Minister of Lands, Housing and Urban Development Chimwemwe Chipungu is expected to address the nation next week on the progress of the ongoing land ownership audit, a key exercise aimed at restoring order in land administration and reducing disputes.
Sources within the ministry say the briefing is scheduled for August 10 in Lilongwe and will provide an update on findings from the audit, which was launched earlier this year.
The land audit was introduced to assess how effectively land administration processes are being implemented and whether they are helping to reduce land-related conflicts, which have become increasingly common in many parts of the country.
The exercise is focusing on determining the total number of land parcels in Lilongwe’s Areas 3 and 10, verifying ownership records, assessing the extent of development on plots and matching information contained in physical files with records stored in the Land Information Management System (LIMS).
The audit is also expected to establish a reliable property database that will help government improve the collection of ground rent and strengthen management of public land.
When launching the exercise in February, Chipungu said the audit was intended to tackle challenges such as land grabbing, double allocation of plots, illegal sales and fraudulent land transactions that have fuelled disputes over the years.
Officials from the ministry, have been conducting field verification exercises to confirm ownership records and compare them with information captured in the digital system.
The pilot phase, is expected to inform the next stages of the exercise before it is rolled out to other parts of the country.
Therefore, the forthcoming briefing is expected to shed light on the progress made so far, challenges encountered and the ministry’s plans for strengthening land administration and resolving long-standing disputes.
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