Real Estate developemnt for Property reduction- Anew paradigm for Legal and financial Cooperation in Africa and Asia?

Land resources are the “hot new bet”. This phenomenon is mainly caused by Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in agriculture products as well as Foreign Real Estate Investment (FREI), focussing on developing countries in Sub-Saharan Africa and Asia. The programs of the development cooperation agencies such as the German International Cooperation (GIZ) and even the World Bank are lacking fundamental knowledge about the potential of real estate development and access to land for poverty reduction. My paper aims at the possibilities to foster land and real property development primarily in Africa as an instrument to strengthen the economic basis of the inhabitants as well as the countries’ national budgets. Methods unveiled to observe the maturity of real estate markets – undertaken particularly for South Africa and Tanzania – should continuously be integrated in poverty reduction strategy papers. Capacity building for land valuation and property taxation, combined with decentralized planning systems like in Ghana or with land titling projects like in Cambodia, and legal higher education are indispensable. Without these preconditions, especially land value assessment and appraisal applications will lose public trust due to important errors. Moreover, land policy and public or private property management need framework arrangements supported by development cooperation agencies. Reliable institutions for estate management have to be built up in African and Southeast Asian countries via land sector programs. This cross-cutting strategy comprises public property, customary land uses, and private, formalized tenure varieties. The Flexible Land Tenure System in Namibia introduced and guided by GIZ serves as an innovative tool for tenure variety. Private land use under conditions of tenure security is far more efficient and effective to reach national poverty reduction goals. Yet that does not require private property, but could be realized within State Land Management and leasing/concession contracts. Relevant thinking should evolve amongst real estate agencies, public authorities and universities in Sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia.