September 30, 2021
BY MOHAMED M. SESAY
During his 2022 fiscal year budget presentation, the Minister of Lands Housing ad Country Planning Dr. Turad Senesie has yesterday the 28th of September 2021, submitted eight hundred and eighty-two billion Leones prpjection for the development of national land bank.
The requested 2022 fiscal year budget for the Ministry of Lands will also be used to settle compensations during the course of development of the national land bank.
During his presentation at the Ministry of Finance, Dr. Turad Senesie disclosed that their strategic plan is expected to have a recurrent budget slightly over thirteen billion Leones plus four billion Leones for administrative activities of the ministry. He added that his ministry will also need nine billion Leones from the ministry of finance for the procurement plan; five billion Leones for domestic capital budget through the production and use of local building materials; training and capacity building three billion Leones among others.
As part of his key deliverables for 2022 fiscal year, Minister Dr. Turad Senesie further stated that his ministry intends to establish a national land bank with a minimum of one hundred thousand acres of lands across the country, and also intends to develop a land information system for registration services of which World Bank would prmote support towards such drive.
Due to the fact that the Ministry has been able to review the standard operating procedures of which there is now room for income generation, Minister Senesie assured that they will be able to raise at least thirty billion Leones come 2022. He also intimated that they are expected to raise nothing less than six billion Leones for survey charges, building fees nothing less than six billion Leones, building permit fees nothing less than six billion Leones, land sales and freehold application nothing less than six billion Leones.
He continued that they have been able to develop the land condition bill which has been gazetted and now awaiting cabinet approval. He added that his Ministry wants to inject some sanity in the land administration and management through establishing a land commission to ensure checks and balances in land administration.
“We promised that we are going to develop the land title registration and we are 30% in that because cabinet has approved and money has been secured to start such project. Registration of additional two thousand acres for state lands in the Western Area is at an advanced stage because in the last three months, we were able to retrieve close to six thousand acres”, said Dr. Senesie.
Highlighting some of their challenges at the Ministry, Dr. Senesie noted that the ministry is faced with multiple challenges ranging from the out-dated land policies; logistical support for the Ministry noting that the ministry only has one worthy vehicle which is the one he uses.
He stressed that if the country is ready to effectively run the land administration, then the ministry of lands needs logistical supports including the availability of vehicles.
He appealed to the government that his ministry is in dire need of working equipment which including but not limited to GPS and drones.
“So if you have been hearing about Lands Ministry being very chaotic it is because of lack of logistical support and couple of problems with equipment.
There are also problems with capacity building and also inadequate budget allocation to the ministry is another crisis faced by the ministry”, he concluded.
