Dar, neighbours to set borders

Tanzania will soon start demarcation of its borders with Mozambique and Zambia, the National Assembly was told here yesterday. The Minister for Lands, Housing and Human Settlements Development, Mr John Chiligati, said there were disputes on the country’s borders with Mozambique, Zambia, Malawi, the Comoros and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

Moving his ministry’s budget proposals for 2008/09 financial year, Mr Chiligati said Tanzanian officials have consulted their counterparts in Mozambique and Zambia over the issue. He said the demarcation project would be financed by the German Development Fund (GTZ).

Mr Chiligati asked the House to endorse his ministry’s budget of 27,286,790,000/- for the 2008/09 financial year.The minister said diplomatic consultations were going on between Tanzania and Malawi on the protracted border dispute over Lake Nyasa.

“Tanzania says half of the lake belongs to the country, while Malawi contends that it owns the whole of it,” Mr Chiligati told the House. The minister urged authorities in districts on the country’s border to make regular checks and hold good neighbourliness meetings with their counterparts in Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, DRC, Malawi, Mozambique and the Comoros.

Mr Chiligati said the government would continue surveying land in villages and issue title-deeds under customary law. He said until June this year, 690 villages in Shinyanga Rural, Karagwe, Mtwara Rural, Morogoro, Mvomero and Kondoa districts were surveyed.The minister said 500 villages in Mtwara, Kagera and Morogoro regions would be surveyed during the 2008/09 financial year.

He said the ministry would continue to register and offer title-deeds to houses built in unsurveyed areas. He said until June, this year, 264,360 houses were registered in Dar es Salaam. “People holding title-deeds of these houses will have various rights including access to loans in financial institutions,” he said.