About the Illegal Occupation and the Transfer of the Land Question1.IntroductionWith your authorization, I have studied the illegal occupation and transfer of land problem and prepared this report. There is an investigation about illegal occupation and transfer of land on island resort of Koh Samui by the officials from Forestry Department. This investigation also shows that the illegal occupation started after one development company advertised land on Khao Dang mountain for sale to foreign customers. And actually occupied is much greater than the area covered by the land documents.This report is based information from interviews with Yongyut Tiyapairat, the minister of the Natural Resources and Environment Ministry.
1.About the Illegal Occupation and the Transfer of Land Question2.IntroductionIn the above report there are a number of important facts. In this investigation by the officials from Forest Department, we have learned about illegal occupation and transfer of land issue from two sources.First source was from the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry of the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, National Forestry Organisation. Last was from the Ministry of Technology and Information Technology of the Ministry of Agriculture, Information Technology Services.The first thing to ask is. Are there any land companies registered in the area by National Forestry Organisation? Is there any land that is being held by the other land companies? It seems that the land company in question is Land Management Board (LMG) and it is held by the land department of the Ministry of Economic Development and Industry, Ministry of Tourism, and Department of Tourism Planning.The land that is being held by these land companies? Well, there is three companies, they have been registered in the area since 2007, but there are few, if any, records of their activities. The Ministry of Economic Development and Industry and the Ministry of Trade has made a request to the government that, they will release all the required details and make sure that the legal occupation of the land is properly investigated. The question you have to ask is, if there is no government registered in the area by land companies, which land companies can be in possession of these land and which are its tenants? Do they need to be registered in the various department of national forestry organisations to do their work and what are the circumstances under which they were held out as tenants? If there are no complaints or other issues that were being made to the ministry, these are all matters to be taken on their own, as a matter of course, we have got to know and report all the facts.”This report is based information from interviews with people from various departments of national forestry organisation.The land ministry, the ministry of agriculture and the department of health and nutrition have notified them that there is no permission to acquire or build, which means that the land belongs to only land registered by its tenants. The ministry has also informed the people that they owe an order to the Ministry to protect the lands and to comply with provisions of the Planning Act of 1977 and the Land Management Guidelines. Also, the land is being registered as a private company and not owned by the land departments, which also means that it belongs to the land department. The Department of National Resources and Environment has asked the government for a formal decision from the Ministry (i.e. a letter from the Ministry) on the situation.The information provided that the Department of National Resources and Environmental Minister that the forest management board wants the government to move it is from the Department of Economic Development and Technology. The forest management board also wants a draft order for the relocation.Accordingly, the government has asked the forest management board to decide whether the area being registered at Koh Samui is considered private or residential
3.Authorisation:I asked the information about the illegal occupation from the local government as well as local officials regarding the purpose of the transfer of land, the amount of land for sale and the number of properties owned in a resort. Also, the information shows that the construction and the development companies engaged in the illegal occupation of land was to pay off the land and that the process was complete and no new land would come at any cost.I also asked about the nature of the project to provide land with a suitable setting and use. It was also stated that the site where the development companies and illegal companies came from could be a good place to build the resort as it is high above the mountains and there is a lot of potential for such construction in another place.The question: Who is involved in land use and how can the land be cultivated? What should the environment and how the land was acquired help to develop the resort? It also asked: the government’s understanding of the illegal occupation, how and where it is being undertaken and, when and if this illegal occupation would occur, who the officials were and how can they deal with it? The answer was that the Ministry for Environment and Forests, Planning & Research Department, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment was under the watch of Forestry Director General Tiyapairat, Minister of Resources Pouyang Jibin-Nepotai, a former forestry minister, and the Natural Resources Development Department. The director general had been appointed following the death of Forestry Director General and the government decided to set up a temporary forestry department which will be in charge of the work on the land as per the conditions set for the previous department.The officials informed me that when their activities on the land started, they were given priority over the work on the land and that after that, one thing was done. They were given the opportunity to decide what would happen with the land and the planning that had to be completed by the two government officials involved in the land trade. The ministry was given permission to set the date of the allocation of money for the construction of the resort and to decide of whether or not if this construction project would continue unless the previous plan was changed as well. The official said that if it was to become impossible to complete the construction work, there were no further issues that needed to be decided that would affect the project. They also asked me to check reports of the illegal occupation and if they had received any information as to its results. They added that the two officials, if anything, were unable to provide any such information.When asked how they were handling the land trade, they said that only a few projects from different countries managed to get approval of construction after only one development company had advertised it on the island. This time around, they tried to make their presentation of the project without any difficulties. Later on, when asked if this was the end, they replied that the official was saying there would be less land left for the
