Urban planning and economic growth

The rate of urbanisation in Lesotho is increasing alarmingly. Peri-urban areas are growing more rapidly than gazetted urban areas. This growth causes encroachment of residential development on prime agricultural land thereby threatening food security.

Various stakeholders such as field owners, field buyers, fly-by-night estate consultants and agents, chiefs and councils are all taking part in this disastrous practice.

Field owners illegally sub-divide their crop fields for selling to prospective buyers. Fly-by-night estate, unqualified and unregulated consultants and agents sell the plots. Corrupt chiefs prove rights ownership and false land use while under -apacitated local authorities issue fraudulent certificates of allocation.

This practice happens daily and no one seems to care, at least practically. This haphazard sub-division of land by inexperienced individuals causes havoc in the provision of services now and in the future.

Let me call it a ticking time bomb ready to explode and smash both the local property sector and the economy. Land disputes are increasing (this can be evidenced by the increasing number of cases in the district land courts) as sometimes more than one individual is allocated the same piece of land.

This makes urban and regional planning seem like an unwanted child, a bastard who is disowned by the authorities. Authorities pay lip service to the importance of spatial planning in the country.

Whereas they seem to understand its importance in words, in deeds they appear as though it is something useless, unwanted and many people seem to be in a wilderness in relation to how town planning ought to be. It is relegated to the side-lines while the country is being destroyed, not being aware that it is the core foundation of all built environment processes.

Currently, Lesotho’s population is estimated to be at 2,007,201, unemployment is officially at 32.8% and GDP growth is at a dire 1.2% (Bureau of Statistics, 2019). Looking at these statistics and the state of planning in our country, which sane investor would put his money in such a country and expect positive returns?

The answer is, very few investors. This situation has to change and for it to change, we need to change the way we do business. Urban and regional planning should be let loose in order to offer its full potential contribution to economic growth and development of this country.

In order to render planning as a stimulator to economic growth, we need to go back to the basics of planning while also embracing the future that is technology. The basic thing in planning is control, regulation and facilitation of development of land and land use for the well-being of both the people and the natural environment.

The increasing rate of growth of urban areas call for tight regulation of the development processes in these areas.

Lesotho should be zoned into grand different land uses in order to maximise production by putting to use land on its most suitable potential use. Intensive land studies should be undertaken in order to ascertain which use is most suitable for which part of the country.

After these studies are completed, the National Land Use Plan should be produced and gazetted so that it becomes part of law and be easily enforced to ensure compliance. The country should be zoned into special economic zones. Today cannabis growing seems to be the new gold mine in Lesotho. Suitable places should be earmarked for cannabis growth, production and oil extraction.

This zone should include all associated activities both up, down and side stream in order to encourage beneficiation and value addition of the products. Suitable areas should be earmarked for manufacturing such as Maputsoe, Thetsane, Ha Belo and Maseru Industrial Area. Places with high concentration of mineral deposits such as diamonds, crude oil and quarry should be earmarked for mining and its associated activities.

Pristine wetlands and water sources should be protected from encroachment by other land uses especially unregulated grazing in order to safeguard the availability of clean water supply and security.

Rangelands and both exotic and indigenous forests should be protected and maintained in order to enhance the production of wool, mohair, hides, milk and meat and also to fight climate change respectively.

Opportunities can be sought to produce forests for economic purposes such as timber and wood. Tourism areas and the countryside should be conserved so that nature lovers should visit our country en-masse for its beauty, fresh high altitude and crystal clear waters.

Lastly, agricultural land should be highly protected for food production and security. If land use zoning is adhered to and enforced consistently, investors will be willing to spend their money on initiatives on which they believe yields would be lucrative. This will create much needed jobs and increase economic growth and development.

The government and the private sector have to both contribute in investing and planning provision. The government has to be reliable in the provision of policy certainty and requisite legislation to enforce planning. It should also make sure that its officials, from the Prime Minister down, adhere to sound planning standards in both words and deeds.

It should commit adequate resources, especially financial and human to the practice of planning within its departments. Political will to planning should be displayed by the government.

While the country is still far back in terms of technological innovation, the private sector should support planning through investments in 4IR things. They should equip planners with Geographic Information Systems, drone technology, high definition satellite imagery and 3D/4D printing capabilities.

Planners should be able to forecast future events through the use of state of the art technological infrastructure in order to produce timely and reliable planning information for economic development.

They should be able to monitor developments happening everywhere in the country in real time. This technology would also enhance disaster management and preparedness and rapid responses to both disasters and crime. If these investments would offer reliable planning /spatial information and advice, investors would more likely be willing to open shop and help us build our economy.

It is time that the public lodge their planning applications online, and be approved online by all local authorities in the country. They should seek planning advice from the comfort of their homes and workplaces without necessarily having to travel long distances to planning offices.

The planning cadre should be trained in order to better understand current societal challenges and how they could be solved. The private sector’s assistance would come handy in this through the sponsoring of seminars, conferences and short courses to be undertaken by the planners.

In deed all of the above propositions are dreams, they can only be realised if there is a will, and in deed money.

Kelebone Lekunya