06 Dec 2016

Government has, under Economic Stimulus Programme (ESP), undertaken land servicing and housing developments projects, President Lt Gen. Dr Seretse Khama Ian Khama has said.

In his State-of-the-Nation-Address Monday (December 5), President Khama said projects comprised four peripheral and 21 minimal land projects involving servicing of 37 000 plots countrywide over a three year period, which commenced last year.

He indicated that work on the Botswana National Spatial Development Framework started in January this year and expected to be completed in June 2018.

“This initiative provides sustainable settlement planning to address the socio economic development of people, their location and relationship with the environment,” he said.

President Khama also said government intended to declare the whole country as a planning area, something he said was consistent with the Botswana Land Policy of 2015 and the provisions of the Town and Country Planning Act of 2013.

He added that settlement clusters were thus being progressively declared as planning areas as opposed to single settlements.

The President also noted that Land Administration, Processes, Capacity Building and Systems (LAPCAS) programme was progressing, adding, as of October 2016 a total of 682 902 (or 83 per cent) out of the targeted 826 649 plots had been surveyed.

He said the Deeds Registry had further scanned 199 134 (39 per cent) out of the targeted 503 831 records.

“Work is also on-going to register customary land allocations at the Deeds Registry. New land title documents with security features will be issued to all land holders during the course of 2017.

This will lead to improved security of tenure and access to finance by land holders,” he said.

In efforts to avail serviced land for different uses, he said a number of initiatives and projects had also been carried out.

He indicated that construction of the Palapye Extension 11 project, involving 3,000 plots, was nearing its completion, adding government was also exploring avenues for greater private sector participation in land servicing.

Further, he said development of the Land Information System to computerise land delivery processes had progressed with the coming on line of the first four modules which included deeds registry, plot and plan, land applications and land transactions.

The Land Information System, he said would also integrate with the following organisational systems, Independent Electoral Commission (IEC), OMANG/NIS, Government Accounting and Budgeting System (GABS) and Botswana Unified Revenue Services (BURS).

On land policy, President Khama said in general, Batswana had responded positively to it.

However, he said two provisions caused a degree of discomfort, namely allocation of land to married couples and the number of plots that a person was entitled to in both state and tribal land.

He said some of the concerns emanated from reconciling cultural practices with individual interests., adding that having listened to the people’s concerns the original policy has thus been amended.

Land information is a foundation for development, allowing for effective and efficient management of resources as well as transparent decision making.

The country is therefore being continuously mapped and surveyed to identify developments needs, he said.

Further, he said government continued to support the youth empowerment programmes by allocating plots for various uses.

He indicated that from April 2015 to March 2016, a total of 8 144 plots were thus allocated for different purposes. ENDS