If approved by the parliament, an advisory body will be formed at all levels of government to oversee the urban landholding adjudication and registration process.

Drafted by the Federal Urban Real Property Registration & Information Agency, the bill proposes the establishment of an urban landholding adjudication and registration advisory commission at federal, regional government, chartered city, zone, urban centre and weredalevels.

The bill, which amends the existing urban landholding registration proclamation, states that the advisory commission will be tasked with organising a technical expert advisory team whenever necessary.

The need to institutionalise landholding adjudications and registrations triggered the formation of the advisory council, according to Arage Kibret, communications director at the Agency.

The advisory commission will employ the head of the landholding registration institution, an organ that coordinates and carries out urban landholding adjudication and registration and provides services for registered landholders, as a member and secretary.

The establishment of the advisory commission is indispensable to the sector, according to Berhanu Zeleke (PhD), lecturer of urban development studies at Kotebe Metropolitan University.

“But the staff that makes up the commission should be professionally qualified,” he said. “Obsession with the law can’t bring changes and transformation to the sector; it’s rather the performance that should be emphasised.”

The bill, which has been in the making for the past year, also allows online application for landholding rights. Anyone who claims landholding rights can apply via online platforms and receive the holding right certificate without a physical visit of the institution.

It also outlines that anyone who lost a landholding right replacement certificate shall receive the certificate in less than a month of time. The existing proclamation does not specify the time.

To devolve powers to the lower relevant bodies, the draft gives duties and powers to urban administration to establish and organise the land registration and information institute. The institute will be in place of implementing the proclamation and regulations, directives and standards at urban centres.