Dynamics of land for urban housing in Tanzania

Abstract

With increased movement of population in search of better settlement and employment, more people tend to be concentrated in urban areas. This article identifies the dynamics of land for urban housing in Tanzania with specific reference to Songea municipality. The article remarks on one hand, weaknesses in the existing institutional framework for urban planning and delivery of land services, unnecessary prolonged procedures and actors in the process with overlapping authorities, roles and lines of accountabilities have been identified as contributing factors to such dynamics, on the other hand, lack of technical capacity, limited financial resources embedded with cumbersome procedures in the whole process of preparation and approval of detailed plans as prepared by land experts has been a catalyst for the low capacity of the municipality in allocating land for housing development to the developers. With the increasing influx of population towards towns and cities, land-grabbing, institutions need to be reformed to take into account the rapid population dynamics within the society. Municipalities need to be empowered with both technical and financial capacity to facilitate in provision of effective and efficient services of providing land for housing.