Land laws operational 2021—ministry
The Ministry of Lands, Housing and Urban Development says the new land laws that Parliament passed in 2016 will become fully operational after a piloting process is completed in 2021.
Commissioner for Lands, responsible for physical planning Felix Tukula said this yesterday during a public lecture at Mzuzu University where he observed that chaos on construction in cities are due to lack of capacity by councils and failure of developers to follow procedures.
He said once the laws become operational, they will deal with the construction chaos.
Said Tukula: “Councils are supposed to implement and enforce laws. But what we have discovered is that most councils lack the technical know-how to interpret the law and enforce it.
“But we also lack awareness on procedures that people should follow when developing.”
According to him, government is piloting five key land laws under different programmes and projects in eight districts that include Phalombe, Kasungu, and Rumphi where Customary Land Committees have been set up.
Mzuni head of the built environment Loudon Luka has since called on authorities to ensure the laws are enforced in the country’s cities and towns.
He said: “We have the laws, but implementation is always a problem, but also these are complex laws and very difficult to understand.”
The laws passed in 2016 are Land Act, Physical Planning Act, Land Survey Act and Customary Land Act.
