Lakes State’s Ministry of Physical Infrastructure on Wednesday organized a one-day consultative workshop on land policy to address issues of land ownership.
Minister Adak Costa Mapuor told the participants that the draft land policy was intended to address key issues including gender inequality in the allocation of land and ownership of undeveloped chunks of land for prestige, Good News Radio reported.
She said the practice very common in Rumbek Centre and Yirol West Counties made it difficult for the Infrastructure Ministry to allocate land for Government activities and to investors.
Ms Costa said her Ministry has made wide consultations on the land policy with various stakeholders including county commissioners and state ministries in a bid to accommodate comprehensive views on the policy before the draft goes to the Council of Ministers and State Parliament.
Lake State Governor Chol Tong Mayay said that the policy on land ownership has been widely misunderstood in South Sudan.
He explained that land in urban settlements is gazetted as government land and land used by pastoralists and famers is categorized as communal.
The Governor noted that due to lack of knowledge on land classification some people have even claimed ownership of the Rumbek Airport.
The workshop that took place in Rumbek was attended by representatives from various ministries, Legislative Assembly, civil society organizations, UN agencies and county commissioners.