Govt asked to repossess idle land

The government has been requested to repossess more than 64,000 hectares of land owned by Bioshape Tanzania Ltd and restore it to Kilwa District villagers after the investor failed to develop it for the past five years.

The appeal was made by the Journalists Environmental Association of Tanzania (JET) Board member Ms Leah Mushi yesterday when speaking to reporters.

According to her, the land in question is located around four villages namely Mavuji, Migeregere, Nainokwe and Liwiti in the district.

Ms Leah revealed that the investor between 2006 and 2008 signed a contract with the government and acquired the land, but in the past five years he has not developed it despite promising to use it for agriculture.

A JET team is expected to prepare a report and submit it to the Ministry of Lands, Housing and Human Settlements Development and other relevant institutions.

“We will prepare a report and submit it to the ministry. Instead of using the land for agriculture as it is shown in the contract, the investor opted to engage in timber harvesting,” she said.

She added that efforts to reach the investor to clarify on the matter were in vain and that reports availed by Kilwa District Council leaders suggested that he had abandoned the land and was not in the country.

For his part, another JET board member, Mr Moses Masenga said the investor’s failure to develop the land, has denied villagers an opportunity to carry out agricultural activities.

“We understand that the land has been abandoned for a long time and the investor has already left the country, so we call on the minister (Mr William Lukuvi) to restore the land to the villagers as he did elsewhere,” he said.