Phnom Penh (FN), Jun. 24 – Cambodia’s Land Allocation for Social and Economic Development Project III (LASED III) project will contribute to building basic physical infrastructure, offering trainings on agricultural work, creating market linkages in order to boost incomes, improve living standards, reduce migration and reduce people's poverty, minister of Land Management, Urban Planning and Construction Chea Sophara adressed in the launching workshop of LASED III virtually on Thursday.

The workshop also attended by leadership and working groups of the Ministry of Land Management, Urban Planning and Construction; the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries; the Ministry of Economy and Finance; and the World Bank; representatives of the ministries and institutions under the National Social Land Concession Committee; provincial governors; and representatives of provincial departments and relevant units under provincial administrations, relevant district and commune administrations, indigenous communities, development partners, and national and international organizations.

LASED III is a project of the Royal Government of Cambodia that has a total budget of USD 107 million, of which USD 93 million in IDA credit is provided by the World Bank and USD 14 million is funded by the Royal Government, and that is jointly implemented by the Ministry of Land Management, Urban Planning and Construction and the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries for a period of six years from October 2020 to December 2026 in target provinces with suitable land and at 71 sites (26 sites are for social land concession and 45 sites for indigenous communities).

The project covers a total land area of 30,000 hectares, 10,000 hectares of which belongs to indigenous communities, and a total of 6,500 beneficiary households, including 1,500 indigenous households. The project's activities focus on 5 key areas, namely social land concession, indigenous communal land titling, commune land use planning, physical infrastructure development, and support for beneficiaries' agriculture and livelihood development.

Through the transparent and good governance-based implementation of the social land concession program, LASED III will provide agricultural and residential land for poor people as capital to embark on building their livelihoods and cultivating their land.

The project thereby contribute to the realization of the objectives of the Rectangular Strategy, Phase IV, which is the socio-economic agenda of the Royal Government in the 6th Legislature of the National Assembly.
=FRESH NEWS