MHC, SDI resolve land ownership row
Malawi Housing Corporation (MHC) and Mpemba Staff Development Institute (SDI) have resolved their land ownership dispute following an intervention by the Deputy Minister of Lands Abida Mia two weeks ago.
The deputy minister gave a 14-day ultimatum to the two government agencies to resolve the matter after SDI claimed MHC was encroaching into its territory in Blantyre.
Mia issued the ultimatum after she summoned the concerned parties to discuss the matter following an expose by our sister paper Weekend Nation on how SDI land had been dubiously encroached.
In an interview, both SDI acting director Peter Muthete and MHC acting chief executive officer Jordan Chapalapata confirmed resolving the dispute following the deputy minister’s intervention.
While expressing delight at the manner in which the two have resolved the issue, Mia said in a separate interview, she was looking forward to seeing more land matters being settled amicably.
MHC demarcated about five hectares of public land inside SDI campus which it wanted to sell to private developers but SDI reported the matter to Mia who immediately stopped the process.
Among others, MHC and SDI have agreed to carry out a joint survey in order to determine the correct sizes of the remaining land and that MHC will no longer sell the subdivided plots to the public.
