The Public Land Report a Threat to Conservation

One of the fundamental services a modern government shall furnish is affordable housing. The ratio of the housing price to household income in Taipei has in recent years reached an astonishing figure of 15. Taipei has long suffered from a lack of readily available sites for residential development. In addition to monetary and fiscal policies, a supply-oriented and location-specific measure is therefore called for. In this vein, the supply of public land in the market has become a promising policy alternative. In spite of that, public land is an asset that belongs to all citizens. Therefore, sales of public land shall meet three conditions so as not to violate the requirement of the public interest. First of all, the price of land sold to private developers shall reflect the reasonable price that the parcel expects to fetch in the market. Secondly, the land sold to the developers shall be quickly developed in accordance with its highest and best use, and not instead remain idle. Finally, no excessive profits shall be obtained from the land by the developers when the land is later developed and houses are sold. Our empirical evidence on auctions of public land in Taipei between 2006 and 2014 provides some disappointing findings. On average, public land is worth 1.37 times more than its auctioned price. In addition, nearly 90% of undeveloped public land has been idle for more than three years after being auctioned. Besides, the effective rates of land value tax and land value increment tax are on average 0.155% and 1.01%, respectively. We therefore conclude that the auctioning of public land in Taipei has operated against the public interest. We suggest that the government in future consider both fiscal and physical measures to improve the uses of public land. However, taxation shall remain the cornerstone of the policy package.

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One Third of the Nation's Land: A Report to the President and to the Congress by the Public Land Law Review Commission

Western Historical Quarterly ◽

10.2307/967678 ◽

1971 ◽

Vol 2 (1) ◽

pp. 61

Author(s):

Vernon Carstensen

Keyword(s):

Public Land ◽

Land Law ◽

The Public

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Tiban Market and Utilization of Public Areas in the Maqasid Syari'ah Perspective: Perception of Islamic Scholars and Traders

JURNAL PENELITIAN ◽

10.28918/jupe.v15i1.1634 ◽

2018 ◽

pp. 75

Author(s):

Alfi Hidayah

Keyword(s):

Qualitative Research ◽

Land Use ◽

Public Land ◽

The Public ◽

Central Java ◽

The People ◽

Public Areas ◽

Interactive Models ◽

The Government ◽

Food Needs

The utilization of state-owned public areas is widespread in various places, not only locally but also nationally. This research examines critically the use of public areas by tiban market traders for the purpose of trading in Warungasem District, Batang Regency, Central Java, Indonesia. In addition, this study explores the perceptions of Islamic scholars (ulama), traders and the government on the use of public areas as trade locations. Public land use is examined through qualitative research, with data collection techniques: interviews, observation and documentation, and analyzed with interactive models. This study finds that trading on the highway is actually not permitted by regulation. Both traders and the government have the same point of understanding. Traders continue to use highways as stalls solely to fulfill clothing, shelter and food needs, because they do not own land. Meanwhile, the scholar's perception of the use of the public arena is polarized into two, which is permissible and not. For those who allow it, the existence of the tiban market is considered to have more benefits than dangers. On the contrary, by referring to the maqasid syari'ah, the scholars allow on the grounds of the tiban market have fundamental benefits both economically, socially and can prosper the people, in the midst of the country which is less concerned with the growth of economic populism.

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