Gorilla habitat: Govt to issue land titles to pave way for expropriation

As the government gears up to expand the gorilla habitat in Volcano national park, officials have embarked on a campaign to handle land issues so as to issue land titles ahead of expropriation. The project to expand the Volcanoes National Park is expected to cost $255 million with a goal to ensure a better habitat for the majestic mountain gorillas, according to the Rwanda Development Board (RDB). The initiative will expand the park by approximately 23 percent, increasing its size by 37.4 square Kilometres (or 3,740 hectares). With this initiative, there will be a new buffer zone of 6,620 hectares, which will separate the park from the area where people live. The implementation of this project will see 3,400 households expropriated and resettled. RDB said that those to be expropriated will get monetary compensation for their assets and a house in smart green villages, plus land to use for income-generating activities. “The residents who have not yet got land titles for their properties are registering so that the government helps them to get documents for their land since expropriation will require having land titles,” Esperance Mukamana, the Director General of National Land Use Authority told The New Times. The residents include those who will have all their properties expropriated and those who will have part of their properties expropriated. “Those with land of which one part will be expropriated have to subdivide the land so that the part to be expropriated and the remaining part each gets a land title,” she explained. Two weeks have been dedicated to the exercise and by last week over 1,000 residents from Kinigi sector, Musanze district had turned up for land registration, subdivision, and transferring process. Andrew Rucyahana, the Vice Mayor in Charge of Economic Development in Musanze District told The New Times that the time to ease land transfer could be increased and that residents from the 1st Ubudehe category could be exempted from paying land transfer and registration fees as they can’t afford the cost. “Expropriation will start in January next year. But the evaluation will start next week,” he said. Over 5,000 residents are expected to be supported in terms of the land transfer process. The exercise will continue with residents from Musanze, and Nyange sectors. Colette Ndayisenga, a resident of Musanze sector in Musanze district said that she bought land in 2016 in Kinigi sector but had not got a land title due to lack of enough time as she had relocated to Ngoma district for a job. “We hope that the time to enable land transfer will be extended to avoid being affected by lack of documents during expropriation,” she said. “We used to spend a long-time seeking land transfer. Allocating a few weeks to handle our land titles issues is good news to the residents to ensure we get compensation on time once expropriated,” said Thomas Byiringiro, a resident of Kinigi sector who sold 300 square metres of land. The exercise to fast-track land transfer is being carried out by Rwanda Development Board, African Wildlife Foundation, Musanze district, Land use authority, and local government among others. The expropriation exercise will start from eight villages in Kinigi sector, Musanze district. Why is the park being expanded According to Rwanda Development Board (RDB), the park expansion will result in a 20 per cent increase in mountain gorilla viewing opportunities and therefore, more revenues. RDB indicated that the Volcanoes National Park is a fragile ecosystem and is currently relatively small as it covers 160 square Kilometres. That is why, the board said, it is set to be expanded by a quarter of its current size The project implementation consists of two phases, with the first phase focused on studies which started in 2018 and the second phase starting in the 2022/2023 fiscal year and will cover a period of five years. According to RDB, the mountain gorilla population increased by 26 per cent in the Virunga Massif from 480 gorillas in 2010 to 604 gorillas [of some 1,000 mountain gorillas in the world] in 2016. The Virunga Massif is a chain of volcanoes that are home to the endangered mountain gorillas, which cover the Volcanoes National Park (Rwanda), the Virunga National Park (DR Congo) and Mgahinga Gorilla National Park (Uganda). A larger park, it observed, will improve the mountain gorilla habitat and support a 15-20 per cent increase in the population size and a 50 per cent reduction in infant gorilla mortality.

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Gorilla habitat: Govt to issue land titles to pave way for expropriation