Urban Growth and Land Development in Zambia

Urban growth and land development in Zambia continue to be on the increase due to the higher level of rural-urban migration. According to Zulu and Oyama (2017, p.78), many Zambians consider moving to Lusaka, Zambia to seek employment and other related opportunities. As a result, continuous rural-urban migration has resulted in significant residential urban land development in Zambia. According to Munshifwa, Ngoma and Makenna (2017, p.79), the land developers consider urban residential in Lusaka as the best enterprise for the nation to incur more revenue.

The private and public firms and land developers buy land in Lusaka, Zambia to increase residential apartments for more citizens. Consequently, the national and international stakeholders and investors in association with the government are improving the development in the urban land within Lusaka and other cities across the country. As a result, Zambia is emerging as one of the nations with sufficient natural real estates of the downtown residential. In his study Moon (2015, p.351) outlines that having land and in Lusaka introduces an individual to warm and fresh environment with friendly citizens.

The growth and development of the urban residential property are being achieved through many ways. These include using modern technology in infrastructure and communication to attract more investors and shareholders effectively. Consequently, the government has increased support for the development of urban residential lands in Lusaka and other nations. The progress of the downtown residential land is achieved through several activities and services. These include construction of residential buildings, private and public hospitals, educational institutions, recreational sites, industrial facilities, and investor attraction sites. Moreover, Chitonge and Mfune (2015, p.216) elaborate that the government facilitates urban residential land growth to enhance revenue collection.

Useful revenue collection significantly increases the economic growth, hence better services and activities for the citizens. However, Moon (2015, p.349) argues that the more significant portion 76% of the urban residential lands are used are used for the government offices, shops, hotels, and industries. Consequently, the individual residential apartments have increased in demand. As a result, the price of urban residential lands has significantly increased. More significant, the increase in infrastructure development in Lusaka continues to grow the level of development of the residential property. As a result, there are better jobs and resources for the resident, hence better-living standards.

According to Simwanda and Murayama (2018, p.272), the significant growth and development of the residential land increasingly attract international citizens who consider Lusaka city the best residential place with modern facilities and adequate security. Therefore, the proposal focuses on the key challenges facing the growth of private and public residential land. Moreover, the plan emphasizes ways of eliminating challenges facing the urban residential growth and development.

Keywords: Urban, residential, land, growth, investors, government, land policies, challenges, investors, Lusaka Zambia, monetary.

Main Objective

To investigate the challenges facing urban residential land developers in Lusaka, Zambia and to provide recommendations on ways to mitigate these challenges

Other Goals

I. To examine how the land policies continue to affect the delivery services for the land developers

II. To evaluate to what level the protracted documents procession processes have severely affected the growth and development of land in Lusaka and other cities across the nation

III. To assess how various hurdles being encountered In sewage and water provision impact the land developers

IV. To submit the established recommendations outlining how the problems can be mitigated

V. To develop key land policies that are essential for the active development of the urban residential lands.

Hypothesis

H0: various land challenges cause reduction and decline in the growth and development of the urban residential land by developers

H1: problems do not create a decrease in the event, but provide mechanisms through which public residential property can be effectively utilized.

Justification

The research proposal is an individual work that has been authorized by the university and the department. The research would be conducted on an individual basis after legalization by the department. The investigation would be performed on the legalized region (Lusaka, Zambia) concerning united states and other nations across the world.

Research Methodology

The research would employ primary and secondary data. The qualitative data would be obtained from the published articles and journals about land issues in Zambia. The articles would be obtained from the government library, and Zambia’s land and housing department. Primary data would be collected using various techniques. According to Orkin (2014, p.1432), these include conducting interviews on Zambia’s land developers, urban residents, private, and public landowners. Consequently, the interviews would be performed on stakeholders and investors on the challenges facing the urban residential land growth and development. The interviews would be divided into different categories. These would involve personal and structured interviews.

In their study Cleary, Horsfall and Hayter (2014, p.475), the personal interview would be used for individual and groups. The structured interviews would be used for various private firms and land developers that are constantly engaged in developing the urban residential land in Lusaka and other towns across the country.

