Addis Ababa to review complaints over land bank transfers

The Addis Ababa City Administration has announced a mechanism to review grievances from more than 250 property owners whose holdings were allegedly improperly transferred into the land bank.

The Land Development and Administration Bureau said the complaints arose from a city-wide vacant land survey and audit carried out in 2023, during which 3,744 hectares of land, covering 10,097 plots, were reclaimed from illegal holders and placed in the land bank.

According to Kibrom Asefa, head of the Land Bank and Protection Team, the campaign-style nature of the operation gave rise to the complaints. He said a committee has been established in every sub-city to examine each complaint based on the specific circumstances of the property and to render a final decision.

The Bureau stressed that the corrective work must be completed within the set deadline to ensure that the rights of legal owners are upheld and good-governance concerns are addressed, while public and government land is safeguarded from encroachment.

Land banking is a public policy tool that governments use to acquire, hold and manage land for future development or redistribution. In Addis Ababa, the system serves as a mechanism for reclaiming illegally held or idle land and preparing it for planned urban development.

The 2023 survey and audit formed part of broader efforts to tackle land use inefficiencies in the capital. Addis Ababa has long struggled with a shortage of serviced urban land, partly because large tracts allocated to developers have remained undeveloped for years. Research indicates significant portions of land transferred for development in the city have remained vacant or underutilised for extended periods, at times more than a decade, even as demand for housing and urban land continues to rise, with institutional weaknesses in enforcing land lease policy identified as a key driver of the inefficiencies.