Land rent defaulters to face consequence for not paying pending debts, warns Tanzanian govt

The land rent defaulters in Tanzania need to pay their accumulated debts or instead face the full force of the law, according to a senior official of the Tanzanian government.

"For public institutions that fail to pay land rent, the government will confiscate their vehicles and close their offices until they pay the rent," warned the Minister for Lands, Housing and Human Settlements Development, William Lukuvi.

William Lukuvi was speaking at a meeting with heads of public and private institutions and companies as well as owners of industrial and commercial plots with accumulated land rent arrears.

The meeting held in the capital Dodoma was a deliberate move by the government to collect up to 200 billion Tanzanian shillings (about 87 million U.S. dollars) in accumulated land rent arrears. Most of the arrears have been accumulated by public institutions, said the minister, as reported by Xinhua.

Lukuvi said some institutions had budget for paying land rents in their annual financial plans but they end up diverting the money to other uses.

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