State to step up land conflict management
LAND management and application of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) in data collection and storage are among top priorities of the next year’s budget of the Ministry of Lands, Housing and Human Settlement Development.
When tabling the 171.3bn/- budget estimates for the ministry, Minister in docket, Dr Angelina Mabula, highlighted seven priorities aimed at transforming the lands and the housing sector.
Out of the total estimates, 163.1bn/- is for the ministry’s recurrent and development expenditures, while the remaining 8.2bn/- has been allocated for the National Land Use Planning Commission.
Dr Mabula said the government would also focus more on improving systems that are used in addressing land conflicts in order to increase the pace in planning, surveying and issuance of title deeds.
“The ministry shall continue putting in place a conducive environment for accessing land for investment and improve government collection from the sector through the use of technology,” she said.
The minister explained further the government would continue putting the marks on borders between Tanzania and Kenya (80 kilometers) together with that of Burundi which covers a distance of 100 kilometers.
Apart from enhancing the visibility of international borders, the ministry shall also survey borders of 200 villages, prepare plans for land use in the villages and approve 200,000 traditional title deeds.
In a related development, the Ministry shall rehabilitate lands’ offices in 41 local government councils, formalise 500,000 settlements in 23 councils and digitise 1,647,330 land records which are now in the analogy form.
According to the minister, the government has also planned to install the Integrated Land Management Information System (ILMIS) in 132 councils and as well construct four Lecturer Halls in Morogoro and Tabora Ardhi Institutes.
“In the year 2023/24, the government will start the implementation of the Land Data Infrastructure (LDI) project with some 65 million US dollars loan from the Exim Bank of South Korea,” she pointed out.
In essence, the project is aimed at putting in place all infrastructures for land surveying as part of efforts to increase the speed on planning land use for various purposes.
The ministry shall also focus on supporting the execution of strategic development projects by surveying all the project areas.
She said by May 15 this year, the ministry had completed a survey on seven points that will be used in pumping the crude oil into a pipeline that is being constructed from Hoima in Uganda to Chongoleani in Tanga region.
The surveyed points are Kikagate (Muleba, Kagera Region), Lubeho (Mbogwe, Geita Region), Nanga (Igunga, Tabora Region), Misindo (Singida), Kimana (Kiteto, Manyara Region), Sindeni (Handeni, Tanga) and Chongoleani (Tanga).
“The ministry also surveyed 34.7 kilometres of access roads to the project, in 2023/24 the ministry shall continue supporting the execution of the strategic development projects such as the construction of the East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP) and the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) project accordingly,” explained further the minister.
Regarding the housing sector, Dr Mabula said the government has approved the National Housing Corporation (NHC) to secure a loan of 173.9bn/- for the implementation and finalisation of various projects that are under construction.
She said by 15th May this year, NHC had already secured 44.7bn/- loan that was used in completing the construction of the Morocco square project while continuing with talks with contractors for the Kawe 711 and Golden Premium residence project.
“The corporation was unable to implement the Plot 300 Regent Estate project because the fund was reallocated for the construction of the low cost Samia Housing Scheme being constructed in Kawe,” she said.
