17 Oct 2013

Land authorities should do away with rigid legislation and policies such as strict zoning laws, says the Assistant Minister of Trade and Industry, Mr Keletso Rakhudu.

Giving a keynote address at the 16th biennial conference of the Botswana Association of Tribal Land Authorities (BATLA), Mr Rakhudu said what was important was to maintain and enforce the minimum standards for health and safety reasons.

“In that way land will play an even bigger role in the growth of our economy,” he said. Mr Rakhudu said studies had shown that land investments improved the economies of many countries.

“One of the driving forces in investments has been the real estate market, which involves the private sector and as such government continues to involve the private sector in this respect,” he said.

He said the involvement of the private sector will relief government of the burden of providing land services to the public. “This will also give the private sector an opportunity to contribute to economic development,” he added.

Mr Rakhudu encouraged land authorities to always act diligently and know that they were overseeing the management of a special and important resource. “As government, we rely on you to support government’s efforts in diversifying and growing the economy of this country,” he said.

“Seventy per cent of land in Botswana is managed by land boards and therefore we must use and manage it effectively and we should strive to protect it at all times.”Mr Rakhudu reiterated that the economic prosperity of any country is highly dependent on land.

He implored all land authorities to develop and implement proper, integrated and sustainable land use management practices in order to be able to cope with the ever-increasing demand for land.

“Land authorities together with government need to develop land policies that are economically sound,” he said. Ends