Orkin (2014, p.1431)outlines that the focus group interview would be employed mainly on the land private and public land developers.in case of failure to access distinct participants, there would be telephone interviews. Telephone interview is significant in enhancing higher chances of reaching the respondents. The method helps in saving time and resources that would be spend during movements. Moreover, Cleary, Horsfall and Hayter (2014,p.472) elaborates that the research would involve closed and open-ended questionnaires on the participants. The questions would be formulated to incorporate all the key aspects. These include questions about the effect of infrastructure, land policies, government, and stakeholders in developing the urban residential land. The questionnaires would involve an essential consent section that would be signed by the participant upon filling the forms.

According to Orkin (2014,p.1431), the surveys would be performed across the private and public lands in urban and rural areas of the country, but a significant survey would be employed to the urban residential land in Lusaka .The study would initiate mail survey to the respective respondents. Using mail survey reduces higher chances of the interview’s bias, it covers a larger population, and is less time consuming. In their study Cleary, Horsfall and Hayter (2014,p.472) outline that during the surveys, the research would engage in using the structured observations that involves recording of the observed features on the residential lands. Consequently there would be prior unstructured observation that would be to determine the best data collection tools to be used during the entire process.

All these observations would incorporate effective participant and the non-participant view. However, Cleary, Horsfall and Hayter (2014,p.471) argue that for distinct urban residential lands in Lusaka, the study would use sufficient controlled observation with the uncontrolled observation acting as the control mechanism. Therefore, observation would play a significant role in gathering data in different sites within Lusaka city. As a result, the research observes ethical principles that are necessary when collecting information from different people. More significant, the questionnaires would be filled by individuals above 19 years with adequate knowledge about urban residential lands. Moreover, the study would use case study on how urban residential lands in Lusaka, Zambia are being utilized by the land developers. The data collection would restrict itself to a given scope with target to target population.

Other sources of secondary information that the research would employ include professional, trade, and enterprise land associations, media which include the internet, print, and broadcast. Moreover, Orkin (2014, p.1431), elaborates that the study would employ government source like the Zambia land Bureau, and corporate filings on private and public residential land.as a result, the data shall have been sufficiently collected to meet the research objectives. In areas with social challenges to obtain data, the research would be forced to use the schedule methods. The schedule mechanisms involve appointing the enumerators to fill the questionnaires on behalf of the participants.

The proposal suggests the use of the schedule method since it involves being in direct personal contact with the participants as compared to the failure to have personal contact as provided by use of questionnaire. Consequently the method is faster than using surveys. Since collecting data would require a lot of time and resources, the study is likely to employ the use of warranty cards to the consumers and obtain feedbacks that would be collected by asking and answering questions within the cards.

All these data collection methods observe ethical standards and principles of the participants. Therefore, there would be sufficient data about the challenges facing the residential urban land growth and development in Lusaka, Zambia. The study would employ different techniques and software to analyze the collected information. For the qualitative data, the research would use thematic analysis. The secondary data (Quantitative data) would be analyzed using statistical package for social sciences (SPSS).The results would be presented using charts data graphs with explanations. Moreover, the result would then be published after approval by the department and associated lecture.

Ethical issues during data collection-the consent of the participants would be obtained before data collection starts.Only important data would be published as per the interest of the participant.data collection would involve various participants irrespective of ethnicity,race,or nationality as long as an individual resides in Zambia.

Project plan

Activity

Inputs

Timeframe

Anticipated outputs

Progress Reporting

Topic identification

Database

1 day

Consulting the lecturer

Proposal approval

Database

1 day

Approval by the lecturer

Assembling data collection materials

Project member

Database

2 days

Obtaining data materials

Data collection in Lusaka, Zambia

Database

Project staff

5 days

Survey of 100 providers

Data collection in Housing departments in Zambia

Database, project staff

2 days

Interview of 5 providers

Data collection in other cities

Project member

Database

2 days

Survey of 100 providers

Data analysis

Database

2 days

Data collection

Report writing

Database

2 days

Data collection

Presentation

Project member

Database

1 day

Data approval

Publication

Database

3 days

Project approval

Project Budget

Product

Cost ($)

