Ministry to spend 72 million dollars on project

Sunyani (B/A) Oct. 27, GNA - The Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources is to spend 72 million dollars, under the Land Administration Project (LAP) phase two, which spans from 2011 to 2015. The project, among others, is intended to implement key policy actions recommended in the Ghana Land Policy of 1999 to address critical issues militating against effective land administration in the country.

The first phase of the project, which was implemented from 2003 to 2010, laid the foundation by reviewing the statutes of land, carrying out intuitional reforms and undertaking pilots on initiatives such as customary land secretariats, digitizing land records, establishment of land courts and systematic title registration among others.

The second phase of the project aims at consolidating the gains made under phase one by deepening the reforms as well as enabling the land sector agencies to be more responsive to clients in a way of cutting down cost and time of doing land businesses. Launching the project in Sunyani on Tuesday, Dr. Isaac Karikari Bonsu, Project Coordinator of LAP, noted that land management regime in the country was characterized by constraints such as land related conflicts, haphazard development, weak institutional capacity, corruption and inadequate legislative framework.

He said to maximize the outcome of the project, LAP two would focus on mapping primarily Greater Accra, Western, Ashanti and Northern regions.

Dr. Bonsu said Accra was selected for the purposes of reducing land litigations and enhancing security of investment while Western Region was also selected primarily due to the discovery of oil in the area and the likelihood of emergence of land disputes. "Ashanti region is selected on the basis of having a fairly cohesive single traditional authority, making it an advantageous area for scaling up the development of traditional land administration systems whilst Northern region I among the four because of its poverty focus and high potential for large scale commercial agriculture that could arouse land disputes", he said.

Dr. Bonsu appealed to all key actors in the project to support it to achieve its objectives.

Mr. Gabriel Asafo-Mireku, Brong-Ahafo Regional Lands Officer, said the Region had taken a leading role in the operationalization of the Land Commission's Act (Act 767) passed in 2008 and 93Attempts are being vigorously made to achieve the co-location of all the four divisions at the premises of the regional lands commission".