CCAC says gov’t has discretionary powers in land concessions

The Pearl Horizon construction site

The Commission Against Corruption (CCAC) has completed an investigation into the forfeiture of idle plots of land and has issued a report which claims that public declarations of land concession forfeitures are entirely at the discretion of the Public Administration.
The investigation, which had been undertaken at the request of the Chief Executive in June, sought to uncover where the decision making power lies in regard to recovery of unused land cases, or whenever the land concessionaire is penalized.
Such cases include the failure of a concessionaire to complete its projects within the stipulated time period, as in the case of the halted Pearl Horizon development.
The CCAC now says that it found that those decisions had not violated the current Land Law, adding there is no clear definition or criteria for when, how and if, revoked land-use concessions should be made public.
The public administration, according to the CCAC’s interpretation, is entitled under the Land Law to respond to such cases either through the imposition of fines or through the declaration of forfeiture of the concession and recovery of the land.
Therefore, the commission says, declaring the forfeiture is not the only legal solution, and that the administration would be entitled to determine whether or not to make a declaration, based on a legal-technical analysis.
If the failure to use the land as agreed upon and within the approved time period is not wholly, or “solely attributable” to the developer, the public administration also retains the discretion to not initiate the procedure of land confiscation as per the Land Law.
The CCAC report also revealed the shortcomings of the current legal system for resolving problems concerning idle land, in a possible allusion to comments made recently by lawmakers in the Legislative Assembly.
The commission concluded that a lack of clear stipulation regarding accountability in the event that a land concessionaire does not meet its obligations, as well as the lack of requirement for the Public Administration to disclose associated decision-making, had led them to suggest that the government should further consider the revision of existing laws.
Other recommendations in the CCAC report included increased transparency in the decision-making process regarding the forfeiture of land concessions, as well as the timely and accurate release of relevant information to the public.
It added that the fine that the Public Administration may impose on developers was too small to serve as an effective deterrent against malpractice. Staff reporter

lawmaker demands explanation

Lawmaker Pereira Coutinho has requested the government to provide an explanation as to why it failed to reclaim three idle plots of land that had not met their concessionaires’ obligations. “Even if they are released with discretion, the government is still responsible for explaining to us [… why it] excluded these plots from recovery,” the lawmaker asserted. Coutinho added that the Land Law upholds the public’s right to know about the intentions behind any failure to reclaim land use.