Land services applications by people in the City of Kigali rose from more than 27,000 in 2013 to more than 96,000 in 2019 and more than 148,000 in 2024, increasing fivefold within 11 years, according to Mayor Samuel Dusengiyumva.

Dusengiyumva told members of the lower chamber’s Committee on Governance and Gender Affairs, on January 24, that the increase reflects the importance of service delivery in the City of Kigali.

He was appearing before the committee to respond to issues related to land service delivery, including delays in processing applications.

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The increase in applications mainly resulted from the fact that some services are requested online (which eases the process), and the government’s waiver of some fees which encouraged people who, previously, could not afford to seek land services.

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Mostly requested services in the City of Kigali, Dusengiyumva said, are land ownership transfer (by sale, by donation, or succession, and court decisions), land subdivision such as when a person has a hectare and wants to get many plots from it, land registration, as well as resolution of land disputes.

Challenges

Though easing citizens’ access to land services – through technology – is good, it resulted in a workload which requires more resources to clear issues, the mayor said.

Another challenge, he said, is the slow speed in the functioning of Land Administration Information System (LAIS) – a centralised system for keeping land records – resulting from a large number of applications from people seeking services through the system.

He commended the National Land Authority for efforts in enhancing the system’s capacity and upgrading it.

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Despite the use of technology to ensure efficiency in land service provision, Dusengiyumva said that the high rise in requests overwhelmed land officers, whose number did not increase correspondingly yet the provision of land services requires physical verification to prevent errors that may lead to prolonged cases.

This situation, he said, is one of the factors that hinder land service delivery.

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As of January 22, he said, 7,000 land service applications were still pending in the main three city districts.

Dusengiyumva said that the city was implementing an ad hoc approach whereby land officers in a sector where there are less applications, can be allowed to serve in another sector where there are many requests.

The National Land Authority helped the City of Kigali to get contractual staff who help reduce the backlog of land service applications, especially in districts where there is a huge demand.

Overall, he said, technology has proven to significantly reduce the time and cost it takes for people to get services.