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[제　목] Why I am against the current land privat

[작성자] MOL

[작성일] 2002년8월8일

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Why I am against the current land privat

Why I am against the current land privatization law?
Бичсэн tumenbayar , Даваа, 6 сарын 24, 07:06
Суваг: Il Tovchoo News

Two weeks ago, the Parliament of Mongolia has passed comprehensive amendments to the Land
Law. The draft of the amendments to the Land Law was submitted last year and there have been
wide discussions over the amendments both in the Parliament and outside the Parliament. The
current Land Law as it stands opens up wide opportunities for use of land and allows for
undertake the land reform. It allows long-term lease of land (60 years with the following 40 years
extension) with the rights to mortgage, transfer and inherit the lease.

However, soon after the passage of the above law, the Government of Mongolia has hastily
submitted the Law on privatizing land to Mongolian citizens. Moreover, when the draft of the bill on
privatizing land was first discussed in the Parliament on the 14th of June, the majority MPRP
caucus recommended that the bill is discussed and passed by the end of the spring session, i.e.
by July 5th, 2002.

Why is there such a rush to pass the bill within only two weeks of debate? And not just a bill,
such an essential bill as the Law on Land Privatization? Public was not even properly informed
about the draft.

What is the current situation with the land and real property in Mongolia?

1- There is no general plan of land and real property development

2- There is no cadastral map of land use and real property (not even for Ulaanbaatar)

3- No survey over quality of land and no detailed registration of land use is in place

4- No monitoring system of land quality alteration

5- No land resource database available

6- There is a large number of land disputes over the land use and land possession

7- The newly revised law on land was passed only two weeks ago and neither implementation nor
preparation for implementation of this law have started yet

So is Mongolia ready for land privatization? I think the answer is not. Another angle to the
discussion of the land privatization bill is the fact that the draft of such an important bill has not
been even made available to the public yet. Forget about wider public discussion, public hearings
or citizen's voice and participation. Forget about the Good Governance program that the current
government so proudly launched more than a year ago. If such an important bill as the land law
that is no allowed to be discussed in the wider public, then what else of importance is left? When
the privatization started in Mongolia, there was this wonderful scheme of distributing vouchers to
every citizen so that every Mongolian could benefit from the privatization. What happened in reality
was that people were not explained properly on how to use the vouchers, and most of the
vouchers were either wasted or sold for nominal price. Prof. Keith Griffin from University of
California stated in his report that "in the case of Mongolia, privatization has failed on every count.
… and did nothing positive to assist Mongolia through the transition difficulties and by creating
private monopolies, undermining savings and accentuating unemployment, it had several negative
effects." Mongolia's economy is rather weak and the majority of the people are poor. The red tape
when it comes to land permits is very "red" and corruption is becoming rampant. The rule of law is
not as rigorous. There are all the conditions in such an environment that ill-prepared and ill-
thought land privatization will lead to many negative consequences. Privatization is not the
panacea.

Therefore, Citizens Will - Republican Party has been fighting throughout the last week to: 1).
Withdraw the current draft law on Land Privatization from the Parliamentary discussions 2). Publish
the draft law in the main media and organize widespread discussion in the public 3). Make all the
necessary preparations and implement the new revised version of the Land Law that was passed
two weeks ago. Educate the public about this enacted law so that there is no confusion in the
public what was enacted as the land reform and what is currently being discussed as land
privatization.

Three political parties, Democratic Party, Conservative United Party and Mongolian Civil
Democratic New Liberal Party, have so far joined in and published official statements demanding
the MPRP Parliament to withdraw the current draft and organize discussions in the wider public as
well as with other political parties.

Member Parliament S.Ouyn