Benguela – The Minister of Justice and Human Rights Marcy Lopes on Thursday urged citizens to regularize their properties in order to be in line with the state's housing legalization program.
Coordinated by the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights, the State’s property legalization program of the state's housing includes confiscated and nationalized properties, as well as those covered by the Privatization Program (PROPRIV).
Speaking at the presentation of the project, the minister urged citizens who own property to go to the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights to have it regularized to avoid problems in the future regarding ownership.
The minister explained that data show that 80 percent of properties in Angola do not have their legal situation regularized, underlining that the lack of papers and failure to conclude the respective regularization processes has represented a huge constraint on the country's economic and social development.
Marcy Lopes recalled that the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights launched a massive land registry program in 2021, with the aim of registering more than three million properties by 2027.
According to the minister, the first phase of this program covered the registration of housing projects built all over the country.
The second phase of the project, the minister said, will begin in 2024, with the main aim of registering properties confiscated and nationalized by the state, as well as those covered by PROPRIV.
"This initiative aims to transform the lives of thousands of Angolans who have faced various difficulties and have been unable to regularize their properties," the minister said.
However, the minister clarified that what is at stake are properties built and left by the Portuguese state and therefore confiscated by the Angolan state after the national independence on 11 November 1975, under the nationalization and confiscation law, and not properties confiscated in legal proceedings.
The minister pointed out the main objectives of the program such as providing greater security and legal right to individuals and companies’ property ownership to increase tax revenue through the payment of property tax.
Another aim, the minister said, is to contribute not only to the expansion of credit granted by banks and non-bank institutions for the purchase of property, but also to improving the business environment, diversifying the national economy through the development of the property market.
According to the official, with the implementation of the program the revenue base is expected to expand to ensure structural investments aimed at modernizing the sector's services.JH/CRB/TED/AMP
