• The Senate accepted the government’s first major land reform proposal in over 50 years.

• The reform introduces full cadastre digitisation, ends land prescription and targets illicit subdivisions.

• The government is testing a blockchain-based land management system using Solana.

The Senate of the Democratic Republic of Congo accepted on 28 November 2025 a draft law presented by Land Affairs Minister O’Neige N’Sele. The bill amends and supplements Law No. 73-021 of 20 July 1973. The government adopted the text in first reading on 7 November 2025. The draft marks the country’s first major land reform in more than fifty years and aims to secure land rights, modernise administration and eliminate irregular practices, including overlapping parcels and illegal subdivisions.

The bill introduces several provisions. It mandates full digitisation of the cadastre, removes land prescription, protects border areas, ends payments in kind, and creates a land price reference system. It reduces free concessions and orders a national audit of undeveloped land. It also imposes mandatory pre-litigation conciliation and strengthens the civil and criminal liability of public agents.

The DRC launched in June 2025 a pilot project for blockchain-based land management using the Solana network. The state cooperates with local experts and the company Duna RWA. The system converts land titles into secure, traceable digital tokens. It guarantees document authenticity and protects sensitive citizen data. Notaries and the land administration validate all transfers to prevent fraud and duplication.

Land management issues also emerged in the Rocades de Kinshasa project, launched in June 2024 to decongest the capital and support urban development. President Félix-Antoine Tshisekedi and the government identified risks linked to informal occupations and expropriations. They therefore created a mechanism based on transparency, local consultation, compensation and mediation to control implementation.

Boaz Kabeya (Bankable)