LAP STARS NEW LAND REGISTRATION (PAGE 32, MARCH 18, 2010)

The Land Administration Project (LAP) of the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources is undertaking a systematic registration of titles of land within selected areas in the cities of Accra and Kumasi on pilot basis.
Under the programme, which is scheduled to last six months, officials of the LAP would register lands on a door-to-door basis in a bid to enable landowners to have their lands registered in a simple, fast and cheap way.
The selected areas within the capital city are Cantonments, Osu, Kaneshie and Dansoman while Nhyiaso, Patase, North and South Suntreso constitute the localities within Kumasi.
Speaking at a durbar in Accra to sensitise the public to the project, the Deputy Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, Mr Kamel Henry Ford, said the project was part of ongoing land administration reforms conceived under the administration of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) government in 1999.
He said the five-year project, which was launched in October, 2003, sought to reduce the cumbersome nature of processing land documents.
Unfortunately, he added, the implementation of the project did not achieve the desired results, prompting a two-year extension.
Mr Ford said "by registering the land, a proprietor's title to the parcel of land is officially recognised and guaranteed by the state".
He said to realise the objective of the project, the ministry had also through LAP, established land registration offices in each of the regional capitals to provide title deed registration services.
The project also brings on board public-private partnership, where private firms would be visiting each property in the area to collect field data with the public sector agencies undertaking office processing of the field data.
Other sensitisation durbars would be held at the Dansoman Beach, Fadama Cluster of Schools, Kaneshie West School park, Ako-Adjei Park and the Survey and Mapping Division conference hall in Cantonments.
The Director of DAOV TECH Design Group, one of the private firms contracted for Dansoman and its surrounding communities, Mr Kwadwo Addai Deseh, said work would commence immediately with door-to-door awareness creation after which the registration process would also commence.
He said property owners would be required to have some form of document that showed possession of the property for registration.
He explained that lands under litigation problems would be referred to LAP for verification before due registration.
Mr Deseh was of the hope that the six-month period would be enough to finish the project.
The acting Director of Land Registration Division, Mrs Rebecca Sittie, advised the residents to take advantage of the project to have their property registered.
She said landowners were required to submit photocopies of all documents on their lands to the field team that would visit their homes, adding that the team would also measure the boundaries of the properties and buildings in the selected area.