Government to streamline land administration system – Minister
Alhaji Inusah Fuseini, Minister of Lands and Natural Resources on Tuesday expressed government’s determination to streamline the land administration system to help alleviate poverty and create wealth.
He said the government finds it unacceptable the problems potential developers and investors had to go through in obtaining security of tenure to their acquired lands.
Alhaji Fuseini said this in a speech read on his behalf at the opening of a two-day capacity building seminar for journalists in the southern zone of Ghana in Accra.
The seminar, which is the first in a series of capacity building for media personnel is being organised by the National Project Coordinating Unit of the Land Administration Project (LAP) under the auspices of the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources.
The activities being carried out under the second LAP include the review of the legal and regulatory framework, preparation of a national spatial development framework, modernisation of survey and mapping to aid in the planning and registration processes.
The LAP 2 also includes the establishment of customary land secretariat, boundary demarcation and the development of a computerised land information system.
Alhaji Fuseini said government realises that improving the investment climate for the private sector is vital to the economic growth of the country as investors both local and foreign need assured rights to land property in which they invest in.
He said it is unfortunate that Ghana continue to have large number of unregistered land rights, unplanned settlements, high rate of land litigation and the obnoxious activities of land guards still pervading the land administration system.
He noted that failure of the present generation to address these issues now means they are invariably passing on the problems to the future generation, making it increasingly worrisome.
Alhaji Fuseini also commended LAP for placing great emphasis in addressing nagging issues such as institutional bottlenecks, decentralisation of land activities and re-engineering business processes to ultimately achieve transparent, efficient and effective delivery of land administration services that would eventually ensure customer satisfaction.
He said reforms in land administration especially in a developing country like Ghana where majority of the people derive their daily subsistence from land ought to be considered as an overriding priority requiring urgent attention and sustained commitment.
Source: GNA