3.Authorisation:I asked the information about the illegal occupation from the local government as well as local officials regarding the purpose of the transfer of land, the amount of land for sale and the number of properties owned in a resort. Also, the information shows that the construction and the development companies engaged in the illegal occupation of land was to pay off the land and that the process was complete and no new land would come at any cost.I also asked about the nature of the project to provide land with a suitable setting and use. It was also stated that the site where the development companies and illegal companies came from could be a good place to build the resort as it is high above the mountains and there is a lot of potential for such construction in another place.The question: Who is involved in land use and how can the land be cultivated? What should the environment and how the land was acquired help to develop the resort? It also asked: the government’s understanding of the illegal occupation, how and where it is being undertaken and, when and if this illegal occupation would occur, who the officials were and how can they deal with it? The answer was that the Ministry for Environment and Forests, Planning & Research Department, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment was under the watch of Forestry Director General Tiyapairat, Minister of Resources Pouyang Jibin-Nepotai, a former forestry minister, and the Natural Resources Development Department. The director general had been appointed following the death of Forestry Director General and the government decided to set up a temporary forestry department which will be in charge of the work on the land as per the conditions set for the previous department.The officials informed me that when their activities on the land started, they were given priority over the work on the land and that after that, one thing was done. They were given the opportunity to decide what would happen with the land and the planning that had to be completed by the two government officials involved in the land trade. The ministry was given permission to set the date of the allocation of money for the construction of the resort and to decide of whether or not if this construction project would continue unless the previous plan was changed as well. The official said that if it was to become impossible to complete the construction work, there were no further issues that needed to be decided that would affect the project. They also asked me to check reports of the illegal occupation and if they had received any information as to its results. They added that the two officials, if anything, were unable to provide any such information.When asked how they were handling the land trade, they said that only a few projects from different countries managed to get approval of construction after only one development company had advertised it on the island. This time around, they tried to make their presentation of the project without any difficulties. Later on, when asked if this was the end, they replied that the official was saying there would be less land left for the
3.Authorisation:I asked the information about the illegal occupation from the local government as well as local officials regarding the purpose of the transfer of land, the amount of land for sale and the number of properties owned in a resort. Also, the information shows that the construction and the development companies engaged in the illegal occupation of land was to pay off the land and that the process was complete and no new land would come at any cost.I also asked about the nature of the project to provide land with a suitable setting and use. It was also stated that the site where the development companies and illegal companies came from could be a good place to build the resort as it is high above the mountains and there is a lot of potential for such construction in another place.The question: Who is involved in land use and how can the land be cultivated? What should the environment and how the land was acquired help to develop the resort? It also asked: the government’s understanding of the illegal occupation, how and where it is being undertaken and, when and if this illegal occupation would occur, who the officials were and how can they deal with it? The answer was that the Ministry for Environment and Forests, Planning & Research Department, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment was under the watch of Forestry Director General Tiyapairat, Minister of Resources Pouyang Jibin-Nepotai, a former forestry minister, and the Natural Resources Development Department. The director general had been appointed following the death of Forestry Director General and the government decided to set up a temporary forestry department which will be in charge of the work on the land as per the conditions set for the previous department.The officials informed me that when their activities on the land started, they were given priority over the work on the land and that after that, one thing was done. They were given the opportunity to decide what would happen with the land and the planning that had to be completed by the two government officials involved in the land trade. The ministry was given permission to set the date of the allocation of money for the construction of the resort and to decide of whether or not if this construction project would continue unless the previous plan was changed as well. The official said that if it was to become impossible to complete the construction work, there were no further issues that needed to be decided that would affect the project. They also asked me to check reports of the illegal occupation and if they had received any information as to its results. They added that the two officials, if anything, were unable to provide any such information.When asked how they were handling the land trade, they said that only a few projects from different countries managed to get approval of construction after only one development company had advertised it on the island. This time around, they tried to make their presentation of the project without any difficulties. Later on, when asked if this was the end, they replied that the official was saying there would be less land left for the
2. Finding and AnalysisThere are some causes of this illegal occupation and transfer of land problem. Firstly, the government unclear policy on the management of public land, which can help people get the documents of illegal land easily by making payments to corrupt officials. So there are lots of over land occupation. Secondly, as the jumping land prices from tourist boom, lots of large property development firms and investment fund includes many foreign investors, and it’s harder to monitor by government authorities, so that occupy land illegally increased. Next, On the island, villagers and residents trended to declare less land for avoiding paying large amount of land taxes Because of this, they make false claims about the lands amount under their occupation. On the other hand, these backpackers arrived to build huts and resort in beaches, which makes local residents dont have places to continue their coconut business ,which also destroyed the natural environment .In the end, illegal land occupation makes lots of resorts and houses but the developers are also less likely to follow the laws of pollution control .It will results uncontrolled development and decrease the revenue available to local authorities.