NPT on 25 February 2016. The
reason is that the DALMS devote most of their human resources to these tasks. The recording and
reporting of data on agricultural statistics and land use / land type data and the assessment of
farmland land tax both require considerable field work and tedious and time consuming office work;
indeed, more than the normal working day provides. Therefore, any efficiency gains in these
functional areas will help to ease the work load significantly.
Land Tax Assessment and Valuation Zoning Study (LAMP Reports 19 & 20)
The two reports provide a new concept for land taxation in farmlands and a demonstration of the
concept. They are enough to illustrate the benefits of changing from the existing system which is
manpower intensive and ineffective. Further, with the land market growing rapidly it is essential that
DALMS obtain skills on land valuation and real data on the changing land values. The reports are
enough for DALMS to start a discussion with the Finance Department. It is far better for DALMS to
take the lead in this discussion since most of the work effort and change will affect DALMS. At the
same time DALMS could negotiate for the resources to re‐tool and re‐training of their staff.
The new approach builds on the new farmland LUC of Form 5 Register established in each Township.
It is practical and the basic system relies on PC Spreadsheets only. The cost estimates show up to 80%
saving in labour.
The new approach is universal and with minor adjustments (e.g., value determined from sales not
from production) could be applied in villages and towns in the future.

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Figure 79 Existing Manual System is Tedious and Time Consuming

The benefits of the new approach based on land value and mass appraisal are:
(i) The annual tax rate is set by the policy maker as a single figure (e.g., 0.1% pa) of the land
value, not as a complex schedule of kyat rates for each crop type;
(ii) Tax policy can set exemptions and set limits to protect the poor;
(iii) The tax rate can be readily changed each year by the policy maker;
(iv) The land valuation method fits with best practice in land taxation and helps Government
to know the land market better;
(v) The zonal land values can be easily explained to the people as the people already have an
idea of their land value;
(vi) The methodology is simple and standardized and is well suited to use of spreadsheet until
data base technology and GIS is introduced in the future;
(vii) The approach is very efficient of human resources and can be adjusted for finer detail as
and when required;
(viii) The method builds on Form 5 Register of LUC and does not need another Register to
be maintained (such as existing Register II);
(ix) Being based on land value it will encourage productive use of the land and reduce idle
land.
Figure 80 Portion of Land Value Zoning Map Used for Determining the Land Tax

The reports contain: history of land tax assessment in farmlands; traditional way of getting the data
and calculating the land tax; suggested new approach to determine the land tax; methodology applied
to two Kwins; use of new technology; comparison of labour used for 4 different techniques;
conclusions.

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Figure 81 Four Main Technical Steps in the Process of Land Tax Assessment
1. General Revision and Valuation
Zoning
2. Access the Land Base of Farmland
Holdings
3. Assign Holdings to Zones
4. Create Land Tax Assessment Roll and
Tax Slips

The tasks conducted to compile this report included:
1. Studying the Settlement Reports, Settlements maps and Notifications on Land Tax of project
area of Thayarwaddy District , and study in Existing System of Land Tax Assessment in
Myanmar from ‐
 "Burma Settlement Instructions ‐ 1929",
 "Lower Burma Land and Revenue Act 1876”,
 "Upper Burma Land and Revenue Regulation‐1889"
 Books related to Land Revenue System such as Burma Land Record Manual.
2. Discussing with staff of Thayarwaddy Land Records Office to collect the field data for study
area and choosing 2 adjoining Kwins in Thayarwaddy for the pilot test.
3. Visit the Kwin map areas and meeting the elders of Village, Village Administrator to get the
agricultural statistics of the study area and to study the cropping pattern and yield per acre
and Gross output on Randomly selected holdings in the selected two Kwins of Ngaphyugalay
village, Thayarwaddy.
4. Collection of income from land by randomly selected holdings (Ubaing) and Compilation of
crop data on production value and crop market prices in the pilot area.
5. Collecting additional information from FAB members, Village elders and responsible
personnel. Consultation and discussion with the public was made to determine the land value
zoning of similar income holdings.
6. Visit the Kwin map areas and data collection of existing assessment rates on each holding
(Ubaing), and study of the revenue registers and Kwin maps. Data collection for assessment
tracts, land types Land Tax Register of selected Kwins.
7. Determine: land value of reference sites; creating land valuation zones on the Kwin maps;
compile valuation role of holdings; assign each holding to its correct land value zone; compute
the land tax for each holding and make report.
8. Analyse the time taken for 4 different techniques.
9. Make conclusions.

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Figure 82 Example printout of Computer Generated Land Tax Assessment for Pilot Kwin in
Thayarwaddy (2015)

LIS and Crop Statistics Study (LAMP Report No 22)
DALMS uses the Kwin map as a basis for non‐land tenure work such as crop statistics reporting. The
study considers the efficiency of this application and also at other possible LIS applications once
DALMS has DCDB of land holdings and satellite imagery.
On the crop statistics reporting it was found that the existing system for data collection in SLRD
(DALMS) takes a lot of time, human resources and is expensive. Instead of complete enumeration,
using statistical sampling techniques can considerably reduce cost and time and provide reliable
statistics for policy and decision makers. It would allow time for surveyors to properly visit each
sample farm and make the necessary detailed inspection and records.
LAMP selected one Kwin (Kwin no. 223) in Myingyan Township and one Kwin (Kwin no. 1328) in
Thayarwaddy Township to study. Based on the Register II of each Kwin we used various sampling
rates, such as 5%, 10%, 15%, 20% and 40%. The sampling error was determined by comparing the
results with the actual report which was based on all land holdings as shown in Register II.
We found that the estimated gross area cultivated from each of the sample rates is similar to the
actual and can save a lot of human resources. Secondly, the use of simple spreadsheet can help
greatly in accuracy and speed of office reporting. Later, once the LRMS is installed it could be
extended for crop data.
Thayarwaddy: The total land area cropped in Kwin 1328 is 497.17 acres. There are 110 holdings in
the Kwin. The analysis for various sampling rates is as follows:

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Figure 83 Sampling Error Analysis in Thayarwaddy
An optimum sampling rate
Sampling Error in Acreage of Crops for Various
in one Kwin is about 15% Sampling Rates
which gives an error of just Thayarwaddy Township Kwin 1328
7% in cropped acreage.
With more Kwins the 30.0%
number of samples would 25.0%
increase and the sampling 20.0%
error would decrease
further. 15.0%
10.0%
5.0%
0.0%
5% 10% 15% 20% 40% 100%
Sampling Error

Myingyan: The total land area cropped in Kwin 223 is 488.37 acres. There are 191 holdings in the
Kwin. The analysis for various sampling rates is as follows:
Figure 84 Sampling Error Analysis in Myingyan
An optimum sampling
Sampling Error in Acreage of Crops for
rate in one Kwin is
Various Sampling Rates
about 15% ‐ 20%
Myingyan Township Kwin 223
which gives an error of
5% ‐ 8% in cropped 20.0%
acreage. With more
Kwins the number of 15.0%
samples would
increase and the 10.0%
sampling error would
decrease further. 5.0%

0.0%
5% 10% 15% 20% 40% 100%
Sampling Error

Discussion: This is just for one Kwin in each Township. As more Kwins contribute to the data set the
error level would get better because the sample size at 15% is 15 holdings and 29 holdings for
Thayarwaddy and Myingyan respectively. One could expect better accuracy up to at least 100
holdings (about 7 Kwins) before gradually levelling off about 2% ‐ 4%. This could be tested in a
further study. Also, with further Kwins it would be more reliable for determining cropping area by
crop type.
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These statistics indicate that for a tolerance of 8% error in total crop acreage the DALMS could save
up to 85% of staff resources. Alternatively, these resources could be used for other programs such as
updating Kwin maps and other tenure sub‐programs.
Land Information System (LIS)
LIS services are not provided by DALMS as yet but in the future the public and private sector would
value such services especially in selected developing areas. These services would make available in
hard copy or digital format land information such as third order survey control network and various
types of large scale maps.
No agency of Government provides such large scale topographic maps (scales 1:1,000; 1:4,000;
1:10,000). The LRMS in the two Townships already stores the DCDB of land holdings (and pilot block
maps of 3 blocks of Myingyan) and the satellite imagery which are a basis for adding other layers of
map data. As an example the LIS study team digitised the detail in the satellite imagery to add a
number of layers and create a number of adjoining topographic maps35. One of these 1:4,000 maps
is shown below:
Figure 85 Sample Large Scale Topographic Map [Map No 6‐425‐1216‐4]

35
Note, we used the existing panchromatic imagery which is cost effective for land tenure applications but
colour imagery would assist of DALMS were to get involved in making large scale topographic maps in some
areas of the country.
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The map above shows the holdings in the area to the east of the main road while they were not yet
digitised to the west of the main road. The extent of the mapping can be seen in a portion of the
index map as shown below:
Figure 86 Index Map of Standard Mapping Designed for LIS Pilot in Thayarwaddy Township (Dec
2015)

Note: the grid shown is the map sheet edges of the standard All maps are in the LAMP standard:
1:4,000 scale mapping of the Pilot Project and the unique map Myanmar 2000 coordinate system and
numbers are shown based on the LAMP standard model36 UTM Mapping system and grid.

Once a Township has the LAMP LRMS and GIS systems it can produce other spatial products for local
agencies of Government and also for the People, including products such as:
a. Mapping other tenures in farmlands such as grazing lands, public facilities (education,
health);
b. Mapping of roads, railways and waterways;
c. Forest boundaries and VFV Lands;
d. Mapping actual village boundaries and encroachment on farmland.
In combination with the LAMP proposed reform of land tax the Government could obtain great
advantage in much more effective land related programs and savings in human resources which
could be used for the many land tenure related programs which have been so far unserved.

36
For the standard map layout see LAMP Report 16 on LRMS Phase 2 Design Document (Appendix A, page 46).
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Village Titling Pilot
The TA Team conducted an evaluation of the village pilot survey in Myingyan (see TA Report 24).
While the initiative recognizes the lack of formal tenure of people in 5‐6 Million village plots the
approach has some problems because it ignores the informal structure of the village settlements.
This will create larger problems for the community in the future. A regularisation approach is
suggested.
Figure 87 Staff Officer Myingyan and TA Team Study the File on Village Pilot on Land Titling

Figure 88 Lessons and Findings from Pilot Village Titling (2015)
1. Issuing Grant Leases Before Regularising Will Make It Much More Difficult Later
and make people’s lives harder;
2. Encroachment on Farmlands is extensive (up to 3M families nationwide);
3. Informal settlements have land locked plots, inadequate access ways for future
services and vehicles;
4. No planned roadways or public land (schools, clinic, park etc);
5. Future high cost for Government to add services (water, drainage);
6. Financial gain to speculators is high but no responsibility for regularising the
settlement;
7. Must avoid block maps overlapping Kwin maps or plots overlapping holdings or new
block maps overlapping old block maps in residential expansion areas. Block map
must have a grid on the same system as the Kwin maps to avoid overlap (adopting a
WGS.84 origin is bad practice for large scale mapping such as Block Map37);
8. Updating the Existing Land Register manually will be tedious and costly in human
resources as there are 5‐6 M plots (computerisation will assist);
9. Selection of the most effective and efficient survey technique in villages to produce
the block map should be carefully considered;
10. Lands at high risk of danger such as floods must not be titled‐ criteria needed.

The suggestions in the TA Report include the following:

37
The village pilot check survey in Myingyan showed an average error of 4 metres in position of the
boundaries due to the fact that the DALMS surveyors adopted an approximate origin on WGS.84 and did not
connect to the third order or second order network.
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Figure 89 Suggested Solutions on Village Titling
1. Issue a provisional land title document ‘limited to survey’ until the village is suitably
regularised;
2. Base the provisional land title document on an approximate survey;
3. Apply land tax to the provisional title;
4. Issue the Grant Lease after regularisation is done and after a full survey and block map
has been completed (incentive for titling);
5. All block maps must show a map grid on the national datum and standard map projection
so that village surveys must connect to the second or third order network;
6. Prepare land records and Land Register so that it will be easy to keep up to date and, easy
to later implement land tax assessment system in rural towns and villages (multi‐use);
7. Computerise the register;
8. Proper land development controls must be promulgated and implemented to stop growth
of informal settlements;
9. Policy on Land Related Taxation needed:
9.1.1. Taxation on the incremental increase in land value resulting from land
conversion from agricultural to village / town land;
9.1.2. Introduce small annual land tax on village / town land to provide funds for local
services.

