Land Acquisition Problems Facing IPP Investors in Myanmar

For a variety of reasons, acquiring land for any project at all is a complicated task in Myanmar. Applying a combination of quite dated laws such as the Land and Revenue Act 1879 and the Land Acquisition Act 1894 alongside several new and untested ones such as the Farmland Act 2012 does not always make for a predictable outcome. The Government has long aimed to produce a bill for a new and comprehensive land law, but this objective has remained elusive for now. Another complicating factor is the involvement of a wide range of Government agencies at state/region and national level managing land in Myanmar.

The legal and administrative problems surrounding land acquisition by foreign investors in Myanmar is felt in a number of industry sectors, and electricity production is no exception.

In this client briefing note we examine some of the key land use issues which affect foreign invested power plant projects.