BY GRACE MACHA IN ARUSHA
Land tenure security in Tanzania is set for a radical change, thanks to a World Bank supported project unveiled recently.
The $150million Land Tenure Improvement Project (LTIP) is set to strengthen the country's land management system.
Under the project inked by the two sides in 2021 and targeting a dozen regions and some districts, a total of 2.5 million titles will be issued come 2026.
This was announced in Arusha on Tuesday this week by the deputy prime minister Doto Biteko when he opened a conference on national land institutions in Africa.
He said the $ 150million financing through World Bank's International Development Association (Ida) is the highest grant from the Bretton Woods institution to sub Saharan Africa in land reforms.
The project is being implemented by the ministry of Lands,Housing and Human Settlements and will cover at least 14 regions and 40 districts.
It will support issuance of one million Certificates of Right of Occupancy (CROs), 500,000 Certificates of Customary Right of Occupancy (CCROs) and one million Residential Licenses (RLs).
Opening the three-day conference, Dr. Biteko said African countries were in dire need of financial resources to develop land as a critical economic asset.
He challenged experts and policy makers to devise ways to turn around the sector for desired economic growth.
"You should come out with concrete suggestions on where to secure the needed funds for land development," he pointed out.
He stressed that African governments must be assisted to attain their economic growth targets by tapping the potentials of land resources.
The fourth Regional Conference of National Land Institutions in Africa at an Arusha hotel is themed; 'Securing Community Land Rights in Africa.'
The deputy PM said land tenure and management are well articulated in Africa Agenda 2063 which aims to transform the continent's economies to catch up with the rest of the world.
Under Agenda 2063, African states are requested to put in place proper land use plans and management systems in both the rural and urban settings.
The well articulated continental agenda also seeks new policy and legal frameworks that would guarantee access to land and rights to land ownership to different groups.
Alternatively, Agenda 2063 seeks review or update of the existing land laws and regulations that ensures accessibility of the asset to all.
Dr. Biteko told over 100 delegates that Tanzania's land tenure was among the best in the world in that it is participatory compared to in other countries.
One of the factors behind the project is that Tanzania was experiencing rapid urbanization with strong implications for land administration.
Rapid urbanization and related developments has seen increased land disputes, calling for the need for secured land rights and improved land management systems.
LTIP will benefit individual and communal land holders and users in the targeted regions as well as public land sector professionals.
In the long term, beneficiaries will also include the public and the private sector who can use the data gathered for improved planning and investment.
The deputy PM said proper land tenure and management systems in Africa can be realized with improved or adherence to land governance protocols.
He appealed to the African countries to embrace relevant policies and proper land management practices that would enable land to contribute significantly to African economies.
Land conflicts and disputes that are common across the continent should be addressed so as to guarantee security of tenure.
Speaking at the conference, Dr. Solange Bandiaky-Badji, the coordinator of Rights and Resource Initiative (RRI) expressed her concern on land access to the poor.
According to her, the local communities in the world who account for 2.5 billion people, legally own only 11 percent of land.
RRI is a global coalition of over 50 organizations dedicated to advancing the land, forest and resource rights to the local communities, women and youth among them.
It is the main organizer of the four day conference alongside the Tanzania Land Alliance and Tanzania Forest Conservation Group.
According to her, for over 20 years, RRI has promoted dialogue and collaboration between a wide range of allies in development.
Due to the efforts, she explained, Africa as a region has reported an increase in legal recognition of community land rights increasing by 12 percent between 2015 and 2020.
Several countries, including Tanzania, also took the first steps toward implementing existing legal frameworks designating land to the communities in question.
Tanzania, she went on, is a country that is cited as an example of pioneering land reforms in Africa because of its 1999 Village Land Act "which recognises customary community rights in its articles".
The minister for Lands, Housing and Human Settlements Development Jerry Slaa said proper land tenure would spur growth in the economy.
He added that due to its participatory nature, land tenure in Tanzania has impressed the other African countries, including those notorious with land conflicts.
Juma Makungu Juma, the Zanzibar deputy minister for Lands and Human Settlements Development said land was a critical factor in all facets of development in the Isles.
"It was the land crisis that triggered the Zanzibar Revolution in 1964, among other factors," he told the conference at Mt.Meru Hotel
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