The Government is targeting additional local authorities, including Windhoek, Otjiwarongo and Lüderitz, to expand the Flexible Land Tenure initiative following its rollout in Oshakati, Gobabis and now Outapi.
This comes after the Outapi Town Council made 9.4 hectares of land available for the project, which has been surveyed and subdivided into residential plots and common properties.
Speaking at the handover of 173 land hold titles in Outapi, Executive Director in the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Land Reform (AFWLR), Ndiyakupi Nghituwamata, said the Government had invested N$980,094 in project planning processes, covering feasibility studies, surveying, registration and other preparatory costs to ensure effective implementation.
“I am happy to indicate here that the Government of the Republic of Namibia spent a collective amount of N$980,094.00 in planning processes, feasibility studies, surveying, registration and other related costs, which was done by the Government officials,” she said.
She further explained that of the 173 titles handed over, 115 were registered in the names of women, describing this as an important step in promoting women’s access to land and property rights.
Beneficiaries were drawn from the O.O. Namakalu, Tutungeni, Petrus Kalipi and Tulongeni settlements.
“It is therefore against the above backdrop that I urge other Local Authorities with informal settlements to approach us at the Ministry, and the Ministry of Urban and Rural Development, to collaborate in formalisation through the Flexible Land Tenure Act in order to provide tenure security to low-income people in a cheaper and simpler manner,” she added.
The Flexible Land Tenure Act, a pro-poor policy reform, is aligned with the national goal of delivering 10,000 plots annually for low- and medium-cost housing, as outlined in the ruling party’s 2024 election manifesto.
