Resource information
Over the last decade, the Government of Rwanda (GoR) has engaged in reforming the land sector through formulation and enactment of an enabling legal framework, establishment of land administration institutions, and land tenure regularization. In 2008, the GoR initiated the Land Tenure Regularization Program (LTRP) with two main objectives: (1) to ensure secure forms of land tenure for citizens and (2) to ensure efficient management and administration of land. The program set up procedures to carry out first-time systematic registration of land in the names of its owners with the aim of creating a complete public record of landholdings.
Based on the National Land Policy of 2004, the envisaged benefits of having a good land administration were included increased security of tenure through clearly and definitively established property rights; reduction of land disputes; open and flexible land market in both urban and rural areas; increased access to credit by ordinary citizens; increased investment on land and improvement of land productivity; augmented government revenue through the collection of land taxes; efficient and decentralized land administration institutions; improved land administration and management through the use of land information; and improved physical planning through the use of a cadastral system. The LTRP substantially concluded in 2013, resulting in the demarcation of about 10.3 million parcels, encompassing the vast majority of private land in Rwanda. This program, seen as ambitious, has become a model for other countries (Ayalew et al, 2012).
