Windhoek — The first 100 beneficiaries of the land resettlement programme will be issued with lease agreements by the end of the 2008/9 financial year, the Ministry of Lands and Resettlement has said.

"According to the Management Plan of 2008/9, 100 beneficiaries are targeted to be issued with lease agreements by the end of this financial year. We think this is something we are going to achieve," said the ministry's public relations officer, Chrispin Matongela, last week.

None of the 1964 families that the ministry resettled since the programme started has been issued with the official 99-year lease agreement yet.

Matongela said the ministry wants to have a bill of quantity for the infrastructure on the farms before the lease agreements can be issued.

Since most infrastructure on resettlement farms is dilapidated, the ministry will first develop and rehabilitate the infrastructure. Matongela said the ministry will have to conduct a survey on the land and evaluate all farms in terms of the number of boreholes, fences and other infrastructure that need repairs.

"Once we rehabilitate the infrastructure, then we can issue the lease agreements," he said.

This development will also pave the way for the ministry to start charging rent for the leased farms.

"For us to issue the lease agreements, the person must start paying something back," he added. The rent will depend on the production and the improvements that have taken place on the farms.

The ministry earlier came up with an amount the farmers should pay once the lease agreements were issued, but Matongela said the values were too high for the resettled farmers to afford.

Lack of lease agreements is one of the problems faced by newly resettled farmers, as they are unable to use the land as collateral to acquire loans from the country's financial institutions. Dilapidated infrastructure still stands on many farming units because farmers are not sure they will get the lease agreements.