7.5. Output 5: Lessons learned and documentation from pilot sites.

Indicator Current Milestone Cumulative Results since Beginning
INDICATOR 1: Monitoring reports on There are many elements to the project
operations completed monitoring. There are:
Reports capture the
lessons from the pilot  weekly and 3 monthly internal reports
sites from both (5 reports);
internal reviews and  weekly meeting with minutes of
workshops meetings with the PC as well as
monthly reports38 to DALMS and
 6 & 12 monthly reports to LIFT and
monitoring visits to the project sites
LIFT decided that it would manage the project
evaluation and LIFT mobilized an independent
contractor in January 2015.
The baseline survey questionnaire was
developed and field tested but approval to

38
Monthly written report from UN‐Habitat to DALMS with 4 components; narrative (Myanmar language),
operational monitoring progress, finance progress report and update work plan with % completion
(English).

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proceed with implementation was not given by
DALMS.
INDICATOR 2: Six LAMP studies and TA produced 6 important studies: 1/ Report No
one contracted study 2; 2/ Report No 4; 3/ Report No 9a; 4/ Report
Project studies
completed and three No 10; 5/ Report No 23; 6/ Report No 24.
prioritized, designed
studies not started.
and implemented There were 4 studies to be done by the private
using the pilot sites as sector as independent studies of which only
reference sites one was accomplished (education study). While
the terms of reference for these four technical
studies on (i) Land Market, (ii) Land Conversion,
(iii) Land Education, (iv) Land Process and
Communication were approved by DALMS HQ
on 7 July 2015, procurement was only complete
in December 2015. The questionnaires and
work plan of the Contractor was not approved
by DALMS on 3 studies as at end of Project (Feb
2016). The education study did not involve field
work questionnaires and was largely
completed.

Progress & Comments
Monitoring of LAMP technical developments and progress was extensive. This was essential because
the aim of the project was to design, develop, install and test new methods and new technology. The
cycle of development was adopted. The use of prototyping of the LRMS and the phasing of the LRMS
were both very useful for getting feedback especially on the large number and kind of errors and
omissions in land records. A direct route to program development would have been a failure. On the
job training and frequent visits by the TA Team to the project sites was also essential. At the more
formal level the project had regular weekly meeting between the Project Coordinator and TA Team,
regular monthly reporting by the TA Team to DALMS and technical meetings as required between
DALMS NPT and the TA Team. Internal three monthly monitoring reports were prepared. Operational
weekly reports were made and were the basis for planning field visits and on the job training and other
follow up.
The TA Team made regular 6 monthly and 12 monthly reports to LIFT. In addition, LIFT made
monitoring visits to the project sites accompanied by the TA Team and Project Coordinator.
Monitoring of LAMP at the policy level failed because the Project Steering Committee never was
constituted by the MoAI. This is contrary to the approved Project Design Document and the LOA.
Accordingly, there was no means for addressing project policy issues and for high level coordination
between UN‐Habitat and MoAI / DALMS.

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Figure 90 the UN‐Habitat team keeps the Project Coordinator U
Min Min well informed on progress

Evaluation of the project occurred in 11‐26 January 2016 through an independent contractor engaged
by LIFT. Meetings were held at each project site (Myingyan, Thayarwaddy, Taikkyi), the TA Team, the
Project Coordinator, the DALMS in NPT and the Permanent Secretary of MOAI. In addition, the
evaluator met with senior staff in other lands related projects.
Figure 91 Evaluation Field Activities at LAMP Project Sites (January 2016)
LIFT External Evaluation visited Thayarwaddy LIFT External Evaluation discussed with FABs and
Farmers in Thayarwaddy
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DALMS Project Coordinator with LIFT External LIFT External Evaluators with LAMP Team
Evaluator Mr. Declan meeting with DALMS DG in Nyapyitaw 21 Jan
2016

Internal project evaluation was limited by the lack of a baseline questionnaire survey. The work was
put to tender and a local contractor selected by UN‐Habitat. However, DALMS informed UN‐Habitat
in December 2014 that the questionnaire would have to be approved by the Minister before approving
of the baseline activity could begin. DALMS requested UN‐Habitat to prepare the questionnaire rather
than the selected firm. TA Team had lengthy meetings with the project coordinator U Min Min on
preparing and re‐drafting the questionnaire and addressing the comments and questions of DALMS.
The questionnaire was finally agreed and was field tested and a report on the successful test was
issued to DALMS on 8 December 2015. The report also showed the proposed implementation plan
using LAMP hired staff from the local area. DALMS had not replied by end of the Project.
The lack of the base line was not a significant issue for the main work of LAMP since the operational
time and resources were limited and also the IEC program reached farmers as well as FAB. For future
major interventions the baseline will need to go ahead especially to help design the “width and depth”
of new IEC programs to the farmers.
Figure 92 LIFT Fund Board visited LAMP Project in Thayarwaddy and Taykkyi in September 2015
LIFT Fund Board direct meeting with Farmers LIFT Fund Board discussed with CLRDTC
and FABs in Thayarwaddy Township Director in Taykkyi

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Studies
TOR for four studies was approved by DALMS on 7 July 2015. The studies would inform LAMP and
the subsequent long term planning on 4 topics:
 Education in spatial sciences;
 Land Market;
 Land Conversion;
 Understanding of Farmers on Land Laws and Processes for Land Administration.
UN‐Habitat contracted MMRD in December 2015 after open selection and notified DALMS on 13
January 2016 that the Contractor was ready to start its work and requested DALMS to facilitate the
work. However, the questionnaires and work plan were not approved by DALMS by project end.
The omissions of these studies did not impact on LAMP as they were intended to inform the next
phase of LAMP on the strategic planning.

7.6. Risk Management

The project results frame was useful for keeping the project on its correct path as well as the Project
Work Plan Gantt Chart (see appendices). The LAMP scope document states:
“The project aims to design and develop better processes and better
application of new technology; to demonstrate the impacts in pilot
townships; and, to build capacity of DALMS through the CLRDTC and the
staff on the two pilot townships. The M&E system needs to therefore have
an emphasis on evaluation, not only monitoring. The project log frame
provides a suitable project structure and evaluation and monitoring
framework for the reporting. The M&E system must inform the project
during operations on how / where to make improvements and at the end
of the project on major lessons and recommendations”.

The M&E system was designed with recognition that the project is a change management project and
has higher risk than straight forward projects which replicate or deliver well known products, systems
and services. Hence, close attention to the pace of change and the commitment of DALMS was
important to the project management. With the close attention of the PC and the frequent visits of
the TA Team to the project sites as well as the assignment of full time person to each site lessened the
risk of losing DALMS commitment.
The LAMP project focused at the level of processes, systems and capacity.
The major risks faced by the Project were as follows:
I. Process‐ ‘the Kwin map updating and creation of the title register are the core to the new
processes and better processes should be demonstrated’. The new systems were strongly
relevant and effective and proven in operations at local level of Township. DALMS very much
needs to implement these systems to clean their land records and update their maps.
II. Process‐ ‘The deed registration process is problematic and needs a major overhaul of both the
law and policy‐ until such time as this is achieved improvements will be incremental’. A short
term solution was found to simplify the existing manual system but there was not enough
time to implement.
III. Systems‐ ‘the survey and GIS systems will be established. Most concern is with the programing
of the database applications’. TA Team recruited into the project the necessary IT staff after
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failure of contracting out the program development‐ this caused initial delays but probably
produced a better result (with the project extension at no extra cost of 5 months).
IV. Capacity‐ ‘DALMS staff at each office has many tasks’. This proved to be one of the main
problems and a major cause for limiting the knowledge and skills transfer. Our plan for using
OTJ training to keep the local 7 staff focused on LAMP was not always successful because the
7 staff was on other work and OTJ training had to be negotiated.
V. Data Capture‐ ‘missing records caused delays in data capture rates’. A serious defect is the
case of missing office copy of the LUC. The TA Team was able to recover copies of the owners
copy from the Bank for 100s of holdings but not all. Missing Form 105 is prevalent and the
LRMS allows the printing of new Form 105 on each holding.
VI. Incomplete Work‐ There was not quite enough time for the completion of all the processing
(see APPENDIX 15 OPERATIONAL OUTPUTS of LAMP) and the Townships should continue:
In Thayarwaddy (all 10 maps done):
a. LUC case files not able to complete 100% as per targeted due to Form 7
missing in DALMS Office and owner copy is in the bank;
b. Register I‐A has 6,000 scanned title entries but only 4,186 with key data
entry so the remainder should be data entered.
c. Township is very close to completing the computerization of the whole
register and should continue until finished and then assign the better staff
to operate the LRMS;
d. Pending instruction from DALMS NPT, continue the update of the other
Kwin maps and matching 1 and matching 2.
In Myingyan at end of Project work to continue:
a. Finish Form 1 & 2 and public display in 2 Kwins;
b. Run Matching 2 in 7 Kwins;
c. There are 2 block maps remaining to be digitised from the target of 5
block maps and then run matching 1 and matching 2;
e. Pending instruction from DALMS NPT, continue the update of the other
Kwin maps, scanning and key data entry of the remaining 70,000 case files
and matching 1 and matching 2.
f. Having a very large register should lead DALMS to consider setting up a
small IT support cell to service the surveyors.
VII. Technical reference books will be distributed in late April 2016 due to procurement and
delivery delay because all of the books must be brought from abroad.

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8. Conclusion
LAMP took up the challenge to innovate and delivered a great deal of knowledge and new systems
for operation in DALMS at the Township level. It was done in a short time.
LAMP was a pilot project aimed to develop and demonstrate innovative ways to address the many
challenges of the DALMS Township Offices in delivering its services and managing its land records. The
project was embedded in two DALMS Township offices where the systems were tested and made
operational using DALMS staff. This makes for a more resilient, appropriate and sustainable set of new
systems. LAMP achieved its purpose with a large amount of innovation, design, development and
demonstration of operations. To keep the records and maps up to date and to meet the expectations
of the people business and Government DALMS must embrace modern technology. LAMP has shown
how to do this. LAMP produced well documented work instructions.
LAMP obtained lessons and conceived strategies that would be relevant to the next phase of the
planning for the long term development of the land sector, the reform of DALMS and the roll‐out of
new technology. In this way LAMP has been more valuable by being more than a project in two
Townships but also as a platform for long term nationwide reform.
The 20 months operation of LAMP has produced insights which should be used to reform land
administration in the country. These insights go well beyond technical solutions. Realistically, the
Government has little choice but to approach the operations of DALMS in a strategic manner.
Piecemeal efforts will produce frustration at the poor land administration service. Dealing only with
technology will waste time and money.
DALMS has a large role in land administration. At the same time it is likely that DALMS will get no
further staff and it will need to do more with the same staff. This factor of efficiency combined with a
greater emphasis on quality of land records will dictate that DALMS must use computerization and
better manage its resources for the reforms.
The big learning of LAMP was that technical solutions are not enough to address the inherent
weaknesses at the core of the problems in the land system in Myanmar. The necessary changes to
DALMS are so extensive that only a reform program can realise the benefits indicated by LAMP. The
existing systems are very entrenched and staff already work long hours. The solution must be a reform
of the entire work program of DALMS.
The conclusion from LAMP is that Government needs to take on reform of the land administration
sector as a priority; the institutional, work programme and performance measures, human
resources, technical, infrastructure, land records and marketing with its clients; all need to be
reformed together. Without leadership there will be only technical change and at a slow pace.
The next step is crucial. The next step largely depends on the Government’s ‘appetite’ for reform of
land administration. Reform of all of the DALMS work programs and methods is needed so that much
more output can be achieved with existing human resources. This requires beginning with a strategic
planning process and developing a long term development plan to underpin the future reform. There
will be disappointment unless land governance as a whole is addressed including the policies and laws.

