With or without international institutions? Land acquisition for infrastructure projects in the fragile

legal framework of Timor-Leste

Bernardo AlmeidaVan Vollenhoven Institute – Leiden University

Linking Land Tenure and Use for Shared ProsperityAnnual World Bank Conference on Land and Property

Washington DC, March 23-27, 2015

Historical Background of Timor-Leste:

• Almost 500 years of Portuguese colonial ruling• Japanese invasion during the WW II• Civil war in 1975• Indonesian invasion in 1975• Total destruction of the country in 1999• UN administration (1999-2002)• Independent since 2002

The Economic windfall of Timor-Leste:

• Minor development during the Portuguese and Indonesian administrations

• Substantial destruction of the country’s economy and infrastructure (1999)

• High dependency of international aid (1999 – 2004)• Oil and gas revenues since 2004 • Creation of the Petroleum Fund (2005)• Exponential growth of the annual state budgets• Current decrease of oil revenues

The Strategic Development Plan:

• Ambitious development plan• 2011-2020• Three pillars: social capital,

infrastructures, economic development

• Development of electrical power grid

• Development of the road network

• Construction of ports• Necessity of land for all of these

projects

Weak legal framework for land acquisition:

• Planning, consulting and environmental regulations

• Land rights and their identification

• Land acquisition legal framework

• Protection for poor and disadvantageous people in

case of eviction

Legacy of the Indonesian land administration:

• Suharto’s New Order regime

• State-centrist developmentalism

• ‘Social function of the land’ and public interest to justify

dispossession

• High levels of dispossession

• Use of intimidation for land clearance, without or

reduced compensation

Key elements of land acquisition in Timor-

Leste:

• Economic windfall of Timor-Leste

• Weak legal framework for land acquisition

• Legacy of the Indonesian administration

In such environment, what can be the role of international institutions and their safeguard policies?

Case studies

Betano Electricity Generation Station – an Unclear Land Acquisition Process

Road Network Development – Unified Safeguard Policies for All Institutions Involved

Tibar Bay Port – International Institutions in an Advisory Role

Conclusions