Zambian’s have been urged to get traditional land and transform it to titled land that can be used for various economic activities, create both self employment and employment for others as well as be used as collateral to obtain financing.
Speaking during the launch of the aquaculture seed fund youth empowerment initiative under the Zambia aquaculture enterprise development project in Lusaka on July 2, 2020 attended by the Zambian Business Times – ZBT, Lands Minister Jean Kapata disclosed that there is no Land in urban areas but that there is plenty of it in rural areas, hence applicants who wish to have land outside Lusaka and other key cities should visit the lands ministry offices across the country.
“We do not have land in urban areas but there is plenty of land in rural areas. 10% of land in Zambia is government land while 90% of it is under the traditional leaders and it is very easy for Zambian citizens to transform traditional land and be able to get title provided certain procedures are followed,” She said.
The Land’s Minister further disclosed that government has not concluded the process of validating the Land policy which has been on the cards since 2006. Kapata however encouraged that youths and Citizens who don’t own land should proceed to get traditional land and transform it to titled land.
Kapata stated that the process of validating the document has been agreed by key stakeholders and that it will soon be presented in parliament saying the Covid- 19 situation has contributed to the slowdown in the process.
Kapata said the proposed land policy has catered for youths in the country and a minimum age of an applicant begins from 18 years from the previous 21 years. She added that this is being done to ensure youths are accommodated into owning formal land especially that land can be used as a collateral, hence an individual is able to walk into a financial institution to borrow without experiencing any challenges.
The ministry of lands has since published a process for land transformation from traditional to titled land. This process is being utilized by an increasing number of citizens so far and the ministry wants more Zambians, especially youths to take advantage of this streamlined process.
