Owners of idle land risk losing it

MARC NKWAME in Babati

Minister for Lands, Housing and Human Settlements Development, Mr William Lukuvi

FOREIGNERS who amass large portions of land in the country without developing them and use the same to secure loans from local financial institutions risk losing it.

The Minister for Lands, Housing and Human Settlements Development, Mr William Lukuvi, stated here that the nationwide operations to audit land leased to foreign investors has started and various farms located in Babati District, Manyara Region, and others in Bagamoyo District, Coast Region, will have their titles revoked.
“Many foreigners have been coming into the country posing as investors, request land for various forms of enterprises, including large scale farming, but instead of developing the latter, they simply use the same estates as collateral in securing huge loans from banks,” Mr Lukuvi said.
He added that to qualify as investors, the aliens must bring their own capital, technology and machinery and not to use money found in Tanzania.
He cited the case of some foreign estate owners in Bagamoyo who have secured large tracts of land, sat on it for years, only to resell them to Chinese firms at higher prices.
Mr Lukuvi made the statement when he paid a surprise visit to the Darakuta Ranch located in the Gijameda Village within the Kiiru Valley of Babati Rural District, Manyara Region, a farm owned by Swiss couple, Mr Rafael Bapstna and Mrs Rita Bapstna, who have been keeping Borana cattle in the 17,500 acres of wilderness since 1985.
While he had no problem with Darakuta Ranch, Mr Lukuvi asked the owners to review their land plan so that the estate could be more productive as it seems to have been stagnant for the last 30 years, recording limited yield as far as revenue and rates of employment are concerned.
“I will return here soon and I want to find true improvement, including introduction of modernised farming and cattle keeping, more employment of locals and better environment conservation,” the minister demanded.
His order came as a sigh of relief to the Swiss couple who upon hearing that the land minister was paying a visit to the ranch, thought that he had gone to revoke ownership of the land.
Babati District Commissioner Crispin Meela, who was the acting Manyara Regional Commissioner during the minister’s visit, said he had already compiled a list of more than ten large estates in the precinct previously foreign-owned.
He said he had handed it to Mr Lukuvi so that their titles should be revoked and the land be handed back to villagers