THE government, yesterday, banned local government leaders from splitting up villages which have been surveyed and granted with village land certificates. Land, Housing and Human Settlements Development Minister, Mr William Lukuvi said that such tendency has been holding back government efforts in ensuring effective land administration.
Minister Lukuvi was speaking at a ceremony to award Customary Certificate of Right of Occupancy (CCROs) to 2,111 residents of Nyange Village in Kilombero District under the Land Tenure Support Programme (LTSP).
“The government will not allow villages issued with land certificates to be divided, because it has been spending a lot of money in surveying them and preparing village land use plans (VLUPs),” he said.
Mr Lukuvi said that when the villages were divided, they interfere with the proper land use plans because they create new boundaries which in turn would need to be resurveyed.
He accused village chairmen and ward councils for initiating the division of the villages to fulfill their political interests without taking into account the cost incurred by the government to prepare the proper land use plans and the development plans of the respective wards.
“We will not allow these villages which have been surveyed and issued with proper land use plans to be divided otherwise there will be a crucial reason of doing so,” Mr Lukuvi said. He, however, said that the land certificates issued to the villagers would help to add value to their land and access loans from banks and other financial institutions.
“The CCROs issued today will add value to your land because it has been surveyed and issued with certificates compared to unsurveyed land,” he noted. Mr Lukuvi said that the land documents will also help the villagers to access loans because they are legally acceptable.
He said that it is estimated that only 20 per cent of the country’s land has been planned and surveyed. The Minister said upon completion of the pilot programme in the three districts of Kilombero, Ulanga and Malinyi it will be extended to other councils in the country.
The Minister said that it was the government’s intention to ensure that all the country’s land is surveyed in the coming ten years. LTSP Coordinator, Mr Godfrey Machabe said that through the programme a total of 160 villages in the three districts would be surveyed.
He said other activities implemented under the programme include surveying the boundaries of 50 villages and resolving 18 villages boundary disputes which have lasted for a long time.
Mr Machabe said the programme also managed to prepare certificates of the village land for 57 villages, village land use plans (VLUPs) for 50 villages and contribution in construction and rehabilitation of land registries for 61 villages.
Nyange Village Chairman, Jonas Likungilo said that the LTSP had increased efficiency to their village because it has helped to improve the livelihood of the people and contributed to national income.
Mr Likungilo said that out of 2,111 certificates issued to the villagers 37 per cent are owned by women. LTSP aimed at supporting a more transparent, efficient and better resourced land sector and ensuring that current and future demand for land leads to beneficial and equitable outcomes for Tanzania’s rural population.
The overall objective is geared towards increasing land use right, holder’s perception on improved tenure security in target areas through good land tenure regularisation and therefore reduces land disputes and land use conflicts.
The three-year programme is expected to cost 15.2m US dollars provided as grant by development partners, including the UK’s Department for International Development (DFID), together with co-partners SIDA (Sweden) and DANIDA (Denmark).
Tags:
English