Land disagreements have emerged between Ministry of Lands and government-owned Airport Development Limited (ADL) over land around Kamuzu International Airport (KIA) in Lilongwe, Nation on Sunday has learnt.
The ministry allegedly wants ADL to pay millions of kwacha as payment for the land which the company claims it already owns and cannot, therefore, pay for.
Ministry of Lands and ADL differ on the ownership of about 300 hectares of land around KIA as the ministry believes the said plots belong to government.
Both Ministry of Lands and ADL are land administrators in Malawi.
The three pieces of land in question are 182 hectares—from the junction on the Lilongwe-Kasungu M1 Road to KIA; a 73-hectare piece of land along Lilongwe-Kasungu M1 Road (Thovi area) and another 108.45 hectare plot between Lumbadzi Police Station and Department of Civil Aviation Training School along the approach road to KIA.
ADL intends to develop an aero city comprising a shopping mall complex, hotel and international conference centre, school, service station, institutional plots, commercial plots, clinic, recreational centre, residential houses, warehouses and airport offices.
ADL intends to carry out the developments through private public partnership (PPP) arrangements.
The company, however, faces a hitch as the Ministry of Lands says it cannot out rightly hand over the land to ADL for the development as the ministry is still consulting other stakeholders.
Ministry of Lands spokesperson Mike Chigowo said in an interview that the fact that the land is near an airport and close to the runway requires extensive consultations.
“Indeed ADL expressed interest to acquire some land for various developments near the airport area last year. The request is still being reviewed to determine whether to allocate the land or not. The ministry is still consulting other stakeholders,” said Chigowo.
He said ADL was only requesting for about 152 hectares of land.
But ADL general manager Rodrick Chattaika, in a telephone interview on Tuesday, said “ADL is not or did not request for land extension, but merely formalising the process of land already under its control.”
He said the main reason the ministry is delaying regularisation of the land, through title deeds, is that the ministry wants ADL to pay hundreds of millions of kwacha for the three pieces of land.
Chattaika explained: “For example, they are asking for over K100 million (about $2.6m) for one piece of 182 hectares and the total amount could be more considering that there are three plots. All we want is for government to regularise this land and give us title deeds as the land belongs to us.
“Suffice it to say that this is happening when serious and reputable investors on the aero city are there just waiting for the Ministry of Lands to clear the land issue around the airport.”
In an earlier written response on Monday, Chattaika said ADL formally applied for the regularisation of the three pieces of land in March 2008 after submitting intent to formalise all the land under its control in 2007.
“Ministry of Lands requested for a project brief which was submitted in the same year and later they asked ADL for an Environmental Impact Assessment [EIA] of the project that was done and successfully passed and granted in 2009/10 financial year.
“Since then, ADL has been waiting for the regularisation of the land to allow for the development to proceed. Of critical importance is that ADL is a 100 percent Malawi government-owned company. Elsewhere, land around airports is regarded as airport restricted land and is vested in the airports management company or airports authority so its development is done in conformity with aviation requirements, regulations and standards to avoid compromising on safety and security of aviation or interference with aviation equipment,” he said.
Chattaika said regularisation of the land is important to ADL as the company has also been fighting encroachers that have been invading airport land.
Ironically, ADL is also selling off some of its land to the public. However, the ADL boss justified the land sales to individual developers, saying the move was one way of fighting encroachment “which is rampant nowadays”.
He said ADL has created plots within Lumbadzi area adjacent to the Dowa border where individuals were encroaching into its land. The plots are being sold to individuals, institutions and commercial developers.
Chattaika said ADL would undertake most of the developments for the aero city, but was also collaborating with the Private Public Partnership Commission, the Ministry of Transport and Public Works, the Ministry of Lands, the Malawi Investment and Trade Centre (Mitc), Malawi embassies in different countries and reputable investors.
“At the moment, negotiations are underway with a number of investors,” he said.
However, despite the predicament over the land ownership, ADL and Ministry of Lands also face multitude of villagers who are demanding compensation if the ADL buys or regularises the land.
While ADL says the people do not deserve compensation, the ministry entertains it, saying the amount of money for compensation would be determined after establishing the amount of land affected and current developments on the land.
“Under normal circumstances, development on land commences after compensation assessment is conducted. All affected people are then determined and compensated in accordance to the law,” said Chigowo.
But according to Chattaika, most people were already compensated for the land and that government valuers conducted the exercise some time back and should know the land size.