End of Report

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APPENDIX 1 ORDER OF DG OF DALMS TO CREATE LAMP PROJECT TEAM
(Unofficial Translation)
Government of Republic of Union Of Myanmar, Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation, DALMS (SLRD)
Memo No. 3541/tit ma‐tit (htway)
Date: 6 May 2013
Ref: UNH’s Memo UNHABITAT MYA/2013/72 dated 4/4/2013
Subject: Revision of the proposal for The Land Administration and Management Program (LAMP)
1. The DALMS has submitted the project proposal to the MOAI through the Dept. of Agriculture
Planning for signing of Letter of Agreement to implement the LAMP pilot project in cooperation with
UN‐Habitat.
2. Upon the submission, the MOAI Minister remarked that” it was related to the land use policy
works taken up by MOECAF; though it would be fairly beneficial to DALMS, please find out for any
details as there can be binding factors and re‐submit the case; it is necessary to prioritize activities of
immediate results rather than long term works.
3. On 13/3/2013, as requested by UN‐Habitat, the matter was discussed between DALMS, FAO
and UN‐Habitat to collaborate technically for revising the project proposal in line with the Minister’s
guidance at the meeting room 1 of MOAI.
4. The DALMS team for collaborating with UN‐Habitat Team for the above‐mentioned subject
has been formed as followed:

No Name Designation / Department Duty
1 Dr. Win Htut Deputy Director, Regional Settlement Leader
Dept. (Lower Myanmar)
2 U Tar Lwin Assistant Director ( Training Centre) Member
3 U Myint Thu Assistant Director (Settlement & Planning) Member
DALMS HQ
4 U Ye Tun Assistant Director (Survey/Mapping) Member
DALMS HQ
5 U Kyaw Htay Assistant Director (Land Administration) Member
DALMS HQ
The team is hereby, informed to collaborate with UN‐Habitat Team in order to review the
requirements in revising the project proposal in accordance with the guidance of the Minister of the
Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation and submit the revision (draft) to DALMS HQ in advance.
Signed‐Aye Maung Sein, Director (Admin)

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APPENDIX 2 MAJOR CHANGES TO THE ORIGINAL LAMP DESIGN
The original project proposal was made in September 2012 and attracted funding under the LIFT
Program. The starting point for the review of the original project design was the comments of the
MoAI. On May 6 the DALMS issued an order to create a team to work with UN‐Habitat to revise the
LAMP design. A preliminary meeting was held on May 6 with DALMS’s team leader and the UN‐Habitat
team. On May 17, 2013 the UN‐Habitat team visited the DALMS Yangon office to assist the DALMS
team to revise the scope and emphasis of the LAMP Project.
Comparison of Original Design and the New Design

No Request of MoAI Response in the New LAMP Design
1 Collaboration in design. UN‐Habitat set up a 4 person team; DALMS set up a 4
person team. The project design was a collaborative
effort.
2 Avoid binding conditions. The project design reduces the amount of involvement
by agencies of government from outside MoAI; for
example, the scope of the urban pilot is only to the
extent of DALMS functions and does not include title
issuance which is a GAD responsibility.
3 Focus strengthening on the core The main thrust and effort is on the core processes of
processes of DALMS DALMS; much greater design effort has gone into
detailing the systems to be upgraded and the methods
to be adopted as well as the budget needed for new
equipment.
4 Implementer is DALMS not UN‐ The project design places DALMS in charge of the project
Habitat. and in chair of the steering committee. The PD states,
“The ownership of the LAMP project rests with DALMS
supported by UN‐HABITAT”.
5 A steering committee would be The steering committee has not been constituted as yet.
formed. The composition is drafted and only contains
departments concerned directly with the operational
work of land administration. There are only 2 members
from outside DALMS: from GAD (due to their role in the
Farmland Board) and Survey Department (due to their
role in providing maps and survey controls).
6 Review of the law would not be The project does not include a review of any laws. There
needed at this time and the is no situational analysis and no research. Small studies
situational analysis and research are directly related to improving the operational
should be reconsidered. systems not addressing policy.

end

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APPENDIX 3 SUMMARY OF LAMP
1. Origins of LAMP
Late in 2011, the Government of Myanmar asked for assistance from the international
community/the UN in the land sector for the very first time . The Government’s call came in the
wake of confidence building by UN‐Habitat which requested the Government, after cyclone Nargis,
to make available a senior official from DALMS to work full time with UN‐HABITAT in resolving land
issues during its reconstruction program. This resulted in joint DALMS / UN‐Habitat land advisory
services to NGOs working with UN‐Habitat on shelter issues, providing mediation support in
resolving issues of land tenure for IDPs and landless poor, so as to get a shelter with secure tenure
through NGO/UN reconstruction programs. A total of 3,349 landless IDPs successfully benefitted
from this intervention in Labutta, Bogale (Setsan) and Kungyangone.
Based on this established trust, the government requested UN‐Habitat’s technical advisory services
on land issues which resulted in mobilizing UN‐Habitat’s Chief of Land Tenure Unit for a two week
mission in December 2011. During the mission a number of meetings were held with the
Government and a range of activities were identified for the preparatory phase of a land
administration and management program. The strategy for engagement was to assist the
government in the areas they requested; namely the implementation of the Farmland Law and to
assist to improve the land administration system for non‐forest areas.

UN‐Habitat also was working closely with the Food Security Working Group’s Land Core Group, both
as a knowledge source, especially regarding Upland land tenure, and to ensure that the agency is well
informed by the views of civil society and NGOs that have been active in advocacy for reform of land
administration for many years.
After consulting with key stakeholders, UN‐Habitat submitted a Concept Note to LIFT through their
“Learning and Innovation” funding window. UN‐Habitat was then requested for a full proposal. For
this task, UN‐Habitat called upon the expertise of its regional director emeritus, Mr Madhab
Matthema, to lead the design and drafting process during a series of missions to Myanmar. The
proposal was accepted by LIFT in September 2012 and a memorandum of agreement was signed on
October 2nd, 2012, starting the project.
Original Project Purpose: The purpose of the LAMP project is to enhance the capacity of DALMS to
operationalize the Farmland Law 2012 by way of providing: (i) improved methods to update existing
cadastre, (ii) improved training materials for land surveyors & FMB officials, (iii) upgraded training
facility and curriculum at CLRDTC, (iv) clear implementation of Rules and Procedures informed by
advance pilot studies(v) training to lawyers and FAB officials on land dispute resolution and (v) a forum
capable of working towards a common vision on land.

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2. LAMP Re‐Design in first half of 2013
The Director General of DALMS informed UN‐Habitat in March 2013 that after discussing with the
Minister it was preferred that LAMP not deal with land policy, nor with a review of the land laws and
that at this time the DALMS did not want to perform research and studies.
The Habitat team agrees with the DG that the LAMP would be better focussing more onto the core
land administration processes and systems of DALMS. The views of the FAO were also accepted with
the aim to avoid overlap and to maximise linkages that would benefit the work of both..
On May 6 the DALMS issued an order to create a team to work with UN‐Habitat to revise the LAMP
design. A preliminary meeting was held on May 6 with DALMS’s team leader and the UN‐Habitat team.
On May 17, 2013 the UN‐Habitat team and the DALMS held a one day work shop to revise the project
design. This was held at the DALMS’s Regional office in Yangon. On 2 December 2014 the Minister
approved the project and on 18 June 2014 a LOA was signed to implement the project.
The aim is similar to before but with more emphasis on new processes and systems and more focus
on pilot demonstration of better systems. The aim is to build capacity in DALMS, to demonstrate at
pilot sites the way that new processes and new technology can improve DALMS performance and to
give confidence to the DALMS and Government to continue a roll‐out of change and new technology
in the medium to longer term. This will require the development of practical and reliable systems at
low costs.
It is the intention of the project partners that better procedures and use of technology will be a
continual focus throughout the LAMP project and not only an evaluation at the end.
The lessons emerging from the LAMP project will also inform on possible options for improved policy
and laws and regulations, as well as practical improvements to the existing procedures.
While the major focus is the farmlands, consideration will also be given to DALMS’s important
responsibility on land records in the urban sector. The land market in the urban sector will become
more active under the reforms being introduced by the Government, land prices will rise quickly and
we can anticipate a much increased number of land transactions which will require a more robust and
efficient land registration and survey and mapping system under the DALMS.
There are three pilot activities and each will have different emphasis as shown below:
Pilot Activities for 3 Pilot Areas in 2 Townships
PERI‐URBAN
RURAL PILOTS URBAN PILOT
PILOT
(Township X) (Township Y)
(Township X or Y)
Pilot A ‐ Rural
Pilot B ‐ Urban Pilot C ‐ Rural
Farmlands & LIS
Land & LIS Peri‐Urban
& Land Zoning

The new design structure follows:
New Project Purpose: Strengthened Land Administration and Management in Rural and Urban Pilot
Sites.
The component and output design is shown below:

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Output Structure of LAMP
Purpose
Strengthened Land Administration & Management in
Rural and Urban Pilot Sites
Land
Compt Land Tenure Security M&E
Services
2. 3. Change 4. New

1. First
Output Subsequent Management Application 5. Lessons
Registration
Registration Process Systems

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APPENDIX 4 A 15 BY 15 VISION ‐ LONG TERM VISION FOR DALMS
During LAMP Project Design the concept of a 15 point vision statement for DALMS to be implemented
in 15 years was created.
Firstly, from the land administration vision of the future there was a set of 15 statements developed
which relate to the performance of DALMS services in the long term. It is shown below:
The Vision for Land Administration Services in DALMS
i. There is security of tenure for individuals, communities and companies:
a. In rural areas there is a tenure system that guarantees the farming
communities’ continued access to cultivatable land for which they can hold
exclusive use either individually or communally;
b. Customary land tenure practices are recognised;
c. Women may be named in all titles to land and there is no discrimination
towards women in access to formal title to land rights;
d. Cases of past land grabbing have been resolved to the satisfaction of all past
land users;
e. There are programs to encourage ethnic groups and less educated people to
enter the formal land tenure system.
ii. DALMS provides the cadastral survey and mapping services and records efficiently for
land titles to be issued by other government bodies in all urban and village lands for
individuals and communities;
iii. High participation rate and low number of informal transactions;
iv. The DALMS systems supporting the Cadastre are efficient, convenient and transparent;
v. Community, business and government have confidence in the reliability of the cadastral
records of DALMS;
vi. The Kwin Maps are resurveyed (updated) and a new Mapping System and Land Register
that shows the name of the farmer against each land holding established in each
Township;
vii. DALMS’s cadastral services are cost neutral to government;
viii. Forest boundaries would be shown clearly on all DALMS cadastral maps and there are
no accidental issuance of titles in forest lands;
ix. Sub‐division surveys and easement surveys are approved smoothly;
x. Adequate training of government lands personnel;
xi. Effective programs for information for the people on land processes and policies;
xii. The land information of DALMS is in a LIS and up to date and readily available to land
use planners and developers for efficient implementation of their programmes of work.
This includes online cadastral data for the public.
xiii. There is a NSDI which clearly defines the policy on custodianship and access to land and
other spatial data.
xiv. Land related fees encourage high participation in deed and land registration.
xv. The land related services of DALMS is integrated with other land related agencies and
provide a ‘one stop shop’ for land services.
Secondly, the expression of the vision needs to be developed into a program and implemented and all
divisions of DALMS fully involved. The figure below depicts a 15 year long term plan that would realize
the vision across the whole country.

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Figure 93 A Long Term Strategic Approach for Land Administration in Myanmar
LAMP (2 Years)
Long Term Development Framework for Land
Administration (6 Months)
Project Design, Funding & Approval (12 Months)
LAMP1 (6 Years)
LAMP2 (6 Years)

In this context LAMP has a very crucial role in meeting the development needs of DALMS so that senior
staff of DALMS has the knowledge and confidence to make the vision happen.