Data collection materials

$ 1000

Travelling

$ 5000

Accommodation

$ 15000

Credit and allowances

$ 12000

TOTAL

$ 33,000

Literature Review

Zambia is one of the typical and native sub-Saharan nations that is found where most of the poorest individuals reside in African. According to Simatele and Simatele (2015, p.245),being less populated, Zambia has many old cities such as Lusaka that are currently under development based on the sale and purchase of the urban residential lands. According to the previous studies, many cities Lusaka include have been having bare lands for decades, but with less development hence low population. However, Zulu and Oyama (2017, p.75) argue that with the significant establishment and development of the urban residential lands, there continues to be an increase in population in Lusaka from 240,000 to 2.1 million, thus representing about 14.98% of the whole population.

According to Zulu and Oyama (2017, p.78), Lusaka, is the key transition phase of Zambia despite the nation being the typical third world nation.as a result, the development of the urban residential land in Zambia plays a major role in the development of the nation. For example, since 2002, private and public land developers and companies have increasingly established better residential buildings that are being used by investors and government. The Horizon properties limited firm is a private organization that is trying to effectively fill the severe housing gaps in the Lusaka. According to Munshifwa, Ngoma and Makenja (2017,p.79), Horizon properties try to achieve their set objective and vision of 2024 of sufficient housing.Horizon properties achieve these goals by effectively developing the residential lands mainly for sale d hire to the government and investors. Since the company started to develop residential, there is a significant development of Lusaka city.

In their study Chitonge and Mfune (2015, p.216) outline that the development is being facilitated by better infrastructure and information technology in Zambia. Despite being a smaller and private land development organization, Horizon properties receive support from the international and national housing development organizations. As a result, Horizon properties mainly strives to meet the needs and expectations of the consumers by sufficiently delivering property services and housing products. The process occurs through sales, building, rentals, and management of the construction services. According to Simwanda and Murayama (2018,p.272), the appreciation and quality of Horizon’s services are being reflected in the value and number of new consumers and more referrals from the satisfied clients.as a result, the Horizon properties firm is mainly engaged in efficient property and essential land development. According to the previous studies, Horizon Properties Company is one of the key suppliers for the residential land in Lusaka Zambia and on the national and international property market.

According to Moon (2015, p.351), the company adds value to the urban residential lands through offering various services and activities such as sufficient access roads and water that are key challenges o other private and public land developers in Lusaka, Zambia. More significant, currently, Horizon properties are in the process of establishing the construction of low cost effective houses in Kafue and Lusaka, Zambia. According to the previous studies, the establishment of Horizon property has significantly led the increase in rate of investing in real estate (45%) programs by many stakeholders. Consequently, there is an increase in the rate of migration from rural areas to Lusaka, Zambia.

According to Zulu and Oyama (2017, p.76), the government significantly benefits from Horizon properties due to high rate of revenue collection from various established residential housing. The previous studies outline that the urban residential lands in Lusaka started attracting the attention of private land developers since the government lacked the resources to develop such lands. However, Chitonge and Mfune (2015, p.216) argue that despite the significance and profits, Horizon properties as a private land developer encounters severe challenges in the land development process. These challenges prevent the private land developers from delivering adequate services and resources to the consumers. As a result, there is a decrease in the growth and development of the residential urban lands. According to Simwanda and Murayama (2018,p.269),the most common challenge the private land developers experience is the concern of the planning and land development policy that has been introduced by the government.

According to Munshifwa, Ngoma, and Makenna (2017,p.79), the system requires private and public land developers to establish property at the provided sites by the administration. Consequently, the strategy requires the private firms to develop the property as per the annual housing planning by the government. The plan affects private organizations who consider conducting their business at any time of the year. The private companies are developing land experience time lagging in processing the land documents at the land departments. The recent studies outline that the delay in processing land documents leads to slow investment and development of the urban residential lands in Lusaka.

The delay mainly occurs in various government land offices. However, Moon (2015, p.346) argues that processing land documents consumes time since it requires determining the legal landowners before purchasing the land to other people. Moreover, processing land documents was being done manually in Lusaka before the introduction of the information technology systems. As a result, the private companies had to wait for decades before purchasing and developing the lands. Another challenge is poor delivery systems of the sanitation services to the consumers. For example, the Horizon property firm has been experiencing difficulties in delivering the sufficient sanitation activities to the consumers due to the higher level of counterfeit services. These services are cheap to the users as compared to the Horizon’s products.

