Yangon 19 June 2014: UN-Habitat and the government of Myanmar this week signed an agreement that will see the agency help in strengthening land administration and management system in that country.

The Settlement and Land Records Department of the Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation and UN-Habitat signed the milestone Letter of Agreement on the 18 June 2014 for the implementation of a Land Administration and Management Programme (LAMP). LAMP is funded by the Livelihoods Food Security Trust Fund (LIFT) and continues until 30 September 2015.

Mr. Bijay Bahadur Karmacharya, Myanmar Country Programme Manager for UN-Habitat and U Tha Toe Aung, Director General of the Settlement and Land Records Department of the Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation of the Government of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar signed the agreement.

The aim of the agreement is to strengthen the existing land administration and management system so that it meets the needs in service and land record keeping of Government and the people. The main activities of the LAMP are to introduce practical, reliable and affordable systems for updating existing land records, to provide training materials for SLRD staff and Farmland Administrative Body (FAB) officials, to upgrade the training facility at the Central Land Records Development Training Center (CLRDTC) and to make two township level SLRD offices operational with the improved systems.

UN-Habitat’s engagement with Myanmar began in the 1980s and 1990s where the agency supported urban issues, city and regional planning as well as capacity building. UN-Habitat’s presence in Myanmar was intensified in the aftermath of Cyclone Nargis in 2008.

In addition UN-Habitat is also cooperating with relevant Ministries in other relevant sectors such as Urban and Regional Development, Water & Sanitation and Basic Infrastructure, Environment and Climate Change.