Land Tax Assessment Study

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APPENDIX 5 KEY DATES DURING LAMP IMPLEMENTATION
Date Organisations Visited / Event Place Remarks
March 13, UN‐Habitat visits DG of DALMS DALMS, NPT DG informed UN‐Habitat of
2013 for receiving comments on the the comments of the
LAMP project. Minister.
March 19, 20 Work Shop on Land MoECAF, NPT FAO sponsored
2013 Management
March 21, 22 Workshop on Uplands Tanggyi To understand the views of
the ethnic groups and their
concerns
1 April 2013 Visit to DALMS Township of Thanlyin To appreciate the issues in a
Thanlyin for Peri‐Urban site peri‐urban area
3 April 2013 Visit to DALMS Township of Bago To appreciate the land
Bago for Rural site records and survey works
2 April 2013 Visit to DALMS Training Centre Taikkyi To understand their needs
and priorities
24 April 2013 Visit to YCDC to meet head of Yangon To catch lessons from their
land administration and head of application of new
urban development, and staff. technologies
6 May 2013 Preliminary Meeting with Dr. Yangon To congratulate the team
Win Htut leader of the DALMS team
on his appointment and set
dates for working meetings
17 May 2013 Design meeting with Dr Win Yangon All day workshop type
Htut meeting to interactively
review the proposed
changes to the original
design.
Objective: To revise the
original design of LAMP
21 May 2013 Meeting with Forest Forest Dept To inform on LAMP design
Department of MoECAF and obtain information on
NPT
available forest bdy
information & GIS
experience
21 May 2013 Meeting with Survey Survey Dept, To obtain information on the
Department of MoECAF NPT coordinate system &
mapping system & available
topographic digital data
6 June 2013 Meeting with DG of Survey SD Yangon Receive information of SD
Department, Yangon capacity and mapping
programs
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7 June 2013 Meeting with UNDP’s ‘Access to UNDP, Yangon Exchange of project
Justice’ project information and issues in
land related laws
20 June 2013 Meeting at DALMS with Dr. Win DALMS, NPT Objective: To refine the
Htut and his LAMP team at NPT scoping document based on
comments of the DALMS
design team and
agreements reached.
26 June 2013 UN‐Habitat team sent LAMP For Dr Win Htut to present
scoping document with the to DG of DALMS for
agreed changes, to Dr Win Htut approval.
13 August Letter from UN‐Habitat to DG Seeking information on
2013 DALMS progress of review of the
scoping document
14 August Dr Win Htut advised at FAO Bangkok
2013 workshop of LIFT’s serious
concern with the time delay in
starting LAMP
15 August Brian Garcia advised that Dr Bangkok
2013 Win Htut already advised his
colleagues and was prepared to
meet us on Saturday 17 August
in Yangon.
17 August Meeting with Dr Win Htut on Yangon Meeting cancelled by Dr
2013 progress on the approving of Win Htut due to need to rush
the LAMP scoping document back to NPT.
27 August UN‐Habitat advised in writing Yangon
2013 by LIFT of deadline for project
start of 15 October
5 Sep 2013 Additional documents except NPT Translation of the LAMP
budget details for sending to design document into
Minister received by Dr Win Burmese language
Htut completed (by LAMP team).
6 September Budget sent by email to Dr Win Yangon
Htut
3 October UN‐Habitat sent letter to Yangon
2013 Minister requesting a meeting
on 8 or 9 October.
7 October Principal officer said the fax did NPT
2013 not get through.
8 October Letter sent by fax requesting a Yangon
2013 meeting with the Minister on 17
or 21 or 22 October.
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15 October DALMS requests a copy of Part Yangon
2013 B document of the LOA. Sent by
fax.
17 October Documents sent in response to Yangon
2013 DALMS request for detailed
costing for individual items of
office costs and of costs of
consultants. Sent by email.
21 October DALMS by telephone requests NPT
meeting at DALMS in NPT on 24
October
24 October UN‐Habitat and LIFT meet DG NPT DG to seek Minister’s views
DALMS and advice on LAMP re‐
design document.
29 November UN‐Habitat was informed by DG YGN
DALMS that the DG had already
briefed the Minister on LAMP
and at the next opportunity will
get the Minister’s decision /
next steps.
2 December, Minister approved the LAMP NPT UN‐Habitat advised by
2013 proposal to be processed phone.
through the Government.
11 February DG DALMS told UN‐Habitat that NPT FERD approval was received
2014 the Project may now start. already. Next step is Cabinet
confirmation which will be
merely procedural.
26 February Kick‐Off Meeting of LAMP NPT, DALMS Chaired by DG, DALMS;
2014 attended by Bijay, U Denzil &
LAMP UN‐Habitat Team
18 June 2014 LOA Signed NPT Signed by DG of DALMS and
country program manager of
UN‐Habitat
20 June 2014 Amendment 1 to Agreement for Yangon Signed by Lead technical
funding LAMP Officer for UNOPS and
Director Regional Office of
UN‐Habitat
2 to 4 June LIFT Internal Monitoring Myingyan LIFT monitoring mission
2015 mission visited LAMP project and
meet with FABs and farmers,
and observed the field
surveys in Myingyan
Township.
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19 June 2015 LIFT Monitoring mission Yangon, Yankin LIFT did a monitoring visited
Office Yankin Office of the UN‐
Habitat team to see a
demonstration of the new
system and to discuss the
issues of quality of land
records and the processes
for correcting the errors.
12 Aug 2015 Technical Meeting with DALMS Naypyitaw Inform of the extension and
the progress
11 Sept 2015 CPM and STA meeting with Naypyitaw Steering Committee
Permanent Secretary (PS) from creation requisition signed
Ministry of Agriculture and by PS. The list of members
Irrigation (MOAI). was received in LAMP office
on 12 Oct 2015. STA LAMP
team requested for the first
time Steering Committee
meeting in Naypyitaw, the
request has been sent, but
never get reply from DALMS
HQ.
30 Sept 2015 LIFT Fund Board Visit CLRDTC at Deep discussions with
Taykkyi and CLRDTC Director and
Thayarwaddy Thayarwaddy Staff Officer
DALMS Office were made.
11‐26 Jan External LIFT Evaluation Thayarwaddy, Final evaluation from LIFT,
2015 Myingyan and report will review in Feb
CLRDTC Taykkyi 2016
21 Jan 2015 Permanent Secretary Meeting Naypyitaw External LIFT Evaluation
7 Jan 2015 Senior Technical Workshop Myingyan Land Tenure & Land
Administration‐ Principles of
land services and land
record management
Overview of LAMP &
Workflow
Exchange discussion,
opinions for the best
solution to resolve the
problems.
27 Jan 2015 Senior Technical Workshop CLRDTC Taykkyi Same us above
10 Feb 2016 Lessons Learned with LAMP CLRDTC Taykkyi Catch and share lesson and
Participants learn of LAMP
25 Feb 2016 Overview LAMP Naypyitaw Wrap up all LAMP activities
and future plan of DALMS
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APPENDIX 6 HOW LAMP DESIGN IS CONSISTENT WITH THE NATIONAL LAND USE POLICY
This paper addresses how DALMS39 through LAMP is implementing change of land processes
and land records which are supporting the emerging national land use policy as at draft 6 of
NLUP of May 2015. It enforces the concept of strategic management of land administration
as being demanded by the new Council on Land Resource Management chaired by a Vice
President.
LAMP as a reform minded project is aiming to start a reform program on land
administration and on strengthening the DALMS. This table below shows the features of the
current LAMP Project which already support the Draft National Land Use Policy.
Objectives and Basic Principles of NLUP
No NLUP Clause Clause How LAMP is Addressing the Policy Demands
Ref
1 Strengthen land tenure 6b LAMP has designed and implemented new
security …of all people systems and procedures for quality control of
in both urban and rural records, updating of Kwin maps and land
areas of the country tenure rights, and computerised land record
management system for both rural & urban
lands. The new initiatives are designed to
strengthen land tenure security and
confidence of both the SLRD staff and the
public.
2 Simplifying procedures, 7b The new LAMP procedures and quality control
ensuring transparency, apply to core land administration functions
and increasing related to land survey, mapping, land title
accountability and issuance, land records management.
responsibility The initial data upload to the data base and all
new transactions are captured in the database
system for greater responsibility and
accountability. Missing and inconsistent past
records are highlighted for rectification.
3 Effective land 7c LAMP has installed data base / server systems
information at Township level. Land records in
management (LIM) computerised data base are the first step for
including easy public effective LIM and access by the Government
access to land related and the public.
information
4 Public participation and 7e LAMP has established Information, Education
consultation in decision and Communication (IEC) program for
making community entry to land record update and
validation activities; to inform FAB and
farmers; to consult farmers on the ground
during land survey to fill out the key land data;
and to feedback to the farmers during public

39
The SLRD name has recently changed to Dept Agricultural Land Management & Statistics (DALMS).
148 | P a g e

display of the results. Any objections may be
raised by the farmer during the public
announcement period.
5 To decentralise decision 7n Already LAMP is operating on land tenure
making related to land security under the current land laws which
provide for decision making by the FAB at local
levels (i.e., Township and Village Tract levels).
Also, all operational records and processes of
SLRD are based at the Township level.

Specific Relevant Chapters of NLUP
No NLUP Clause Clause How LAMP is Addressing the Policy
Ref Demands
6 Systematically maintain 14 LAMP has quality control on both
correct land records … for uploading and maintenance of the land
land tenure security and tenure records for both map data and
urban‐rural economic records. It covers both urban and farmland
development. tenures. Update and validation occurs
systematically on a whole of Kwin Map
basis.
7 Clear and easy process to 16a The process of first time registration of title
enable recognition and under the Farmland Law is refined under
registration of rights … LAMP to produce a quality up to date map
and related ownership information as a
basis for issuance of the title by the FAB.
8 … digital formats .. 16c LAMP is developing the LRMS for
maintaining all land tenure related records
of Township SLRD
9 … appropriate technology .. 16d LAMP uses high resolution imagery with
recent exposure. It also uses high precision
GNSS, GIS and RDBMS; all at the Township
level.
10 Checking accurate land use 16e LAMP has designed and implemented a
rights records when Kwin map update and validation process
updating land use maps in which includes recording land use and land
timely manner. rights information. It also records any
existing secondary rights such as sub‐leases
and mortgages.
11 Community consultation 16f See 4
and participation land use
mapping method when
approving local land use
rights
12 Pilot projects 16h LAMP is the pilot project of SLRD for land
administration reform.
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LAMP should be followed by a second phase project to produce a long term development
plan for land administration consistent with the responsibilities on land administration
entrusted to MoAI in the Constitution. This LAMP Phase 2 project would convert the lessons
of LAMP into a LTDP which supports the policies in the NLUP as well as to modernise DALMS
for the specific purposes of strengthening land tenure security and land administration
services across the country in the long term while at the same time balancing the work load
of other functions of DALMS.

Figure 94 Land Tax Zoning Map from Pilot Study in LAMP

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APPENDIX 7 LAMP PILOT STUDY ON USING GIS WHICH SHAPED THE NEW METHODOLOGY FOR
SPATIAL DATA CAPTURE AND UPDATING
A Pilot Study on Kwin map digitizing and updating was conducted on two Kwin maps of Thayarwaddy
Township. A report was prepared (technical report 10) and formed the basis for the initial work
instruction and training course. In December 2014 a work shop for DALMS NPT staff was conducted.
Figure 95 Setting up the base station receiver for ground control point (GCP) survey, Thayarwaddy
Township, October 2014, as part of the GIS pilot study.

The two Kwin maps were selected as an extreme case of maps which are badly out of date. While
challenging at first, the pilot fast tracked the development of appropriate procedures in applying
imagery and GIS technology. Overall about 80% of the farmland holdings need to be updated, new
Kwin maps issued and the land title register updated. The field work will be started in March 2015.
The study also explored the use of open source software GIS. Already LAMP was committed to low
cost GIS software and not to the usual expensive software used by Government in Myanmar. The
conclusion was that while it could not be used to directly interface reliably with the spatial data base
it could serve as an effective tool for mass data capture of Kwin maps and Block maps. As a result the
project changed its procurement specification for GIS software thus saving some $15,000. The
importance of low cost solutions cannot be underestimated for the future roll‐out of technology
across all Township offices of DALMS because there are more than 300 townships of DALMS.

