via Govt secures funds for land audit ZBC Sunday, 16 February 2014 15:06

The Ministry of Lands and Rural Resettlement has secured more than US$7 million from donors.

The funds, which are going to be administered by the UNDP, are expected to fund the ministry’s two year action plan.

After getting an allocation of only US$10 million in the 2014 national budget, the ministry had shelved plans to carry out a land audit indefinitely.

In an interview with the ZBC News, the Minister of Lands and Rural Resettlement, Dr Douglas Mombeshora revealed that the ministry is now going to embark on a two year programme of action using funds availed by the European Union and the UNDP.

He said the funds amount to over US$7 million and part of the work that will be carried out by the ministry includes a preliminary land audit exercise.

Dr Mombeshora added that part of the funds is going to be channelled towards work that is being done by the Surveyor General’s Office of mapping out new base maps.

The land audit seeks to address various issues, among them land disputes, cases of multiple farm ownership, account for land that is being used productively as well as investigate reports that some resettled farmers are leasing out their farms to white commercial farmers.