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{
    "id": 843521,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/843521/?format=api",
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    "content": "Madam Temporary Speaker, from the onset, I thank hon. Members who availed themselves yesterday when we had a consultative meeting on this very important Bill. There are many suggestions and amendments that have been proposed. The Chair of the Committee took us through the Report of the Committee and the amendments that are supposed to ensue. Most of them are acceptable, particularly those related to the title of the Bill. We were convinced yesterday that the world has moved to land use planning and not physical planning, and that physical planning is just a small part of the land use planning. I am completely in support of the amendments of the Committee to that effect. Madam Temporary Speaker, the other provision that this law is making is on the management; the provision of the institutions that are related to the physical planning. I thank the Committee also for proposing strengthening of the institutions. There is a suggestion that the Forum should be removed because it is superfluous. That suggestion must be interrogated against the wishes of the drafters of this Bill when the Cabinet passed it so that during the Committee Stage, we should be able to adopt suggestions that are going to take this Bill forward. The Bill captures the role of the National Land Commission (NLC) in the monitoring and overseeing of land use planning throughout the country. What the Committee said yesterday and the contributions of most of the Members, was that we must ensure that the law does not give the Cabinet Secretary (CS) the power to undermine the authority of independent offices such as the NLC. That is well noted, which is why the aligning of the Bill is welcomed so that we can put things in order. On Clause 11 on thequalifications of the Director of Physical Planning, we were of the view that this detailed requirement of the experience of the person is not necessary. The category of the qualification that a person should only hold a bachelor’s degree in urban and regional planning or related disciplines should be widened so that it can capture---. This is because as per the views of the Members in this House, the Director is the leader and sometimes, we should not just focus on the qualification of the director. We must focus on the leadership qualities. That is why Section 11 will be redrafted to capture and provide for flexibility of those who are going to sit in the Board to hire the director of physical planning to have the flexibility in the indent when they advertise to capture the concerns to that regard. Madam Temporary Speaker, these are very important provisions that have come from the Committee. During that Committee stage, we should be able to deal with those issues. There are other views that have come up and are related to the cross-referencing of the spatial plans that are provided for in the County Government Act and the urban planning provisions in the Urban Areas and Cities Act. In the drafting of the amendments at the Committee Stage, the Committee will come up with a proposal, either that we lift those provisions from the County Government Act and the Urban Areas and Cities Act and bring them to this Bill or we do the necessary cross-referencing between the two laws. The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposes only. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor, Senate."
}