Between 15per cent and 20 per cent of the country’s land is yet to be registered, officials have said.

This was said on Monday as the Land Week kicked off at the Integrated Polytechnic Regional Centre (IPRC) in Kigali that saw a high turn-up of service seekers.

Officials said that people neglect acquiring land titles yet the same land is legally registered in their names.

According to Pothin Muvara, Registrar of land titles at Rwanda Land Management and Use Authority (RLMUA) for the Western Province and in the City of Kigali, who is also the coordinator of the Land Week, people should change their mindset and register their land.

Land registration reduces land related disputes and can be used as collateral to acquire  loans, benefits, among others, according to the officials.

However, it was realised that in most cases people acquire land as inheritance and ignore to register it, and in that case, it neither belongs to the parent nor the offspring.

He said that during the Land Week, at least 3000 people will receive their land titles while another 6000 will get advice on how they can get land titles.

While some people claim that the process of  acquiring land titles takes long and discourages land owners, Muvara said that there is a new online system which will be introduced soon and expressed optimism that  it will make it easier for people to get land titles in just a few days.

 He said that the system, dubbed; "Land Query Notification System (LQNS), will be used by sector officials and will be linked to Irembo portal which, he said, will make it easier for service seekers

"That online system will make it easier and faster for land owners to get land titles,” he noted.

"But People who are yet to get their land registered should go to their local administrations to seek help. Until then, they are not the legal owners of their land,” he added.

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