The name is absent

134

Table 4.7: Ground rents in 1989 prices for typical types of leases on farmland

Source: Hammar 1990, p. 7.

In 1991, Amendment 15 to the Conversion Act raised ground rent charges somewhat (see table
4.4) but did not come anywhere near levels recommended in the Hammar report. The rent was set at
10 to 20 kwacha per hectare for everything above the first hectare. The first hectare was to pay K400,
except if the land is within 12 km of the city centers of Lusaka, Kitwe, or Ndola, in which case the
rate was raised to K1,000. At present prices, even the first hectare ground rent is scarcely worth the
trouble to collect. This is clearly not even close to an appropriate contribution of the leaseholder to
the cost of building and maintaining the infrastructure which the land enjoys. ¹²

4. Prospective revenues

According to the Hammar report, if the proposed ground rent system is implemented with the
suggested levels, as a fair return to the state, the potential revenue in 1989 kwacha would be about
1.1 billion if government-owned housing were included, and 800 million if it were not included
(Hammar 1990, p. 9). The report does not state how much actual ground rent was collected in 1989,
but it does note that the government's total revenue from all sources that year was only K7,884
million.

C. Preliminary suggestions for ground rents in 1994 and thereafter

This study certainly agrees that ground rents should be raised considerably from present levels.
One starting point has been brought forth by Sonny Mulenga, who suggests that 10 percent of the
minimum development value could be presumed to be the minimum value of the land under the

¹² Of course, like ratepayers in Lusaka, some leaseholders could object that the infrastructure is badly maintained and
so not worth much to them. However, potholes and other signs of poor maintenance can be improved fa ⁱrly quickly. If
ground rents are raised to appropriate levels similar to those a private landlord would charge, it would be good politics to
spend some money immediately, so that the roads and other services are obviously being improved.

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