The Haitian government will seize land to build temporary camps for earthquake victims in a controversial new move, prime minister Jean-Max Bellerive said.

The decision is potentially explosive in a country where a small elite owns most of the land in and around the capital Port-au-Prince.

That elite, a traditionally corrupting force in Haitian politics, has the power to bring down the government.

The state owned some land but not enough, Bellerive said, and he had no choice but to take over private terrain. He would not say how much land will be appropriated.

A report posted at the website of the International Organisation for Migration said a minimum of 1,112 acres of flat, non-flood plain land was needed to settle 100,000 displaced people and Haiti's government had identified only 47 acres.

The 12 January quake left 1.2m homeless, about half of them in Port-au-Prince, meaning the government would need to find a total of at least 6,672 acres for quake survivors in the capital, where about a third of Haiti's nearly 10 million people are concentrated, along with almost all industry.

Bernard Fils-Aime, a businessman, property owner and president of the American Chamber of Commerce in Haiti, said he was not aware of anyone in the business community being approached by the government about land.

"Land is one of our very scarce resources and an issue that has underlined many political conflicts in Haiti since independence," he said.

He said he was sure the issue could be negotiated amicably but warned: "You don't want to create more conflict."

Aid agencies have criticised the government for dragging its feet on the issue as they work to find temporary settlements for the homeless before the spring rainy season.