Yes indeed, surveying all land vital for investments

-as the latter do not fetch a good price in the market, since unmapped land fails to attract investments. The premier was on a tour of some development projects in his native Ruangwa District of Lindi Region, reviewing the sort of progress that has been made in industrial sector activities over the past few years, a topic he often recalls.

It is understandable why the minister is laying stress on mapping rural areas, especially those near urban areas, as arising from the fact that many people tend to think of land as something that is owned in a traditional way, to be handed over through generations. Things like maps do not arise as families know the boundaries and these are usually not contested, though it can’t be said that everything is peaceful in that direction. At times there are bitter inheritance contentions like dividing land between brothers, etc.

While it is undoubtedly the case that it is easy to convince investors to put up projects on surveyed land as opposed to parcels whose demarcations and ownership are not clear, the core problem is to direct the mind of rural dwellers that land is as value that needs to be put on the table to facilitate development. Quite often it is the government that has to purchase the land and make it available to investors when they need it, such that the compensation money is repaid by rental proceeds or from the value of that projected in the jobs it will create and taxes that proceed upon it. Both modes of making land available are in use.

It isn’t easy to say how far villagers will take up the surveying idea as it often involves significant amounts of money, a situation that was reviewed during the past few years. Earlier it was next to impossible for ordinary people to get land surveyed and indeed ministerial officials weren’t overly concerned with that. Duplication of occupancy titles was trademark of what went on in the ministry and in other land offices, perfect atmosphere for corruption festering on traditional land transfers without maps.

Mapping has moved a quantum leap since the 1990s with even the remotest villages covered by devices like global positioning, so one can bring plots to a desk top computer and sort out disputes without having to visit a plot of land. This has onerously discouraged duplication of titles as technology also permits the central registration of land plot occupancy and accessing such documents on land offices countrywide with the right pass words, without altering anything outside explicit authorization. Much of this has been done under the fifth phase government, as part of a modernization and rationalization drive at all levels.

Building industries is one demand that needs land that is freed from traditional ownership and is available to investors. As the premier pointed out, surveying will help to get customers but definitely getting scores of villagers to move so as to build a factory is hard. The government needs to compensate villagers, first, then hand it to investors at 99-year occupancy titles, to remove any traditional squabbles.