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Figure 96 Example of field maps (size A4) used to identify ground control point location for RTK‐
GPS survey.

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Figure 97 Use of pre‐prepared field maps produced from the GIS technology to suit the field work.

Note, these were used during the RTK GNSS
survey (Thayarwaddy Township, October
2014)

There are a number of causes of errors in Kwin maps but most are due to lack of update of the Kwin
map. These can be readily identified and quantified in the GIS when overlaid to a satellite image:

Figure 98 Kinds of Errors Found in Inspection of the Kwin Map Overlaid with the Satellite Image
Kind of Error Description
A Holding boundary does not match the detail on the ground within
a reasonable tolerance
B Encroachment by village or town on land holding
C Engineering works cut across land holdings
D Holding boundary shown on two adjoining Kwin maps do not
match within a reasonable tolerance
Staff of DALMS performed the digitising and also the identification of map errors and map
features which are not up to date:

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Figure 99 DALMS staff operating GIS software during heads‐up Digitising of Kwin Maps During the
GIS pilot study, Sep to Dec 2014, Yankin.
The first two Kwin maps to be updated under LAMP were selected by DALMS because they
are in dire need of updating. They were a worst case scenario and a very solid test of the pilot
study. The graphs below show the results of the study on these two maps:
Figure 100 Frequency of Errors in Kwin Maps in Pilot Area
Percentage of Holdings Requiring Update by Kind A to D
(Kwin Map 1329 of Thayarwaddy)
80%
60%
40%
20%
0%
A B C D holdings
requiring
update
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Percentage of Holdings Requiring Update by Kind A to D
(Kwin Map 1328)
100%
80%
60%
40%
20%
0%
A B C D holdings
requiring
update
In map 1328 almost all the land holdings need update and in map 1329 almost 80% need updating.
The Kwin maps can be considered to be unreliable and they should not be used as a basis for land
titling until they are updated.
Examples of different cases requiring map update of the description of land holdings are given below
from the two Kwin maps:
Figure 101 Corner of holding boundary has moved or original survey was in error.
There are also cases of natural change such as where rivers or streams have changed course
over time due to water erosion or accretion:
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Figure 102 Holding boundary has changed on the ground due to natural causes (river erosion /
accretion)
Land development may be informal or formal and in both cases the Kwin map may not be up
to date (see below):
Figure 103 Encroachment of holdings by settlement. Holding number 70 is fully covered by an
informal settlement.

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Figure 104 Holdings requiring update due to land development of an irrigation canal which cuts
through many land holdings. The holdings should be formally sub‐divided.
Figure 105 Land holdings requiring update correction due to the common holding boundary which
do not match as shown on two adjoining Kwin maps (maps 1328 and 1329).
Kwin 1328
Kwin 1329
Need to Update Records and to Remove Inconsistencies between Records

The finding in the study is that the Kwin maps are generally of reasonable cartographic quality
with occasional significant error in survey and drafting. They have good quality determination
of land areas given that DALMS uses the graphical method only.
The main problems which create the need for an update field survey are:
i. the Kwin map contains errors of significant size;
ii. the Kwin map needs updating due to changes on the ground;
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iii. there are inconsistencies between the Kwin map and the other primary land records in
the DALMS Township (Register of Land Area Statement and Register of Land Use
Certificates).
The solution needs to be effective and low cost and able to be implemented by DALMS staff.
We have the work instructions well advanced and tested and in implementation with OTJ
Training to prove the methods. The field work is fast and efficient. The office work is also fast
but staff are not use to doing much office work. The key ingredient is the records matching.
This is a process of comparison, analysis and decision taking. We have demonstrated to
DALMS a smart piece of software we devised. They like it very much- we need to develop it
into production now.
Further, the DALMS needs to change its approach to the integrity of its records and adopt a
more professional approach and build the new approach into job descriptions, performance
assessment etc. In other words there is an institutional and change management aspect beyond
training on new systems. This will take time to change.
The methodology for identifying these cases is given in the pilot study report (Technical Report
10- see APPENDIX 7 LAMP PILOT STUDY ON USING GIS WHICH SHAPED THE NEW METHODOLOGY
FOR SPATIAL DATA CAPTURE AND UPDATING. The methodology features;
i. creating a digital record of the land holding obtained from digitising the Kwin map;
ii. matching the digitised Kwin map to an up to date satellite image;
iii. creating a digital record of the Register of land areas and Register of Land Use
Certificates;
iv. matching the data in the two Registers with the digitised Kwin map;
v. performing an update survey or re-survey in the field.
Farmland Fields
In the farms there are physical divisions of the holding made by the farmer. It serves the
purpose of dividing the work and retaining water and other purposes. These small areas are
called “fields”. The features change quite often, more often than the holding boundaries.
DALMS keeps a record of the fields but since there can be up to 50 fields in one holding and
an average of 20 in lower Myanmar the effort required to keep the bounds of the fields and
the numbering of new and changed fields up to date, is daunting. The Kwin map below shows
fields and highlights those which have changed and require new numbering.

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Figure 106 Farmland Fields are Numerous in Lower Myanmar

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APPENDIX 8 RESULTS FRAME OF LAMP
The table below is the Results Frame for the Land Administration and Management Programme (LAMP). It is a sub‐set of the project log frame (version 3.4).
RESULTS FRAME OF LAMP
Project Summary Indicator Baseline40 Target (2015)4142 Source Assumptions
Long Term Goal: G1 Amount of private land n/a DALMS survey & The socio‐economic
rights formally surveyed register records. performance of the country
Reform of the policy,
and titled in urban and will be improved and the
laws, systems and
rural areas of the country market economy will be
procedures of land
as a percentage of the total strengthened by more
administration and
(%) effective and efficient land
management in
administration and
Myanmar, and the G2 Participation rates in n/a DALMS survey &
management and accessible
issuance of registered formal deed registration register records and
and more reliable land market
land rights documents to (subsequent title survey questionnaire
information.
all land users and registration) (% of land of land holders.
communities entitled to holdings)
hold such rights.
G3 Survey and title records n/a DALMS policy &
available to government practices.
bodies, business and public
(number of types)
Project Purpose: P1 Confidence levels on land Confidence levels Survey questionnaire i. Government adopts
tenure rights disaggregated have increased in of land holders in the best practices
Strengthened Land
by gender pilot sites pilot sites. from the pilot sites
Administration &
Project final report.

40
A Baseline survey shall be conducted in each project Township once the pilot sites are selected at the start of the Project.
41
Due to the short project implementation duration of 18 months there are no annual targets shown.
42
The actual number of existing records is unknown as the pilot sites are to be selected after project commencement. Also, national level figures are unknown.
160 | P a g e

Management in Rural P2 Participation rates in first Higher DALMS survey & for replication in
and Urban Pilot Sites. time registration of title participation rates register records and other townships.
disaggregated by gender in registration survey questionnaire ii. Government
(%) aiming at 80% of land holders. allocates funding to
eventually accelerate the
implementation and
P3 New procedures developed n/a DALMS endorses Records of DALMS further development
and tested for mapping, the new and project reports. of the land
adjudication and land procedures and management system.
registration and lessons lessons iii. Lessons from LAMP
learned for scaling up taken into land policy
discussions and into
P4 Forwards plans developed n/a DALMS has plans Plans of DALMS.
drafting new
by DALMS for program for the immediate
Project final report. legislation and
continuation development of the
regulations.
sector
iv. New technology is
maintained.

Output 1. Effective O1.1 Land holdings 100% of land DALMS project i. High participation
First Registration shown on cadastral maps / holdings records in pilot sites. rates;
System DCDB in pilot areas (%) ii. Safeguards are

Developed and sufficient to protect
Pilot Tested. O1.2 Land holdings in 80% of land DALMS project all;
project areas issued with holdings records in pilot sites. iii. First time land
registered rights (%) registration charge to
land use holder is
O1.3 Level of disputes‐ Lower rate of Records of DALMS &
low;
expressed as outstanding disputes at end of Village Tract
iv. No informal
plus new disputes project than Administrator.
payments.
compared with unresolved baseline rate
disputes at the end (%)
161 | P a g e

O1.4 New procedures for n/a Documentation of Project reports. v. New technology will
first time registration all new procedures reduce costs & time
developed & forms of mapping
vi. Adjudication
implementation will
be transparent & fair.

Output 2. O2.1 Time taken for Time taken is better DALMS & Project i. Low incidences of
processing registration of than baseline43 records. informal
A System for Subsequent
land transactions by transactions;
Registration of Land Project reports.
DALMS (days) ii. Responsive land
Transactions Developed
registration system;
and Implemented. O2.2 Time taken for Time taken is better DALMS & Project
iii. No informal
processing land sub‐ than baseline44 records.
payments to
divisions by DALMS (days)
Project reports. encourage high
participation.
O2.3 New streamlined n/a Land registration Project reports.
iv. All land right holders
procedures for subsequent process
in pilot areas are well
registration of land use streamlined &
informed on the
right transactions in rural & registers
urban lands45 computerised, process of land
registration
tested at pilots &
v. Subsequent land
documented
registration taxes and
O2.4 Review conducted n/a New survey Project reports. fees to land use
of overall process of partitioning holder are low
keeping land surveys up to process vi. Responsive land sub‐
date streamlined, tested division process

43
This new process time should be set as the service standard for the DALMS township office and should be advertised on the notice board in the public waiting area.
44
This new process time should be set as the service standard for the DALMS township office and should be advertised on the notice board in the public waiting area.
45
Except in the 3 main cities where the development committees take charge of land rights registration.
162 | P a g e

at pilots & vii. Land sub‐division
documented costs are low

Output 3. Change O3.1 CLRDTC 0 2 courses (land Project reports. i. New systems &
Management strengthened with new surveying and GIS) processes are
Process equipment for various appropriate;
Designed and courses (number of ii. Staff continues to
Implemented. courses) apply their new skills
& knowledge.
O3.2 CLRDTC uses LAMP 0 2 Project report on
iii. Staff selected for the
training material to CLRDTC.
project pilot sites are
improve training courses
competent &
both existing and new
motivated
courses (number of
iv. Staff of the DALMS
courses)
training centre have
O3.3 Beneficiaries in 70% Survey questionnaire time to participate in
Project areas well of land holders. the project
informed through IEC v. IEC programs are fully
Project IEC materials
programs (coverage of inclusive to all
created.
village families received members of the
IEC materials and community
attending IEC Meetings‐ vi. IEC is sensitive to
%) local language
O3.4 Training plan n/a 50 training courses Training plan
developed and & workshops document.
implemented (number of conducted
Project report on
courses with gender
numbers of trainings
disaggregated trainee
completed & trainees
numbers)
attending (gender
disaggregated).
163 | P a g e


Output 4. New O4.1 LIS system n/a Documentation of Project report. i. Staff are allocated
Application designed, developed & LIS system & its responsibilities for
Report on feedback
Systems tested in 2 pilot sites benefits to DALMS using and further
from users.
Developed, Pilot developing the
Tested and O4.2 Feasibility study on n/a Documentation & Project report on systems.
Evaluated. a new land zoning system discussions for the feasibility study ii. Other agencies are
for farmlands feasibility study able to access the
(followed by testing land data & LIS
if agreed) system.
iii. Functional scope of
O4.3 Pilot land zoning n/a If approved, Project report.
systems are suitable
system developed & documentation & Report on feedback
tested in one pilot site evaluation of the from users. & practical as a
building block for
zoning system done
further applications
iv. Systems are
maintained.

Output 5. Lessons O5.1 Reports capture the n/a Number of Project reports. i. DALMS endorse the
Learned and lessons from the pilot workshops and lessons;
Workshop report.
Documented projects from both internal M&E reports. ii. DALMS apply the
from Pilot Sites. reviews and workshops lessons to future
planning.
O5.2 Project studies n/a Agreed studies Study reports.
iii. Process reviews are
prioritised, designed & completed
Workshop report. carried out
implemented using the
periodically during
pilot sites as reference sites. Final report.
the project.
iv. Studies directly
support the issues in
the pilots
164 | P a g e

End of Results Frame

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APPENDIX 9 MAP OF MYANMAR

166 | P a g e

APPENDIX 10 QUICK GUIDES TO MAP SCALES, DISTANCES AND AREAS
Kwin Maps and Block Maps are prepared on imperial units as shown below. The following tables were
prepared by the UN‐Habitat CTA to assist readers in quickly appreciating the map scales and imperial
conversions.
Map Scale Table
Scale Used in DALMS Scale Equivalent Usage
Township Offices International
Standard Scale
1 inch to the mile46 1:63,360 1:50,000 Kwin Index map
16 inches to the mile 1:3,960 1:4,000 Rural Kwin map
(or 1 inch to 5 chains)
32 inches to the mile 1:1,980 1:2,000 Rural Kwin map
(small parcels)
4 inches to the mile 1:15,840 1:10,000 Block Index map
64 inches to the mile 1:990 1:1,000 Urban Block map
47
1 inch to the mile 1:63,360 1:50,000 Primary Topographic
map scales
½ inch to the mile 1:126,720 1:100,000

Measurement Conversion Table
Unit Conversion Metric
1 chain 66 feet 20.1168 metres (m)
1 link 100 links per chain 20.1168 centimetres (cm)
1 metre 4.97097 links 100 cm
1 foot 0.3048 metres
1 mile 5,280 feet 1.60934 km
1 Square chain 404.686 sq metres
1 acre 10 Sq. Chains 0.404686 hectares
1 square mile 640 acres (80x80 chains) 258.999 ha
hectare 10,000 sq metres 2.47105 acres
1 sq km 100 hectares 1 million sq metres

IDL

46
The imperial mile is 5,280 feet.
47
Survey of India scale map
167 | P a g e

APPENDIX 11 LAND ADMINISTRATION FUNCTIONS AND LAND MANAGEMENT FUNCTIONS

Functions of Land Administration and Land Management and Areas of Common Interest
L A N D M A N A G E M E N T
L A N D A D M I N I S T R A T I O N
sub‐
adjudic‐ Land sales &
divisions data
ation & Register land tax mortgage land & land use
digital geodetic cadastre property & sharing land use
land & fees & policy & & other building planning
mapping system survey valuation complian agree‐ zoning
regular‐ transfer collection transact‐ data & policy
ce with ments
isation taxes ions
LU plans
Spatial Data Land Land Information

Register of Land Rights Fiscal Cadastre Land Use Planning
Infrastructure Development System
Land Administration and Management System

IDL

168 | P a g e

APPENDIX 12 CONTEXT DIAGRAM FOR DEVELOPMENT OF LAMP INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
SYSTEM BY UN‐HABITAT FOR DALMS
The development of the LRMS Data Base system for DALMS occurred in 3 Phases by the TA
Team under UN-Habitat. In each phase a prototype was released early to exercise the functions
and to improve the user interface.
Phase 1 was concerned with the data capture of the land records of farmlands from the case file,
Form 7 and Land Register (Form 5). The following charts show the context and activities for
Phase 2 (capture of the spatial data) and Phase 3 (land transactions and capture of urban titles).
The Transaction Console. The transaction console is the dashboard of all information regarding
the on-going transactions in the township office. This is a powerful managment tool. All users
may use the transaction console for searching and viewing transactions, but only users belonging
to workgroups assigned with the selected transaction type are allowed to create new transaction
records.
Transaction records store the basic information of the client who lodged the application or the
administrative officer who initiated the transaction, as the case may be. The date and time of
creation of the transaction is logged, as well as the subsequent updating of transactions until final
approval. This is done to track the document and to provide reports and statistics on public service
delivery such as how long transactions are taking to be processed and what transactions are
delayed.
With this information the SLRD HQ can issue client service performance standards to its
Township Offices and inform the public on how long each transaction type should take. In turn,
the Township can easily make factual monthly report to SLRD HQ on number of each type of
transacion and times taken. This simple step can add a huge amount to public confidence in the
government’s land system. All transactions are recorded in the dtatbase so a long history of
updates to the database is kept.
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To run the transaction console, click Transaction Console from the File Menu
170 | P a g e

All transaction records, except those that have been archived (post approval process) are displayed when the form is launched. The Process button
in the last column is visible only if the transaction is not being processed by other users.

Digitising Block Maps
• Georeferencing 1. Uploading Shape files
• Digitising
 Upload Shape files to
• Creation of digital map
SQL Server Phase III
Activity Diagram
Map Checking
2. Linking Plots records to Titles
 Verification and
Correction of  display parcel and matching title
maps  cross reference title‐parcel via
Block+Plots
Capture of Block Maps
Capture of Title and
Form 5 (Phase 1)
 Data entry LRMS
register Database
M hi
3. Transactions
Capture of Register 1A
 Data entry of  Transfers
4. Reports and Forms  Subdivision/Consolidation
Register1A
 Register 1A and Form5  Update in Title
 Other reports  Correction
Capture of Title and
Register records
172 | P a g e

Digitising Kwin Maps
• Georeferencing 1. Uploading Shape files
• Digitising  Upload Shape files to
• Creation of digital map SQL Server Phase II
Activity Diagram
Verification Map Update 2. Linking Parcel to Titles (LUC)
 Office  Correction of  display parcel and matching LUC
verification maps
 cross reference title‐parcel via
Kwin+LandHolding
Capture of Kwin Maps 3. Uploading of Maps and Images

 Uploading of maps
and satellite images
Quality Control
• Validation of entry LRMS
• Cross referencing
Database
5. Output
Capture Title data 4. DCDB Update/Resurvey  Map viewing
 Reports
 Data entry of LUC Capture Register  Original Survey  Statistics
 Update Survey
 Data entry of Form 5  Resurvey
 Cancellation Survey

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APPENDIX 13 LAMP PRODUCED TECHNICAL DOCUMENTS48
No Date Title Language Type49

1 Aug 2014 Review of the National Geodetic Network and Recommendations on Surveying and English Process / procedure
Mapping [see report 9 & 9a]
2 Aug 2014 Land Adjudication (long version) English Process / procedure
3 Aug 2014 Land Adjudication (short version) [see report 8 for Myanmar language] English Process / procedure
4 Sep 2014 Data Capture Strategy (version 4.1) English Process / procedure
5 Aug 2014 Software Architecture and Design Specification Phase 1 English Computerisation
6 Aug 2014 Software Requirement Specification Phase 1 English Computerisation
7 Aug 2014 User Acceptance Test Plan Phase 1 English Computerisation
8 Oct 2014 Land Adjudication (short version‐ Myanmar language) [see report 3 for original Myanmar Process / procedure
English version]
9 / 9a Oct 2014 Geodetic Survey (Final) [see draft at report 1] English Process / procedure
10 Nov 2014 Pilot Kwin Map Digitising English Process / procedure
11 Jan 2015 Deed Registration – Final Draft [see report 17 for final version] English Process / procedure
12 Feb 2015 Software Requirement Specification Phase 2 (DCDB) – Draft 1 English Computerisation
13 Apr 2015 Software Architecture and Design Specification Phase 1, (Revision‐ see Report 5) English Computerisation
14 Mar 2015 Land Survey and Imagery for Thayarwaddy English Process
15 April 2015 Land Survey and Imagery for Myingyan English Process
16 April 2015 Software Requirement Specification Phase 2 (DCDB) – Final Draft English Computerisation
17 July 2015 Deed Registration and Subsequent Land Registration in Urban Lands and Farmlands English Process / procedure
– Final [see report 11 for draft]
18 August 2015 Study on the Farm Land Tax Revenue System in Myanmar‐ First Report English Process / procedure
19 August 2015 Study on the Farm Land Tax Revenue System in Myanmar‐ First Report, Second English Process / procedure
Edition
20 October 2015 Study on the Farm Land Tax Revenue System in Myanmar‐ Second Report English Process / procedure

48
Excludes the work instruction documents.
49
Types are: (i) Process; (ii) Computerisation; (iii) Training; (iv) Management, M&E; (v) Studies.
174 | P a g e

21 December Software Requirement Specification Phase 3 English Computerisation

2015
22 January 2016 A Study On The Crop Reporting System and LIS In DALMS English Process / procedure
23 February Cost of Mapping English Management
24 February Evaluation of Pilot Village Survey and Titling Conducted in Myingyan Township by English Management
GAD and DALMS in 2015

Note; Reports 25 and 26 were finished and were released in early March 2016. These were extra tasks requested by the DALMS. The reports
show the determination of co-ordinates for the newly established third order controls in Thayarwaddy and Myingyan. These stations (9 concrete
marks) were placed by DALMS in 2015. The GNSS observation programs were funded by LAMP as a learning exercise for the local staff. The
computations and report were made by the GPS Consultant of UN-Habitat with oversight by the STA.
175 | P a g e

APPENDIX 14 LAMP PRODUCED WORK INSTRUCTIONS
During the detailed planning of LAMP the UN‐Habitat TA Team determined that there should be 15
work instructions to address the scope of the LAMP Project. The work instructions would help users
to operate the equipment and new systems and would be there for reference after the project closes.
The work instructions comprise very valuable knowledge as a tangible output for the longer term and
in particular for a future roll‐out of the technologies.
Work Instructions are concise documents for users of the various processes at the Township level of
DALMS. The procedures are described in easy to follow sequence of steps using the tools provided
including computer systems. The work instructions do not explain why a certain procedure is used.
The work instructions are an important part of the teaching material used during formal and on the
job training.
Work instructions are important for sustainability of the new processes in the absence of the technical
assistance. Also, the work instructions are always in a condition of improvement and update as better
procedures are found and as user feedback allows for better explanations. Work instructions should
contain lots of photos and diagrams to help in easy understanding.
Due to time constraints in LAMP the initial set of work instructions will be written largely in English
with some in both languages. They should have a consistent presentation of the front cover, document
control sheet and contents page. They should refer to LAMP reports where appropriate for reference
purposes.

No Name of Work Instruction Functional Rural / Ref to
Group Urban WBS
A1 Digitising Farmland Holdings and Identifying Update Rural 1.2
Holdings to be Validated and Updated by Field Kwin map
Survey
A2 Preparation and Operation of Update Survey Update Rural 1.2
and Re‐Survey of Farmland Holdings by Using Kwin map
High Resolution Imagery
A3 Creating Land Parcels from GNSS Survey Data Update Rural 1.3
using QGIS Kwin map
A4 Map Printing in QGIS (Draft 1) Update Rural 1.3
Kwin map
A5 Digitizing Fields (Draft 1) Update Rural 1.3
Kwin map

B1 First Time Adjudication & Titling in Unsurveyed Original Rural 1.3
Agricultural Lands Kwin map
B2 Cadastral Surveys by GNSS in Unsurveyed Original Rural 1.2
Agricultural Lands Kwin map
B3 Third Order Control Densification‐ Original Rural / 1.1
Thayarwaddy Kwin map Urban
B4 Third Order Control Densification‐ Myingyan Original Rural / 1.1
Kwin map Urban

C1 Digitising Urban Plots from Block Maps Block Urban 1.2
Mapping
176 | P a g e

No Name of Work Instruction Functional Rural / Ref to

Group Urban WBS
C2 Cadastral Surveys in Urban Areas by Total Block Urban 1.2
Station and GNSS (deleted) Mapping

D1 Work Instruction on Land Record Management Build & Rural & 1.2
System, Second Revision (Myanmar, Feb 2016) Maintain Urban
Data Base
D2 Work Instruction on Land Record Management Build & Rural & 1.2
System, Second Revision (English, Feb 2016) Maintain Urban
Data Base
D3 Guide on Identifying and Build & Rural & 1.2
Correcting Erroneous Land Records (English Maintain Urban
original; Myanmar translation) Data Base
D4 Guide on Manual Deed Registration Build & Rural & 2.1
Maintain Urban
Data Base

E1 Guidelines on System Administration of the Other Rural / ‐
LAMP Computer Server System Installed at Urban
DALMS Offices
E2 Generating Land Tax Values using QGIS (Draft Other Rural 4.2
2)

Notes:
Work Instruction C2 was deleted as a result of decision of DALMS and GAD to not pursue the
urban survey and mapping at Myingyan.
Work Instructions D1 and D2 includes at Revision 2, the topics of land sub‐division /
consolidation under transaction control of LRMS and also computer support to deed
registration. These two topics were originally planned as separate instructions but are better
integrated with the LRMS manuals (D1 & D2).
The second revision of D1, D2 greatly expands the first revision by adding the LRMS Phase 3
functionality [Transaction tracking; Matching 2 Screen & Upload to permanent database &
automatically create transactions from action list; Urban Register I‐A; Urban matching 1; deed
registration].
The Myanmar language version of D2, second edition is labelled D1, second edition and was
released in early March 2016.

Ian Lloyd
STA
UN‐Habitat
February 2016

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APPENDIX 15 OPERATIONAL OUTPUTS of LAMP

LAMP PROJECT REPORT AT END OF PROJECT
Operational Activities Progress to End of Project

Up to 29 February 2016
THAYARWADDY MYINGYAN
No Activity Description Unit Target Current % Target Current %
Output Status Progress Output Status Progress
1 Capture all Create the No. of LUC 27,000 25,955 96%
Farmland Register of all ( case file) 40,000 44,654 112%
LUCs & LUCs and linked Scanned
Case Files to scanned Form 5 27,000 27,026 100% 40,000 43,552 109%
images of all Scanned
folios in all LUC LUC ( case 25,955 96%
case files file) Date 27,000 40,000 44,654 112%
Entry
Form 5 27,000 27,026 100% 40,000 43,658 109%
Data Entry
2 Kwin map Digitising No. of
digitising Farmland Kwin map
Holdings and digitised
Identifying
10 10 100% 100%
Holdings to be 10 10
Validated and
Updated by
Field Survey
Scanning Kwin No.of map
50 64 128% 80 151 189%
maps scanned
3 Validation Field Surveys No. of
and Update / for Validation Kwin map
or Re- and Update of update 10 10 100% 10 10 100%
Survey of Farmland survey done
Farmland Holdings by
Holdings Using High Participation
Resolution Rate by
Imagery& some farmers in 80% 75% 94% 80% 90% 112%
GNSS surveys Ground
Survey
Post Processing No. of
updated kwins Kwin map
and Public complete & 10 10 100% 10 8 80%
Display on public
display
4 First Time First Time Kwin Map
Adjudication, Adjudication & original
1 1 100% n/a n/a n/a
Survey & Titling in Un survey ( 33
Titling in Un surveyed holders)
178
surveyed Agricultural
Agricultural Lands
Lands- No
Cadastral Kwin Map
work.
Surveys by original
GNSS in survey ( 33
Agricultural holders, 29
1 1 100% n/a n/a n/a
Lands farmers,
areas
555.85
acres)
5 Digitising Digitising map
and update Urban Block
of Urban Maps- identifying
Block maps plots to be
updated & 0 0 n/a 5 3 60%
performing field
surveys for
update of Urban
plots
6 Prepare Cadastral map
new Block Surveys in
Cancelled
map in un Urban Areas by 0 0 n/a 0%
by -
surveyed Total Station and
DALMS
urban area. GNSS
7 Digital Build & Maintain Install new
Cadastral the DCDB of system (GIS
1 1 100% 100%
Data Base rural holdings & & LRMS 1 1
(DCDB) of urban plots. Phase 2)
rural Install new
holdings & Operation of the system
1 1 100% 1 1 100%
urban plots Land Sub- (LRMS
Division System Phase 3)
8 Capture Create Register File/doc 495
Urban titles of title (Grant, scanned 3,000 3,002 100% 495 100%
[5 blocks]
into Data Leases and
base Freehold Title), Titles
and scan encoded
6,000 4,186 70% 990 990 100%
Register I-A.
[LRMS Phase 3]
9 Operation of Procedures & New
the Deed Requirements procedure 1 1 100% 1 1 100%
Registration [WI D4]
System Computer New system
Assisted System
1 1 100% 1 1 100%
[LRMS Phase 3
Installed]
10 Land Test of extending report
Information the GIS
1 1 100% 1 1 100%
System Pilot database to
(LIS) include digitised
179
fields, agri data

and make
reports
11 Valuation Test spatial report
System analysis in GIS
(land tax for make
1 1 100% n/a n/a n/a
assessment) analysis of tax
Pilot assessment
more efficient.
12 Third Order Survey controls Urban
Control urban area in Ground
Myingyan for Control
making GCPs for Points n/a n/a n/a 30 30 100%
geo-referencing
the block maps
(30)
Third Order
Third Order Control 10 10 100% 15 15 100%
Survey Control Points
180
Target: 20 Kwin Maps Updated

Location Kwin Survey By Map IEC Digitised Matching Ground Revision / On Public Matching
Map No Imagery or scanned Campaign 1 Survey Update Kwin Display 2
GNSS Map
1314 √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √
Thayarwaddy Imagery
1321 √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √
Thayarwaddy Imagery
1322 √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √
Thayarwaddy GNSS
1327N √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √
Thayarwaddy GNSS
1328 √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √
Thayarwaddy Imagery
1329S √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √
Thayarwaddy Imagery
1326 √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √
Thayarwaddy GNSS
1311 √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √
Thayarwaddy Imagery
1316 √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √
Thayarwaddy Imagery
1313 √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √
Thayarwaddy Imagery
Total Kwin Maps 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10
Myingyan K116-A GNSS √ √ √ √ √ √ TBC
Survey & Map
done (Filling
Form 1 & 2 not
finished)
Myingyan K131 Imagery √ √ √ √ √ √ TBC
Survey & Map
Done (Filling
181
Form 1 & 2 not

finished)
Myingyan K204 Imagery √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √
Myingyan K217 Imagery √ √ √ √ √ √ √
Myingyan K217-A Imagery √ √ √ √ √ √ √
Myingyan K218 Imagery √ √ √ √ √ √ √
Myingyan K223 Imagery √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √
Myingyan K223-A Imagery √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √
Myingyan K313 GNSS √ √ √ √ √ √ √
Myingyan K313-A GNSS √ √ √ √ √ √ √
Total Myingyan 10 10 10 10 10 10 8 3
Summary:
Kwin Map Updated- 20/20
Form 1 & 2- 18/20
Public Display of Map 18/20
Matching 2- 13/20
182
APPENDIX 16 DRAFT ORDER ON CANCELLING LAND USE CERTIFICATE AND ISSUING REPLACEMENT
LAND USE CERTIFICATE
Introduction
The following order was drafted by the TA Team of LAMP based on its experience with land records
in the two pilot Townships. The order is a draft and is limited to experience in two Townships.
Experience in other Townships in other parts of the country may reveal other situations to those
covered in this order and this order may need to be expanded.
This order is extracted from TA Work Instruction (D3) which is available in both English and
Myanmar languages.
The Order is needed with and without the LRMS. In Townships where the LRMS is operational it
provides transaction control over the process of cancelling and reissuing LUCs. This gives security
and efficiency as explained in WI D3.
Order
By Order of the Minister MOAI:
This Ministerial Order is made for the purpose of instructing on the proper process for dealing with
faulty, missing and erroneous Land Use Certificate (LUC).
Reference is made to the Farmland Law and the Implementing Rules of the Farmland Law.
To gain greater tenure security and confidence in the land services of the Government the DALMS
shall initiate the checking, correcting and updating of its land tenure related records, including Kwin
maps, in a systematic fashion across the country. This may be assisted by new technology or by
manual method.
In accordance with the law and rules the FAB, VT Administrator and DALMS shall diligently
implement this order.
As appropriate DALMS may also issue LUC on holdings which were not subject to LUC during the
initial phase of issuance of LUC and also perform surveys for Kwin Mapping on unsurveyed areas.
In all cases the cancelling and issuing of LUC under this Order should be performed systematically
Kwin by Kwin within a Township and shall be preceded by:
(i) Ground survey of the subject land holding to ascertain the facts and interview the owner
of the land use right and neighbours. Such surveys shall consist of the DALMS field team
and local authorities and other support personnel as necessary. The land use right
owner and neighbours shall show the boundaries of the land holding, confirm the name
of the owner and confirm any other secondary rights on the land holding and sign on an
appropriate document.
(ii) Subject land holding is clearly shown and assigned number on a Kwin Map;
(iii) Put on public display at the VT for at least 14 days the intention to cancel and issue LUC
for the purpose of informing the community and receiving any objections;
(iv) As necessary to avoid confusion a meeting with farmers at the VT may be held to explain
the specific purpose of the action and the general goal of establishing a fully accurate
and complete land record;
(v) Dispute resolution as prescribed in the Law;
(vi) Approval by the FAB at VT and Township level.
To finalise the process in all cases the following actions must be performed:
183
(i) All documents with signature of farmer owner of LUC and documents attesting
to approval of the FAB must be placed on the Case File for the holding and kept
at the DALMS Office at Township level;
(ii) Cancelling of a LUC will be signed by the Staff Officer (SO);
(iii) Issuing and printing of a LUC following cancelling of a LUC will be approved by
the SO;
(iv) The subject LUC shall be handed to the FAB at VT level to handover to the LUC
owner.
All fees and taxes associated with correcting erroneous LUC shall be waived.
Any abuse of this Order for personal gain by any official shall be dealt with by administrative or
criminal sanctions, dismissal and / or fines.
DALMS shall issue a technical instruction to guide the actions and responsibilities of the DALMS
officials.
The following specific cases are provided under this Order:
1. The LUC relates to a holding that has, in fact, already been sub‐divided or consolidated
on the ground. This is common where authorities have constructed roadways or access
ways or water canals or where land consolidation was implemented. Also, individuals
may have sub‐divided for various reasons.
After updating the Kwin map showing the correct land holdings and assigned numbers
the existing LUC is cancelled and replaced by new titles after approval by the farmer and
FAB.
If sub‐division / consolidation was initiated by the Government Authority or otherwise it
was initiated before the Farmland Law there is no registration fee to be paid.
2. The LUC relates to a holding that in fact, is fully or partially encroached by a settlement
(village or town).
The Kwin map is updated showing the holding as fully encroached and the LUC is
cancelled. In the case of partial encroachment a sub‐division must be processed and the
Kwin map updated, and then a replacement LUC issued on the portion of land not
encroached by the settlement. These actions require approval by the farmer and FAB.
3. The LUC references to a holding number that is incorrect but the land holding is valid on
the ground and has no dispute. This could occur because; there could be two or more
LUC on the same land holding; or, two LUC show wrongly interchanged holding
reference number; or, invalid holding number. This is an administrative error. The land
area is likely to be in error too.
After updating the Kwin map from survey showing the correct land holding and correct
number the existing LUC is cancelled and replaced by new LUC after approval by the
farmer and FAB. Any related errors on other land holdings in the Kwin map are corrected
at the same time.
4. The LUC references to a holding number that is not shown on the Kwin map and after
investigation, does not exist on the ground.
After investigation to the Kwin and adjacent Kwin and after investigation by the VT FAB
the LUC is cancelled. If the farmer exists he must be interviewed. The Inspector must
investigate and report on the reason for the issuance of the spurious LUC.
184
5. The land boundaries of a land holding from a new survey are different to the position of
the boundaries shown on the original Kwin map or two adjoining Kwin maps do not join
well. This could be due to natural erosion or accretion of a water body; error in the
original survey or error in making the original map or due to a more precise modern
survey. If it’s due to sub‐division or consolidation, it is case 1 above, not this case.
It is normal that surveys are getting more precise and map making more accurate. The
action is to show the updated survey on the Kwin map but retain the holding number.
The updated Kwin map is displayed at the VT for any objection. There is no need to
cancel the LUC and issue a replacement title. The new land area is calculated and kept
on record. At the next transfer of LUC the correct land area will be shown on the new
LUC.
6. There is no LUC ever been issued on an existing farmland holding. It may occur that a
new update survey discovers a land holding such as due to accretion or the original Kwin
map never showed a piece of land as a farm.
After the Kwin map is updated and holding number assigned the farmer should be
assisted to apply for first time issuance of the LUC in the usual manner.
7. The name in the LUC is not the same as the actual owner found during an update
survey. This could occur because; there was an error in the owner name shown on the
original LUC issued; or, there has been a subsequent transfer of the holding. A transfer
can occur by sale, gift or inheritance.
DALMS must investigate as to the exact cause (check if the user is a lessee only). If it is
due to an error in the original LUC or because the transfer to the current owner of the
land holding occurred before the Farmland Law (31 August 2012) the farmer should be
assisted to make application for LUC in accordance with the Law by application form 1
and normal processing of the LUC after cancelling of the existing title. The application for
LUC must be put on public notice according to the Law.
Otherwise, if transfer occurred after the Farmland Law the farmer should formalise the
transfer of LUC by change of name in accordance with the Farmland Rules (application
form 9) and seek FAB approval. The farmer will need to make payment of the required
fees.
8. The name in the LUC has a spelling error.
After investigation if it shown that by administrative error there is a need to change the
owner name the action is for the DALMS to place on file the fact that the name in the
LUC is incorrect and state the correct name. There is no need to issue a replacement title
at that time.
If the farmer requests a replacement title with correct name it can be approved by the
FAB, put on public notice and a new LUC issued if no objection.
9. Non‐farm land in the Kwin map is not issued with a LUC. Lands such as grazing land,
water land and passage‐ways / small roadways should be labelled on the Kwin map as
such but not allocated a holding number or a LUC. Similarly, land in farm land which is
used for education or health facilities whether owned by Government or Associations
will not be issued with a LUC. In case of LUC issued already the LUC must be cancelled. If
the land of a facility consists of land actually used for farming that portion of the land
can be divided from the land of the facility and a LUC issued for the portion actually used
for farming.
End of Draft Order
185
APPENDIX 17 LESSONS OF THE DALMS OPERATIONAL STAFF BASED ON WORKSHOP HELD AT
CLRDTC ON 10 FEBRUARY 2016
(Consolidated Comments of Workshop Participants)
CLRDTC, Taykkyi on 10 February 2016
The following are the consolidated comments from the 4 break‐out group discussions. Participants
comprised 2 staff of CLRDTC, 2 officials from Yangon DALMS, 6 Thayarwaddy Township staff (DALMS)
and 5 Myingyan Township staff (DALMS). As can be seen the comments are very relevant and have
good insight on how to better to the work and have good quality and error free land records.
Key:
FAB = Farmland Administrative Body
LRMS = Land Records Management System developed by LAMP for use by DALMS for the
improvement of their Township Offices
DCDB = Digital Cadastral Data Base: this is the database for the LRMS
GNSS = Global Navigation Satellite System
QGIS = Quantum Geographic Information System

Topic 1: New Processes and New Information Technology
Capture of Farmland LUCs, Form 5 & Case Files
 Sometimes land documents / forms have errors, are incomplete or missing
altogether from the case file. Form 5 (registration form) is difficult to work with.
Some errors are easily correctable (e.g. typing errors) but some corrections take a
lot of time.
 LUCs were issued with errors.
 Some errors arise because data entry in LUC was done by outside data entry workers,
instead of DALMS staff.
 During Quality Control and Matching stage 1 and 2, staff should be able to edit directly
in the LRMS.
 There is difficulty to adjust LUC list from District approved lists.
 The Staff Officer should check that the LUC and Form 5 quantities are the same, before
starting to scan. The Database Administrator should also be checking the Quantity.
 Having additional scanners would reduce the time needed for data capture [ ED: data
capture of land records was almost finished at Thayarwaddy but only 40% more at
Myingyan because Myingyan is very large Township with over 100,000 LUCs].
Quality Control & Matching

 There is no procedure issued by DALMS for correcting erroneous LUCs.
 The data should be checked carefully in Form 5, the LUC, Form 105 (parcel
description) and Leyar 1 Sketch Image: Lot No, Owner Name, and Area. If there is an
incorrect or incomplete file or the LUC and Form 5 do not match, the Surveyor should
fix immediately by means of Repairing, Rescanning, Recoding, or Replacement.
 After Quality Control, the Surveyor should conduct Matching Process according to the
Old Sketch Image because some holdings need to be subdivided.
 The area for each kwin must be summarized, including public area, forest area, and
community area.
Working with GIS and data base technologies
186
 In new Phase 3 LRMS Software, sometimes a star mark appears next to some holdings
during matching and linking. After editing, this star should automatically disappear.
 Need to give adequate trainings for one month or more, including hands-on experience
with GIS, LRMS and surveying. Instructions should be clearer. Database technology
is far beyond staff’s existing knowledge so new staff should be chosen based on IT
aptitude and education.
Topic 2: Spatial Processing and Geographic Information System (GIS)

Kwin map digitizing
 During Map Digitizing, the respective Surveyor should assist the digitizing. The task
should not be left solely to the staff who attended the digitization training (GIS, GNSS,
LRMS) who may know very well the technology, but does not know the situation on
the ground.
 Preference for color map in QGIS, as this would be easier to digitize clearly.
Survey Field Validation and Updating of Kwin Maps
 The list of owners, lot numbers and area should be prepared prior to undertaking field
survey.
 Each farmer should be on hand to assist the survey by showing where his holding
boundary is especially in cases of unseen area, unclear boundary, or new road.
 Also, respective DALMS staff and Village FAB need to attend the field survey in case
of encroachments, missing Holdings, or missing LUCs.
 All features of a kwin (including public area, forest area, community area, etc.)
should be digitized all for the purpose of controlling land use.

Communicating with the farmers, coordinating with the FAB.
 Comments about farmer IEC were generally positive, although a few farmers did not
want to show their holding boundaries or give the correct boundary and owner name.
 Farmers are busy with their farms, so they should be informed of field verification visits
well in advance.
 Farmers are spread out in small villages, so it is difficult to connect with them in a
single visit. Thus much of the surveyor’s time is consumed visiting dispersed locations.
 FAB was seen as very cooperative but lacking in clear knowledge about LAMP
working systems and activities. First we need deliver IEC to farmer with cooperation
of FAB.
First Time Adjudication and Mapping in Un-surveyed Areas
 Help is needed from FAB for adjudication and mapping of un-surveyed areas. In
particular, kwin boundaries should be measured in the presence of FAB. Famer must
also be present to show the boundaries and assist.
 -In the case of first-time survey in an un-surveyed area, there should be adjudication.
Topic 3: Urban GIS
Capturing of Urban Titles and digitizing Urban Block maps into Data Base
187
 Urban Title paper, Town Land Block Map and 1-A Resister are very old and can be
damaged just by handling. Staff must be very careful when scanning these documents
[ED LAMP used a camera instead of scanner in some cases].
 Staff assigned to urban survey should be present during digitization. Conversely, urban
surveyors should be trained in urban map digitizing because land price is valuable and
sensitive even to small scale changes
 On capturing Register 1-A, we must keep all record history (Transfer details, Original
owner, second owner, current owner information, how they transfer it) not only the
latest owner [ED Register 104 can capture this data]
 Outside workers should not capture the urban block Maps and 1-A Registers without
DALMS's permission. The process of digitizing of block map and registers need to be
better coordinated within DALMS.
Topic 4: Deed Registration

Operation of the Deed Registration System
 There was some confusion among participants with regard to deed registration. Some
commented (correctly) that no instructions have been issued for deed registration.
Others thought that the process could be done by DALMS Township staff as they
wish. The majority did not know either way.
GNSS Field Survey
 There was not enough time given for this activity which resulted in inconvenience and
ultimately errors.
 Need instructions to legalize and solve the demarcation problem between holdings.
 A special team should be set up to conduct village surveys in each townships.
Topic 5: Change Management
 Training and management of the project

 All participants expressed that more time should be allotted for training especially
hands-on, practical training in GIS, GNSS, LRMS.
 Training should be in one topic at a time continuously until there is mastery.
 Limitations and opportunities for change in DALMS in view of new land use policy
 Participants generally saw neither limitations nor opportunities for change in
DALMS in view of the new land use policy.
 Some felt that DALMS should give more education on the Land Use Policy and
suitable instructions stemming from the same.
 To conform to the new land use policy, DALMS will need the digital maps and
database to connect to the One Map System.

 Planning for the next steps
 Need more detailed instructions on subdivision and consolidation of holdings.
 Need participation by all levels of Government and other organizations to fulfil the
Goal of the LAMP Project.
 Better project design should be drawn thinking about the Government Policy and
current needs of DALMS in the country.
 The IT duties of staff should be divided separately from their major work in DALMS.
188

 Additional Comments by DALMS Staffs
 Without encouragement of higher level government LAMP will not be successful.
 DALMS staff has received much training but little hands-on practice.
 No body instructs to use the One Map system; need instruction and encouragement
from above.
 Request certificate for completion of training.
 Training manual should be in Myanmar language.

Recorded by TA Team

189
APPENDIX 18 WORK PLAN IN GANTT CHART FORMAT WITH % COMPLETION SHOWN
The work plan is shown as at project end on 29 February 2016.

190

LAMP Final Report To MoAI Ver - 5 April AplNw1K

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Implementing Partner(s) and DALMS (MoAI) and UN‐Habitat

Originally planned Actual Originally planned Actual

1st September, 2012 2nd October, 2012 31 August, 2014 29th February, 2016

Table of Abbreviations and Definitions

Kwin Originally defined to be units of revenue administration (called blocks in urban

1.1. The Fragile Situation of Land Governance

1.2. Governance of Land Tenure

2.1. Recommendations on Good Governance of Land Administration

2.2. Suggested Packaging of Immediate Tasks into LAMP Phase 2

3. LESSONS AND FUTURE DIRECTIONS ON LAND GOVERNANCE IN

3.1. Land Governance Challenges

3.1.1. Government Response to Land Governance Weaknesses

3.1.2. Land Governance in Myanmar

3.1.3. Land and the People

3.1.4. Land Policy Lessons

easy to use by all the people; (ii) in the short term streamline the existing system and

the mapping is already available. This could ensure that all Government land is accounted for in a

3.1.5. Land Tenure Security in Myanmar

3.2. Work Programme of DALMS

No Sub‐Program Status Resource Demand Condition

3.3. Effective Change in Land Administration

3.3.1. Analysis of Land Tenure

3.3.2. Analysis of Land Tax and Crop Statistics Programs of DALMS

3.3.3. Land Information System and One Map Policy of Government

3.4. Getting on the Right Path to Reform of Land Administration Services

4.2. Relevance of the Project Design

4.2.1. Land Sector Performance

4.2.2. Market Led Economy

4.4. The DALMS Project Township Sites

Unsurveyed areas yes Block maps exist13 32

Staff – vacant 16 Cities 0

5. LESSONS FROM PROJECT IMPLEMENTATION

5.1. Lessons on Project Purpose

5.2. Challenges in Implementation

5.3. Lessons Identified by DALMS Operational Staff

5.4. Institutional Lessons and Project Management

5.5. Gender and Vulnerable People

5.6. Technical Matters of Interest

6. RESULTS AND ACHIEVEMENTS

6.2. Summary of Results

6.2.1. Innovations in Land Processes and New Knowledge Products

6.2.2. Project Management

12 Renovations‐ DALMS CLRDTC Finished

6.3. Achievements Review

6.3.1. Design, development and make operational of improved systems

6.3.2. Registering Land Transactions in the Farmland and in Urban Land

Proceeding & Owner applies for Processing and

Permission by Update Land

6.3.3. Capacity Building of Institutional Participants and other Project

6.3.4. Capacity Building of Beneficiaries, NGOs and CSOs

6.4. Benefits of LAMP Innovations

6.5. Cost Benefit

Gender concerns are also being addressed as

5 Different land area amount between area on LUC 5‐25% Investigate & fix error

Holding boundaries on Kwin Map (red) Holding boundaries on Case File (yellow)

7.2. Output 2: System for subsequent registration of land transactions

7.3. Output 3: Change management process designed and implemented.

courses completed so far. DALMS is most

Total Targeted Status

2 Basic GNSS 5 CLRDTC 7 7 3 3 20 100

3 Adjudication, IEC, ADR 5 CLRDTC 7 7 3 3 20 100

Sr Training Course Days Venue Participants