The government is set to deploy more surveyors to address delays in land subdivision service delivery to citizens, by processing all the pending requests in one month, according to officials.

The Director General of the National Land Authority, Marie Grace Nishimwe, told The New Times on January 8, that the backlog consists of over 26,000 land subdivision requests, of which 14,090 were submitted physically, and 11,956 electronically.

On January 7, the Minister of Environment, Valentine Uwamariya told the Lower House’s Committee on Land, Agriculture, Livestock and Environment that the delays in land subdivision service delivery resulted from many requests from applicants that overwhelmed land officers. After the service was made accessible through Irembo – the e-government service platform – many people electronically requested land subdivision services, while others had earlier applied for them physically, she indicated.

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To address the issue, the minister said that 40 more land surveyors (contractual) will be sent to districts, with Bugesera, Rwamanaga, and Musanze districts receiving 10 each. The three districts account for 80 per cent – the majority – of such service requests countrywide, she pointed out.

"We observed the delays. That’s why we thought about increasing the number of workers,” Uwamariya said.

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Though the use of technology helps to expedite service delivery, she said, there is a need for enough staff to approve the services in question.

So far, Nishimwe said, there are two district land officers per district [60 across the country], and 280 surveyors.

"They [additional surveyors] are going to support for a limited time to clear backlogs, and they are among surveyors accredited by NLA, not new staff,” she observed, adding: "They will be supporting in processing the changes in the land register. They will start with Rwamagana, Musanze, and Bugesera districts which have high demand.”

According to the minister, the teams expect to complete the task in one month.

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Nishimwe said that numerous applications were recorded and district land officers were unable to handle them.

She said that they received many applications from Rwamagana, Musanze, and Bugesera districts, including people who subdivided the land into different plots for sale.