In a related development, he warned that the government will repossess idle land and redistribute it to
villages for productive undertakings.
“It is a known fact that some people, including public servants, are hording large chunks of idle land, the
government will see into it that the land is identified and reallocated for productive activities.
“With such, every district council should use their own revenues to procure satellite images to make land
surveying and planning efficient. I am told the images cost between 80m/- and 100m/-, “ Dr Kebwe
stated.
He made the remarks here yesterday during a stakeholders meeting on land use planning to be
implemented through the Land Tenure Support Programme (LTSP). He was positive as well that the
satellite images will enable the local government authorities to collect more property taxes from buildings
and businesses in district councils.
“There have been many land disputes in Morogoro due to among others lack of proper land planning and
increased pressure on land given vast opportunities in the agriculture sector,” he noted.
Speaking earlier at the same occasion, an official with the Ministry of Lands, Housing and Human
Settlements Development, Swagile Msananga, said the initiative seeks to provide Certificate of Customary
Right of Occupancy to some 300,000 residents in three districts.
The districts to benefit include Kilombero, Ulanga and Malinyi which have been facing recurring land
disputes to increased pressure on land for economic activities, mainly farming and livestock keeping.
“Among other benefits, the residents will be able to use the customary land deeds to secure credit
facilities from financial institutions,” he elaborated.
The three-year programme is being supported by the United Kingdom through the Department for
International Development (DfID) in addition to Denmark and Sweden through the Danish International
Development Agency (DANIDA) and Swedish International Development Agency (SIDA), respectively.
During discussion of the blueprint, majority of local councillors here tasked the government to identify and
take actions against land owners with large chunks, whom they accused of acquiring the land illegally.
