Minister disbands Dar City lands unit

Dar es Salaam. The minister for Lands, Housing and Human Settlements Development, Mr William Lukuvi, yesterday closed down the Lands Department of the Dar es Salaam City Council. The minister also said that the government would repossess all the plots of land that have remained undeveloped after they were allocated to people who applied for them under the government’s ‘20,000 Plots Project.’

Furthermore, Mr Lukuvi directed the start of a house-to-house exercise to identify house owners who have failed to collect from the ministry about 6,000 Certificates of Occupancy that were issued during the last 20 years – and which are still lying on the ministry’s shelves.

Showing a pile of such Certificates, Mr Lukuvi said: “There is one Certificate which is dated 1998, something which may have denied the government its due revenues. The people who abandoned the Certificates will have to pay any and all arrears that are due over all those years.”

Speaking on his decision to close down the Lands Department of the metropolis, Mr Lukuvi said Dar es Salaam City Council does not possess any land of its own and, as such, it has no mandate to offer or otherwise allocate land to anyone whatsoever. “For quite a long time now, I have been sorting out land disputes and, today, I have finally established one of the causes for this,” the minister said – adding that he had closed down the Council’s lands offices for issuing illegal land certificates, thereby “causing inconveniences and confusion at the Lands ministry.”

In that regard, the minister called upon “anybody possessing an offer of land that bears the City Council’s stamp should understand that such an offer is not valid, and is not recognised by the government. Such a person should go to the District Lands offices to be given guidance on how to get a genuine land certificate.”

Revealing that the Lands ministry is frantically collecting the requisite data with a view to the ministry going digital in conducting its mandated roles, Mr Lukuvi stressed that, when the digital system becomes operational on the ground, some land offices will no longer feature in the land administration stakes.

Thereafter, land applications should be submitted to the Commissioner for Lands in the respective administrative Districts, the minister explained. “There are people who have been minting money using their official positions to print and hand out offers of plots of land. Two years ago, I directed that such dubious offers should be surrendered to District Land offices in exchange for valid ones. From now on, that opportunity no longer applies, and such letters of offer will no longer be recognized,” Mr Lukuvi stressed.

“Henceforth, Land Certificates will be issued directly, without being preceded by letters of offer. I have closed the Lands Office at the Dar es Salaam City Council, and all the staff should report to Commissioner for Lands at the ministry headquarters where they will be assigned other duties,” the minister stated.

Regarding people who acquired land plots under the ‘20,000 Plots Project,’ Mr Lukuvi said the month of December this year is the deadline for those who haven’t developed their plots. But, favourable consideration will be given to those who would have at least erected concrete fencing around their plots – not wire fencing or thorny hedges!

He expressed disappointment that over 50 per cent of the plot owners under the ‘20,000 Plots Project’ haven’t developed them – most being located at Bunju, Mpiji, Toangoma, Mwanagati, Kibada, Gezaulole, Mwongozo, Mbweni, Mbweni-Malindi, Mbweni-JKT and Kibada.