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Planning Act, in order to bring about a more efficient and equitable system of tenure
conversion and land allocation in customary lands; land adjudication legislation will
be enacted and be co-ordinated in such a way that confidence shall be restored in land
investors; the land planning system and related legislation shall evolve such land
strategy as not only to merge Reserve and Trust Lands, but also to meet varied
development needs in the country. The MMD government will attach economic value
to undeveloped land, encourage private real estate agency business, promote the
regular issuance of title deeds to productive landowners in both rural and urban areas,
and clear the backlog of cadastral surveys and mapping.
B. Ministry of Lands proposal
In response to the policy directives issued by the MMD government, the MOL in the
document "National Conference on Land Policy and Assistance From The Donor Community in the
Implementation of Proposed Projects" proposes to strengthen the operations of the Lands and Survey
departments through reorganization, increasing capacity, staff training, and identifying more land for
development. The government is giving very high priority to the issuance of title deeds to facilitate
its program of privatization and liberalization. The cabinet has already approved a proposal for
amendments of land laws and a change in land policy to make land easily available to both local and
foreign investors. Real estate agencies should be allowed to operate freely in bringing buyers and
sellers together. It is the government's policy also to increase revenue; in accordance with this aim,
monetary value for land will be introduced by charging an economic ground rent on leasehold
property. It is envisioned that an efficient land registration system and proper records would simplify
conveyancing procedures and issuance of title deeds and facilitate revenues. Only 4 percent of the
nation's land area is on the register. The MOL is actively seeking or identifying land within urban,
peri-urban, and rural areas to meet the surging demand for land nationwide. In essence, the
government's policy is to amend the land laws and decentralize the functions of both the Lands and
Survey departments to facilitate issuance of title deeds.
1. Land tenure reforms
The MOL, in a 10th September 1993 memorandum, "Amendment to Land Laws," has drafted
amendments to the Land Titles Act and the Lands and Deeds Registry Act. There is need to update
and modernize legislation, instill greater harmony in the laws, remove inconsistencies, and create a
more unified body of legislation. What remains to be done, according to the MOL, is the drafting of
new land laws after existing laws have been reviewed and, most importantly, to see through their
implementation in the next three to four years.
2. Decentralization
The Lands Department now consists of two separate units: the Commissioner of Lands' Office
and the Lands and Deeds Registry. The forger's function is to allocate land while the latter's main
function is to register documents and issue certificates of title. The bottlenecks in issuance and transfer
of land title stem from three sources: (1) delays in application from the councils to the central registry;
(2) delays and costs associated with channeling leases through one central registry in the country; and
(3) onerous leasehold procedures. The MOL proposed that both functions of land allocation and
registration be decentralized to two additional sites in the next five years. A regional office has
recently been set up in Ndola in the Copperbelt to cater to the four provinces in the northern half of