Decision Makers Meeting On Good Administartion of Lands
Polytechnic Hotel School, Windhoek, Nambia
7-8 December 2006
SYNOPTIC REFLECTION ON URBAN LAND
ADMINISTRATION ISSUES
IN ETHIOPIA
Abuye Aneley Alemu
URBAN Challenges and Trends
 Urban
population ~ 16%
 Fast Urbanization rate ~4.3% (up to 8%); urban
population about 12 Million, by the year 2020~25Mill
 Growing youth Population (<30 years)
 Urban dwellers living in extreme poverty~40%
 Urban un-employment ~26% (~40% in bigger cities)
 Cities are essentially slums (~70% are slums)
 Critical housing shortage (2.25 million in ten years)
 Weak, lagging urban infrastructure;
 Weak Municipal Finance
 Low Governance & Institutional capacity
Opportunities
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Urban Development Policy in place , principles of good
governance and urban land allocation defined.
Increased Recognition of Urban Agenda
Institutions for urban Sector –MWUD established
PASDEP and Urban Packages prepared
Urban Good Governance Package is prepared
DDTA (CBDSD) studies being completed
The Legal & Institutional conditions for the Establishment
of IULIS &RPRS drafted
PART ONE
URBAN LAND OWNERSHIP
and TENURE
Land ownership & Tenure
( Historical perspective)
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Under the Emperor (pre-1975) there was freehold title.
Private land ownership by individuals was encouraged,
although the number of people who were actually able to
own land was very restricted.
Under the DERG (1975-1993) all land was nationalized.
Private land ownership outlawed. Right to use property and
own buildings were possible but no private ownership of
land.
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The current government maintained the public ownership
of land but allowed for land to be held by individuals and
companies by way of a lease.
Objectives of the Land Lease
Policy
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Market value to Land
Encourage Investment
Control the undesired expansion of cities
Provision of housing and infrastructure
Combating speculation & non-transparent
system of land allocation
Main challenges in Land lease
Implementation
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The existing land tenure system in cities is
complicated and resource draining.
The conversion of “permit” land to lease;
The current system of mass land allocation;
The absence of an independent system of
registering real estate transactions;
The detail requirements of land right registration
system;
A lack of street addressing system;
PART TWO
LAND ADMINISTRATION AND LAND
MANAGEMENT
Summary of Main issues On Land
Markets
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Market demand is not considered in Land
allocation
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Increasing informal occupation of land
(Active informal market)
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Majority of property acquired with out
mortgage
Main Issues of Land Administration
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Urban planning poorly related to rapidly evolving situation
Exhaustion of available land for urban expansion
Problems and costs related to existing and new urban
infrastructure services
Problems with the Leasehold and Permit Land regimes
Not all lands are titled
Land administrations devolved at the city level
but,swamped by petty routines (time taking land transfer
procedures)
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Weak Land Records
(existing land records management systems are
inefficient; In some cities only about 20- 30% are registered )
…Main issues on Land Administration
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Land Rents and taxes
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Difficult to collect
Data demanding, complex unclear
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Land Surveying
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Constraining cadastre projects
Causing boundary conflicts
Map exists but generally inaccessible
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ICT & Geographical information Systems
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Unsustainable due to financial & human resource constraints
Data collection driven by master planning & property
valuation
Proposed actions for Enhanced Land
Administration and Management Systems
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streamline administrative routines,
Introduce strategic spatial analysis, land budgeting, and
associated capacity building:
Set up an improved, multipurpose land grading system
in municipalities;
Introduce new parameters and standards for residential
subdivisions with pro-poor objectives
Main Proposals…
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Institute a Progressive Reform of the Leasehold Regime,
including increasing rates
Raise permit regime land rents to improved leasehold rent
levels
Improving Land Records and Associated Billing for
Revenue Enhancement
Establish municipal land servicing funds in the medium
term
National standards, norms and procedures for land
registration, But with local objectives
More secure and efficient real property registration
system
Better and more accessible land information
Implementing Proposals
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Apply over 5 to 10 years through “learning by
doing”
Municipal land administration capacity
improvements must be mainly “on the job” training
Based on priorities (Economic analysis) Begin
implementation first in pilot ULGAs
Provide practical technical assistance imbedded at
municipal level in pilot ULGAs
Launch pilot digital mapping initiative urgently
Institutional capacity to address land
administration issues