Understanding land markets in African urban areas:: the case of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania

Abstract

Land markets in urban Africa have not been well studied. This is perhaps because African governments believe that they are the major source of urban land through planning schemes, or because governments do not generally recognize sale of bare land, and therefore believe that land market transactions do not exist. However, there is considerable evidence that most landowners in urban Africa obtain land by way of purchasing it from recognized owners, be they in the planned or in the unplanned sector. This paper gives insights into some aspects of the land markets in urban Africa, taking the case of Dar es Salaam in Tanzania as an example. The paper is based on the results of a study carried out in Dar es Salaam in 1994. Five areas, considered to be representative of Dar es Salaam were selected for this study. These are: an inner city planned area (Kariakoo); an inner city unplanned area (Manzese); a sites and services area (Kijitonyama); an outer city planned area (Mbezi) and an outer city unplanned area (Mabibo). The findings elucidate on the question of land markets in urban Africa. It is recommended that the government should help land markets to come out in the open and to operate efficiently since land buying was found to be a common practice. If this was to be the case, dividends would accrue to both the transactors in land, who would have a more reliable and efficient market to work into, and to the government which would have better information to manage urban land, including a possibility of reaping higher revenue.