Prisons, Defence and Police under-utilising land- Chinamasa

The security sector is holding onto vast tracks of underutilised or idle land, Finance Minister Patrick Chinamasa has said.

Chinamasa pointed Prisons, Defence and the Police departments as chief culprits.

"In my 2016 Budget, I reiterated the urgency of implementing Joint Ventures for idle or under-utilised arable land owned by various Government Departments such as ARDA, Prisons, Defence and the Police," said Chinamasa in his mid-term fiscal policy review statement in parliament Thursday.

"I am happy to report positive strides made by ARDA in implementing such joint venture models which are getting immense support from private players and the banking sector through increased capital injection into ARDA farms, that way promoting enhanced utilisation of land, as well as curbing ARDA's losses.

"However, it has also come to my attention that there are still many other idle/underutilised farms under other various Government Departments," he said.

As a corrective measure, Chinamasa said Government is "undertaking an audit which will identify all idle/underutilised land across the country in order to promote Joint Ventures and other models of financing to ensure that all land is fully utilised".