Land titles are currently a reliable tool in terms of financial transactions, with more than 139,700 plots mortgaged for loans amounting to $17 billion (approx. Rwf23 trillion) in the country, as of November 12, according to data from the National Land Authority (NLA).

The data was shared on November 13, during a session in which the Chamber of Deputies’ standing Committee on Land, Agriculture, Livestock, and Environment assessed the implementation of the 2021 law governing land in Rwanda.

Sylvain Muyombano, the acting head of the land administration department at NLA, said that the data on the land parcels – and the corresponding loan amount – was recorded in the national Land Administration Information System (LAIS), an electronic land registry, as of November 12.

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Muyombano indicated that land value varies depending on factors such as location and the property on the plots, citing pieces of land in the Quartier Matheus area in Kigali Central Business District where an owner got a Rwf5 billion loan for one piece of land.

With such loans – $17 billion – provided to landowners, "this is a major advantage because now banks have security that their loans will be secured because there is collateral,” said Muyombano, referring to the significance of land titles.

He observed that they help banks to do business but also contribute to people’s development efforts – through facilitating access to finance.

For instance, he said, a land title helps a citizen to get a loan from a financial institution, by offering it as security, while the owner continues to use it for income-generation purposes.

"That’s why we continue educating people so that they have their land registered for ensured ownership security,” he observed.

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Currently, he said, the national land registry is connected to more than 15 systems that are linked to land use. They include agriculture land information system (ALIS) under the Ministry of Agriculture and Animal Resources, the mortgage registration system under Rwanda Development Board and banks, as well as building permit system, Rwanda Revenue Authority for tax collection, and agricultural subsidy system where a farmer has to present a title for them to get government subsidised farm inputs such as fertilisers in accordance with the size of their land.

During the 2009-2013 period, Rwanda conducted a countrywide land tenure regularisation programme which involved, among others, land demarcation and a land registry that is fully digital.

So far, more than 11.8 million land parcels are registered in Rwanda, as per data from NLA.