JEICOM 2025: Mindcaf provides support to councils

The Councils International Economic Forum opened on 2nd June 2025 at the Yaounde Conference Centre, under the chairmanship of the Prime Minister, Head of Government, Chief Joseph Dion Ngute. This was an opportunity for the Minister for State Property, Surveys and Land Tenure, Henri Eyebe Ayissi, who was part of the high-level panel moderated by the Minister of Decentralisation and Local Development, to outline the types of support that MINDCAF provides to councils and all the facilities that this Ministry offers for the development of council projects

Two main types of support measures have been put in place for councils. These are, on the one hand, legal and technical measures and operational measures on the other hand. MINDCAF assists councils in building both their private and public property, within the framework of the following procedures: the transfer, free of charge, of parcels of private State land to councils, expropriation for public purpose, incorporation of parcels of national land into council private property, classification of parcels in council public property, private property transactions.

1. With regard to operational support measures, MINDCAF supports councils in the following activities: compilation of administrative files; drawing of technical files (plans and cadastral survey reports); drawing up of layout and development plans, in compliance with regulations; support for the physical demarcation of public spaces and land reserves; participatory mapping of council territories, in collaboration with local populations and civil society; support for the timely processing of their files, as is the case within the framework of the Programme for the Construction of Council Residential Areas (PCCRA). At the same time, MINDCAF assists councils in obtaining land certificates. Moreover, the Government, through MINDCAF, offers facilities for the development of council projects.

In future, MINDCAF intends to involve Mayors in all administrative commissions responsible for reviewing land issues at the grassroot level. This will especially apply to the Land Consultative Board set up to examine applications for registration of parcels of national land. The Mayor could be appointed as Vice-chairperson, alongside the Sub-Divisional Officer.  In this way, he/she would be able to fully play his/her role in the choice of sites and their various uses.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

            Excerpt:

“The Ministry of State Property, Surveys and Land Tenure (MINDCAF), as the regulator of the land tenure and State lands sector, actively supports Regional and Local Authorities in the exercise of their powers through support mechanisms and institutional, technical and legal facilities, in order to enable the Regional and Local Authorities to fully and efficiently build up their assets and constitute their land reserves. The prospects envisaged, as part of the ongoing land tenure and State lands reform, will further set the course for decentralised land management. “

Henri Eyebe Ayissi, Member of the High-Level Panel, JEICOM, 2nd June 2025, Yaounde Conference Centre

By Armand Adiobo

Published the: June 5, 2025
in News