New Lands Commission Bill submitted to Cabinet

Accra, June 29, GNA - The new Lands Commission Bill has been drafted and submitted to Cabinet for consideration, Dr W. Odame Larbi, Project Director of the Land Administration Project, said on Friday. The bill, when approved and passed into law by Parliament, would streamline land acquisition processes and reduce transaction costs in terms of time and money.

Briefing newsmen in Accra on the state of the Ministry of Lands, Forestry and Mines programme to reform the public sector land agencies, he said one of the key bottlenecks to efficient land administration identified in the national land policy was the fragmentation of public sector institutions that administered land. "The legal responsibility for land administration and delivery of land in this country is spread among seven public agencies and these need to be brought under one umbrella to foster effective land administration," he said.

Dr Larbi said as part of the reform, the land sector would result in a new Lands Commission that would operate with a board with five functional divisions.

The divisions include Survey and Mapping Divisions, Land Registry, Land Valuation Services, Public and Vested Land Management and Office of the Administrator of Stool lands. He said in the case of the Stool Lands Administrator, it was observed that the functions assigned to the office under the Constitution could still be performed when the office was placed under the new commission.

Dr Larbi emphasised that the Town and Country Planning Division was excluded because government had a different plan which was to merge it with the Department of Parks and Gardens. He observed that the fragmented approach to land admiration had left a legacy of unresolved problems such as scattered and restricted access to land records, obsolete operating procedures, overlapping, conflicting and unclear mandates as well as duplication of efforts and responsibilities.

Dr Larbi noted that the result had been expensive administration system characterised by inefficiency, delays, transaction cost, frustrations and corruption.

He noted that the entire system was not investor friendly and if they considered the fact that housing, agriculture, forestry, tourism and physical infrastructure depended essentially on land, then there was the need to revamp the whole land administration system. Dr Larbi said the ministry was fully convinced that the institutional reforms were some of the key reforms needed in the sector if they were to develop a land administration system that was fair, efficient, cost effective, and transparent, and that which guaranteed security of tenure.

"The draft new Land Administration Commission Bill is one of the major achievements and we are on course for the delivery of land services that will satisfy Ghanaians," he said.