Mabula wary of poor coordination over land matters

Minister of Lands, Housing and Human Settlement Development, Angelina Mabula. PHOTO | COURTESY

By Halili Letea

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Dar es Salaam. Lands, Housing and Human Settlement Development minister Angelina Mabula has issued six key directives to get regional land commissioners and ministry officials work in a coordinated manner.

This came after a joint working session with teams from both sides yesterday whereby lack of coordination between the two sides was vivid.

Ms Mabula noted that there was poor implementation of ministry’s directives by regional leaders, lack of coordination between local authorities and lower levels, poor realisation of responsibilities tasked to local authorities, while urban planning and development and collaboration not being given their due weight.

“The flow of our work as the Lands ministry dictate that all the key cadres must be properly aligned in planning, surveying, valuation, ownership and registration of land parcels,” she said.

The minister further lamented for lack of urgency and consistency in implementation of directives from the ministry noting that, “I ordered that the farms be inspected so that I could get all the data by July, 2022, and the permanent secretary extended that by August 15,” she said.

“So far, only 17 regions have submitted. Regions like Arusha, Dodoma, Geita, Kagera, Njombe, Shinyanga, Simiyu and Songwe have not yet submitted,” she explained.

She warned against the arbitrary issuance of building permits that did not comply with urban planning, noting with that residences should not be near petrol stations.

“The initial proposal was 200 metres, I suggest that permits be issued for 500 metres. Now you may be surprised that there are petrol stations less than 50 metres... you wonder how they get the permits.”

Meanwhile, ministry’s permanent secretary Allan Kijazi said the meeting aimed at harmonizing service provision to the citizens in a bid to contain disputes related to land.

“We will review our customer service contract and everyone will sign it and it will become our guide,” Dr Kijazi said, giving the feedback from the previous meeting with real estate stakeholders.