Lukuvi gives Serengeti officials up to December 30 to issue title deeds

MUGINI JACOB in Mugumu

LANDS, Housing and Human Settlements Development Minister, Mr William Lukuvi

LANDS, Housing and Human Settlements Development Minister, Mr William Lukuvi, has given Serengeti District Council until December 30, this year to issue 300 traditional title deeds that are yet to be collected by owners.

The Minister gave the ultimatum following reports by the council that owners of the title deeds have failed to collect the land documents due to lack of pictures . “ I am giving you ( Serengeti district council) up to December 30 for all people to get their title deeds ”, the minister directed warning to take actions against officials who will fail to implement the directive .

Mr Lukuvi seemed unhappy with the report questioning why the title deeds were prepared without pictures of the owners. Mr Lukuvi was speaking on Wednesday last week when he was officially launching land use plan targeting 36 villages’ game conservation areas in Western Serengeti.

Besides reducing land conflicts, introduction of land use plans in the villages is expected to foster investments in the Tanzania’s wildlife rich district whose large part is made of game protected areas including the world famous Serengeti national park.

Mr Lukuvi welcomed the programme which he said it supports efforts being made by the government to transform lives of citizens. The land use plan programme in the 36 villages is being implemented by Frankfurt Zoological Society (FZS) in collaboration with the Tanzania National Park (TANAPA) with funding from the Germany government through KfW Development Bank.

“These are good plans for investments and they reduce conflicts and as government we are giving them priority in assisting citizens”, the Minister who also accompanied by Mara Regional Commissioner (RC), Mr Adam Malima said.

Meanwhile Minister of Energy Dr Medardi Kalemani made a working tour in various parts of the Mara region on Saturday where he inspected Rural Energy Agency (REA) projects among other things.

Majority of the rural villages in Mara region have in the recent years connected with electricity under REA, a significant progress that is expected to help in improving living standards of people in the region.