Additionally, Simatele and Simatele (2015,p.245) elaborate that the poor delivery of the sanitation is characterized by poor infrastructure within Lusaka city and other surrounding towns. Moreover, private companies experience security issues that emerge from public companies and government officials. The private companies get stiff competition from the rivalry firms in real estate that provides cheap and poorly constructed houses and resources. Moreover, sewerage and water provision severely affects the land developers.

Many private land developers fail to provide sufficient water to their consumers.in their study Zulu and Oyama (2017, p.75) outline that water is considered a significant factor for productive and successful development of the urban residential lands. According to Chitonge and Mfune (2015, p.211), failure to have water causes migration of residents hence severe loss to the organization. Moreover, poor sewerage provision system prevents the private firms from developing lands in desired sites. As a result, the private companies must have adequate water and extensive sewerage system when designing the residential properties. Simwanda and Murayama (2018, p.264) outline that according to the previous studies, Zambia is a landlocked nation that relies on the dug channels for sewerage delivery.

Despite the active residential land development, there are severe challenges that severely affect the land developers, and government. These difficulties reduce the provision of services and activities to the citizens. Consequently, the problems facing land developers emerge from various sources and factors.in their study Zulu and Oyama (2017, p.84) outline that some of these are internal land policies, poor land ownership system, and high demand of the residential lands by investors and government officials.

Other challenges include balancing the successful use of funds with employing the best constructors and talents for developing the residential lands. Consequently, the study establishes that Zambian’s culture significantly determines the nature land Munshifwa, Ngoma and Makenja (2017, p.79) argues that with the social interactions, the culture has allowed for modernization of the residential land. However, the government considers facilitating public land developers and giving least priority to private land developers

Conclusion

Since the establishment of private land company developers, Lusaka Zambia has emerged as one of the best cities concerning the real estates. Better infrastructure and innovation are enhancing the growth and development of the residential urban land in technology. Moreover, the significant migration to Lusaka has led to the increase in land development by the private companies. Horizon properties firm becomes one private organization that offers sufficient property and land services to the consumers. The increase in land development increases revenue collection by the government and employment to the citizens. However, private land developers experience significant challenges that severely reduce their activities. These include poor land planning and development strategies, severe sanitation delivery systems. Consequently, there is the failure in providing constant effective sewerage and water. Therefore, the proposal considers these as the key challenges being faced by the private residential land developers.

References

Chitonge, H. and Mfune, O., 2015. The urban land question in Africa: The case of urban land conflicts in the City of Lusaka, 100 years after its founding. Habitat International, 48, pp.209-218.

Cleary, M., Horsfall, J. and Hayter, M., 2014. Data collection and sampling in qualitative research: does size matter?. Journal of advanced nursing, 70(3), pp.473-475.

Moon, C., 2015. Foreign direct investment, commitment institutions, and time horizon: How some autocrats do better than others. International Studies Quarterly, 59(2), pp.344-356.

Munshifwa, E.K., Ngoma, W. and Makenja, I., 2017. Major Determinant of Physical Development on Urban Residential Land: The Case of Kalulushi Municipality in Zambia. Int’l J. Soc. Sci. Stud., 5, p.79.

Orkin, K., 2014. Data Collection Methods. Encyclopedia of Quality of Life and Well-Being Research, pp.1430-1432.

Simatele, D. and Simatele, M., 2015. Climate variability and urban food security in sub-Saharan Africa: lessons from Zambia using an asset-based adaptation framework. South African Geographical Journal, 97(3), pp.243-263.

Simwanda, M. and Murayama, Y., 2018. Spatiotemporal patterns of urban land use change in the rapidly growing city of Lusaka, Zambia: Implications for sustainable urban development. Sustainable Cities and Society, 39, pp.262-274.

Zulu, R. and Oyama, S., 2017. Urbanization, housing problems and residential land conflicts in Zambia. Japanese Journal of Human Geography, 69(1), pp.73-86.