Land is fundamental to development, growth andhousing delivery in any society. It is a crucial element in property development process and its acquisition is vital to achieving efficient and sustainable housing delivery in urban environment.
Economists emphasizes that access to land and property rights is a major key issue in economic growth and development. It is now increasingly being realized that economic development of any country depends on how efficiently the land is distributed among citizenry and competing urban uses. It is pertinent to note that providing the populace with access to land and empowering them to make effective use of it is central to poverty alleviation.
As argued that land is not just only basic to life but it also contains all necessities for life to exist and a tool for obtaining social prestige, economic security and political power.
Land management entails all activities concerned with the management of land as a resource both from environment and economic perspective. From an institutional perspective also, land management include the formulation of land policies, the legal frameworks, resource management, land administration arrangements and land information management.
Therefore, inefficient urban land management can result in uneconomic use of land, uncontrolled informal settlements, urban sprawl, illegal land holdings, weak provision of basic services and infrastructure.
Economists also underlined that land is a component of production and when it is combined with labor, capital and technology, it plays pivotal role for wealth creation. They also suggest that similar to labor and capital it has to have exchange value to attract investment. According to the Ethiopian constitution ratified in 1995, land is owned by the government and will not be sold or exchanged. Therefore, it lost its transaction value.
Debate among professionals engaged in land researches and economists still continued. Some argue that land must have transaction value and be exchanged similar to other commodities. Others also argue that the existing land holding system should be continued. In the Derg era, similar to today, land was owned by the government. After the ascending of EPRDF regime to power in 1995 it introduced the land allocating system to investors through lease in the urban centers which made the value of land very expensive in which inaccessible to the ordinary citizens but enabled to galvanize huge income to the city administration.
In the urban centers land is utilized for various purposes. It is used for the construction of residential houses, real estate, business centers, schools, universities, clinics, hospitals, football stadiums, theatre, cinema halls and others. According to environmentalists, municipality managers and architects urban development is directly related with the land usage for the targeted objectives.
In addition to compartmentalizing the land in the urban centers for each purpose preparing open spaces for parks and recreational purposes is essential. Currently the world is facing challenges posed by climate change and global warming, urban centers has been vulnerable to the threat of flood and water and occasionally infrastructure has been demolished and animals and human lives also taken by disastrous effects.
On the other hand, shortage of water due to the reduction of water points because of evaporation posed by global warming made potable water in short supply. Hence to adopt the impact of climate change, the master plans should be prepared by considering these realities and letting open areas which serve as lung for urban center with no construction activities and inspecting them is critically vital.
In Ethiopia, historically urban centers including the city of Addis Ababa were not established in a planned manner with municipal services provision. In addition, they had no viable economic bases. Rather they were established based on the rural urban migration with no sufficient services and municipal administration. They also were established with on sufficient income which allocated for the provision of municipal services as the result, most of them are below standard and observing shanti places is common. The number of unemployment is the highest in urban centers due to the small economy and saturation of labor demand.
Most traditional residential houses located in the suburb of rivers and streams with no toilets.
They let their liquid waste to the rivers and made bad odors which bring health risks to humans as well as animals. Moreover, the waste spoils the rivers water which harms marine lives.
Ethiopia is the second most populous country in Africa next to Nigeria with more than 120 million people. It is also known by its highest annual birth rate with more than 3 percent. Hence because of lack of opportunities in the rural part rural –urban migration is common which put pressure on urban centers municipal services provision.
To make cities and urban centers conducive for the residents, urban administrations should devote their energy and resource for the construction of roads and pavements, supply of clean water, electric city and residential houses which needs the allocation of huge budget. To that end the city administrations should enhance their tax collecting capacity.
The administration to deliver services, the municipal offices should be staffed by well qualified architects, engineers and lawyers.
As mentioned above land is a component off production factors and must be properly managed. It has also huge economic value particularly in the city and other towns and city administrations derive their huge amount of income from land lease. But most administrations land management offices did not develop modern information system.
The poor documentation system witnessed in some offices opened the door for land grabbing and corruption.To utilize the land resource in the proper manner the city administration long ago implemented the rehabilitation schemes in the city. It demolished shanty residential places where land is lost its economic value, compensates the residents and re settled residents in new places. It built new real estates and institutions. Such practices in addition to beatifying the city enabled to galvanize income through taxation from real estate developers and investors
According to studies, the land administration offices in various urban centers proved that they are inept toallocate resource appropriately and corruption has been rampant. In the last thirty years various media have been revealing that dozens of municipal officials working in the office of land holding administration found guilty of corruption and faced justice.
As the land price is become skyrocket in the urban centers it is essential to establish modern institutions equipped with modern Information Communication Technology and in such a way in addition to preserving the land resources information, it helps to deter corruption practices.
Recently the Ministry of Urban and Infrastructure and the Korean Wavus Jv Company have signed a contract agreement for the establishment of Land Information Management System in cities of 4 regional states.
Speaking during the contract signing ceremony, Urban and Infrastructure Minister Chaltu Sani said the main aim of the agreement is to bring about change in the country’s land administration and help cities manage land by using state-of-the-art technology.
The 30-million-USD project would be implemented in Bahir Dar, Adama, Hawassa and Sodo. She added that “the main strategic issues are bringing about change in our land administration system and helping the city administrations to manage their land by using state-of-the-art technology.”
Wavus Jv Company CEO Kim Hak Sung said the first establishment of land Information Management System in Africa poses evident challenges and great opportunities.
He stated that the company will do its best to build a world class land information management system through active cooperation with local officials to increase the efficiency of land administration in Ethiopia and realize innovative improvements in the public service. Capacity buildings, document digitalization, establishing national and regional centers for Land Information Management System are the works the company is expected to realize.
Sung said “since this project is the first establishment of land information management system project in Africa, we believe that it will present meaningful challenges and great opportunities to us.”
The contract agreement for the project was signed between Urban and Infrastructure State Minister, Fenta Dejene, and Wavus CEO, Kim Hak Sung.
BY ABEBE WOLDEGIORGIS
THE ETHIOPIAN HERALD THURSDAY 18 JANUARY 2024
