1. Harnessing Zambia’s land potential
REPUBLIC OF ZAMBIA
MINISTRY OF LANDS AND NATURAL RESOURCES
Harnessing Zambia’s land potential
Land and Poverty Conference
Washington DC, March 20, 2018
Joseph Minango
Surveyor General
Ministry of Lands, Natural Resources & Environment

2. PRESENTATION OUTLINE Background on land tenure in Zambia
Advances & challenges in Zambia’s land administration
Using ZILMIS data to assess revenue collection performance
Simulating changes in rate structures & coverage
Next steps

3. Vision and key tenure types & issues in Zambia
An efficient & effective land admin. system that promotes security of tenure, equitable access and utilisation of land for the sustainable development of the people of Zambia.
> 70% under customary tenure
< 30% in statutory tenure (“state land”)
National Forests & Game areas
Urban land
Resettlement schemes & farm blocks
Large agricultural farms
It has therefore taken 114 years
Conversion
Lands Act provides mechanisms
Requires consent by chief & approval by district council & commissioner of Land

4. Resettlement schemes & farm blocks
41,000 properties total
Most old with no updates
High level of encroachment
Farm blocks
Farm block
Province
District
Size (Ha)
Nasanga
Central
Serenje
155,000
Kalumwange
Western
Kaoma
100,000
Luena
Luapula
Kawambwa
Manshya
Northern
Mpika
147,000
Mikelenge
N/W
Solwezi
Musakashi CB
Mufulira
Mungu
Lusaka
Kafue
Simanga
Southern
Livingstone
Mwase Phangwe
Eastern
Lundazi
It has therefore taken 114 years

5. Dealing with customary tenure in ways that benefit all
Enormous variation among chiefs
TGCCP pilot tenure & agroforest
Impact eval. to assess benefit
Process study/costing for cost
Need interface with formal records
Document existing rights
Real time land use overlays (imagery)
Process for conversion/inspection
It has therefore taken 114 years
Household mapping

6. Agriculture: Zambia has enormous unutilized potential
Potential is enormous
43 mn ha med./high potential for agricultural production
Only 6 mn. ha utilized
Expansion very haphazardly
12,000 farms in MLNR records
1,200 in MinAg.
No cadastral records; bribes
Undermines investment/RAI
Working on ways to harmonize
This year’s post-harvest survey
Satellite image -> early warning
Results in 6 months
It has therefore taken 114 years

7. Advances in NSDI Potential is enormous Develop Central Geodatabase
Integrate & reduce duplication
Provide Basis for expansion
e.g. large scale regularization
Develop Central Geodatabase
250cm satellite imagery for the whole country
50cm imagery for 88 townships
Fundamental data sets-e.g. administrative boundaries, Digital Terrain Models included
Geoportal & Web Map Services
For publishing data
See next slides
It has therefore taken 114 years

9. ZILMIS can help address challenges on state land
Established with own resources
Unified platform, on Oracle
Potential use for billing
Link to banking system
Mobile money
Scope for back-end integration
National registration
Revenue authority
Company register (PACRA)
Performance well below potential
< 10% of potential collected
Data quality
Limited data entry QC (areas)
Many fields not filled (cell #s)
Partial process; no spatial integration
Properties in ZILMIS ~600,000
Certificates of Title ~ 172,000
Cadastral layer ~ 69,000
Need data to raise policy questions
What holds up title issuance?
Linked to revenue collection?
It has therefore taken 114 years

10. Revenue Collection: Actual vs. potential

11. Policy issues raised by the data: Revenue collection
Ground rent can give high revenue
200,000 of 600,000 prop. billed
Some 10% of potential collected
Over-reliance on high cost resid.
> 66% of bills issued; 50-60% of expected ground rent revenue
Abysmal collection (<5%)
Despite very low rate ($40/ha)
Data quality/political issue?
Better enforcement?
Cost of paying likely the issue
No revenue from medium cost resid.
Complexity/cost of registration keeps them in informality
Simplify & reduce cost but charge realistic round rent?
What is viable?
Agric. & industry
> 50% of actual collection
Limited coverage:
50 of 120K agric. properties
Only 10K industrial properties?
Need for data cleanup and link to mining registry
It has therefore taken 114 years

12. The scope for changing rate structures

13. Changing rate structure to enhance revenue?
Existing rates are regressive
Limited adjustment for area
No link to market price
Adjust: > 10-fold increase
0.4% - low by global standards
From US$ 5 to 65 mn.
20-fold for residential
even more for industry
2.5 times for agric ($8/ha)
… without expanding tax base
Data quality & realistic rates
It has therefore taken 114 years

14. Scope for new residential titling program

15. What does this mean for national titling program?
Illustration - only for residential
Legal basis exists
Demand & for regularization; willingness to pay
Low cost models available
Methodology
Determine built up area
Divide by average size
Use value/area based formula
Result
Max. 440,000 unsurv. resid. parcels
Cost of US$ mn.
May bring US$ 9 Mn/a ground rent
-> Not a bad investment (if figures are confirmed)
Low comp. to existing potential … and only realizable if rest in place
Implication
Proper system management key
Utilize existing potential
It has therefore taken 114 years

16. MLNR is now using data to adjust policy
Enhancing revenue collection
Make payment easier
Gateway to mobile payment
Link to banks (ZRA)
Joint collection with councils or utility companies
Data/regulatory preconditions
Complete records (mobile #s)
Explore willingness to pay
Waive back payments/interest?
Improving data quality/integration
Specific measures by land use type
High/low cost residential
Audit of agricultural estates with MinAgric
Commercial land & zoning
Link spatial & textual data
Digitize backlog of surveys
It has therefore taken 114 years

17. A common dashboard to monitor progress
Real time access by MLNR, MoF
Gateway to banks/public for services
Aggregate data to be public
It has therefore taken 114 years

18. THANK YOU
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