Land Delivery Systems in West African Cities

Urban and peri-urban land markets in rapidly expanding West African cities operate  within  and  across  different  coexisting  tenure  regimes  and  involve complex procedures to obtain or make land available for housing. Because a  structured  framework  lacks  for  the  analysis  of  such  systems,  this  book proposes a systemic approach and applies it to Bamako and its surrounding areas.  The  framework  revolves  around  the  description  of  land  delivery channels:  starting  from  the  status  of  tenure  when  the  land  is  first  placed in circulation for residential use, it identifies the processes whereby tenure can be improved, the types of transactions that take place along the way, and interactions between land delivery channels.The analysis of the system shows that  land  is  initially  provided  through  a  customary  land  delivery  channel-which predominates in peri-urban areas where land is being transformed from agricultural to residential use--and through a public and para-public channel, which involves the administrative allocation of residential plots to inhabitants and the transfer of land to developers. These two channels feed into the formal private channel which delivers serviced plots with ownership title  at  much  higher  prices.  Plots  in  the  various  channels  may  be  traded successively, with a degree of informality varying according to tenure, legality and  registration  of  transactions.  Whereas  the  development  of  the  formal market is hindered by structural factors, the informal land market provides little  tenure  security.  Targeted  towards  low  and  middle-incomes,  it  also attracts wealthy and well-connected buyers who have access to information and administrative and political power and can more easily formalize tenure.The  sustained  increase  in  land  prices,  numerous  conflicts  over  land,  high transaction  costs  and  time-consuming  formalization  procedures,  together with the involvement of a large number of stakeholders, combine to reduce affordability significantly and make access to secure land very difficult for the urban poor.