SJVN Limited (SJVNL), a mini ratna
public sector undertaking of the Government of India (GoI),
is implementing the World Bank funded 412 MW
run-of-the-river hydro power project at Rampur in Himachal
Pradesh, immediately downstream of and in cascade operation
with the 1500 MW Nathpa Jhakri Hydroelectric Project (NJHP).
Located in Shimla and Kullu districts, the Rampur Project
involves the construction of a 15.17 km, 10.5 m of diameter,

Internal displacement in Colombia has
become more prevalent and serious. Expulsion of land users
to gain territorial control is increasingly a tactical
element in the conflict. High land inequality makes it
easier to uproot populations. Providing assistance to
displaced populations does not reduce their propensity to
return. Together with other measures, a land policy that
increases tenure security for those at risk of displacement,

Evidence is mounting that secure
property rights have positive effects for poor people in
general and women in particular. The aim of this report is
to review what is known about women s access to and control
over land and real property in urban settings, identifying
approaches to strengthening property rights that enhance
women s agency, and sharing key lessons. Section two
synthesizes the evidence on urban women s priorities with

The regionally unique constitution of
the Republic of Vanuatu provides that-all land in Vanuatu
belongs to custom owners and their descendants and that
the-rule of custom shall form the basis of ownership and use
of land. Implementing this principle, however, after decades
of land alienation by foreigners using alien laws has proven
to be challenging. Concerns over actual and perceived
problems of land alienation through leasing in Vanuatu

Groundwater is a vital yet threatened
resource in much of South Asia. This paper develops a model
of groundwater transactions under payoff uncertainty arising
from unpredictable fluctuations in groundwater availability
during the agricultural dry season. The model highlights the
trade-off between the ex post inefficiency of long-term
contracts and the ex ante inefficiency of spot contracts.
The structural parameters are estimated using detailed

The report, Land Tenure for Social and
Economic Inclusion in Yemen: Issues and Opportunities was
completed in December 2009. The report addresses the
problems of land ownership in Yemen and the various social
and economic problems associated with the system of land
ownership. Property rights under Yemeni Law are expressed
both in custom and statute, but both are informed by shari a
(Islamic law), which provides the basic property categories

Land assets have become an important
source of financing capital investments by subnational
governments in developing countries. Land assets, often with
billions of dollars per transaction, rival and sometimes
surpass subnational borrowing or fiscal transfers for
capital spending. While reducing the uncertainty surrounding
future debt repayment capacity, the use of land-based
revenues for financing infrastructure can entail substantial

A decade ago in Mozambique, a stakeholder workshop where the need to improve access to industrial and commercial land as a means to encourage investment was a topic of discussion, a government official came up to. In order to create new jobs, generate more income, and modernize the economy, many countries see an urgent need to encourage industrial and commercial investment, both domestic and foreign. However, investment in many sectors cannot take place unless land, along with other basic factors of production, is available.

Land reform can broadly be divided into
land tenure reform-the establishment of secure and
formalized property rights in land-and land
redistribution-the transfer of land from large to small
farmers. The paper is therefore divided into two chapters.
The first chapter gives a short narrative of some of the key
land tenure and land policy issues. While these issues
remain politically sensitive, there is a solid consensus

In India, land continues to be of
enormous economic, social, and symbolic relevance. The way
in which land can be accessed and its ownership documented
is at the core of the livelihood of the large majority of
the poor, especially in rural and tribal areas and
determines the extent to which increasingly scarce natural
resources are managed. Land policies and administration are
critical determinants of the transaction cost associated

When contracts are incomplete, relationship-specific investments may be underprovided due to the threat of opportunistic expropriation or holdup. The authors find evidence of such underinvestment on tenanted land in rural Pakistan. Using data from households cultivating multiple plots under different tenure arrangements, they show that land-specific investment is lower on leased plots. This result is robust to the possible effects of asymmetric information in the leasing market. Greater tenure security also increases land-specific investment on leased plots.

Government entities in India hold large
amounts of public land. Their landholdings include some of
the most valuable property in the country. Parts of this
patrimony lie vacant or underutilized. Public sector bodies
also own large blocs of land that sometimes stand in the way
of efficient completion of urban infrastructure networks. At
the same time, urban India is deficient in basic
infrastructure -- both network infrastructure needed to