Foreigners grabbing prime
pieces of land in
INDIVIDUAL foreigners have been buying houses in prime locations and snapping up choice pieces of land in major towns and cities across Tanzania, despite national laws prohibiting the sale of land to non-Tanzanians, it has been revealed.
The illegal real estate acquisition spree by foreigners is said to be already pushing up the prices of houses and plots of land, due to a rising demand for prime property.
According to a survey by THISDAY, foreigners have been actively engaged in the purchase of land and other real estate property throughout the country.
It is illegal for individual foreigners to own land or buildings in the country.
The law says foreigners are allowed to own land in Tanzania only through joint venture companies formally registered with local (Tanzanian) shareholders, and after receiving a permit from the Tanzania Investment Centre (TIC).
However, local real estate agents say this has not deterred a number of individual foreigners from European, Asian and even neighbouring countries from going on a buying spree.
The foreigners are said to have been particularly active in snapping up beach properties and other choice pieces of land in prime locations such as Oysterbay, Masaki, Msasani, Mikocheni, Upanga, city centre, Sinza, Kigamboni, Mbezi Beach and elsewhere in Dar es Salaam.
Prime properties in various other parts of the country, including Bagamoyo, Zanzibar, Arusha, Kilimanjaro, Mwanza, Morogoro, Mbeya, Mara, Kagera, Kigoma and elsewhere, are also being sold to individual foreigners.
The Land Act and the Village Land Act of 1999 together oversee issues of real estate acquisition in Tanzania.
Observers say legal loopholes are allowing individual foreigners to buy real estate properties in Tanzania at will.
The sale of real estate in Tanzania is done on a willing buyer and willing seller arrangement, with both sides to the sale agreement entering into a contract.
The law does not compel parties to a sale agreement involving real estate to prove their Tanzanian citizenship.
”I have helped so many foreigners buy houses and beach properties in Dar es Salaam. In fact, they call me on a daily basis making inquiries,” said a local real estate agent who identified himself as Samson.
”There is a Kenyan citizen that I know of who ’owns’ a ten-hectare farm in Bagamoyo. These foreigners are everywhere,” the agent added.
Contacted for comment, the Minister for Land, Housing and Urban Settlement Development, Capt. (rtd) John Chiligati, reiterated that it is illegal for individual foreigners to buy real estate in Tanzania.
This means that all real estate property sale agreements now being entered into between an individual foreigner and a Tanzanian citizen, are null and void in the eyes of the law.
Chiligati told THISDAY: The law does not allow individual foreigners to own land in Tanzania. However, foreign investors may get access to the nation’s land through the TIC.”
The minister said municipal councils across the country are required to ensure foreigners are not given ownership of land.
He warned that public officials found to be complicit in the illegal acquisition of land by individual foreigners will face stern measures.
On another dimension, land experts both in Tanzania and abroad have cautioned the government about an ongoing land grab in the country, involving multinational companies from Europe, Asia, Middle East and elsewhere which have been granted access to millions of acres of local land for growing food and bio-fuel crops.
From ThisDAY (Tanzania)
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