Lands commission to speed up issuance of titles
Stabroek News
June 10, 2002
The Guyana Lands and Surveys Commission has undertaken to improve the rate at which it issues titles and now has a target of several thousand titles per year, according to Chief Executive Officer, Andrew Bishop.
The commission secured semi-autonomous status just over a year ago and Bishop said in a press statement on Friday that several key changes had taken place.
In the area of land administration, Bishop said that a public land inventory was being undertaken to provide baseline information to facilitate land use planning and a number of new titles to be issued in the coming years would be from land tenure regularisation. This regularisation will bring all occupied state agricultural land under formal title and allow for security, enhanced revenue collection and provide a data base to inform decision making within the commission.
Bishop said land information and mapping was undergoing a period of dynamic growth in Guyana and the commission would expand its skills base to meet the needs of customers. He said that data capture and compilation of public land parcels have supplemented the commission’s ability to produce and supply customers with digital and hardcopy topographic thematic and special purpose maps. He added that work was moving apace to produce a digital version of the 1:50,000 topographic maps of Guyana and continued progress will be made towards functional and sustainable parcel-based information system through the further compilation of land parcels. This will provide customers with high quality digital and hardcopy data sets. He said that the commission has adopted a more customer friendly service to boost business and improve performance.
The CEO said the increased land-related activity in Guyana has quadrupled the number of plans checked and recorded by the commission as is its statutory responsibility.
The commission continues to work with the Guyana Technical Institute in the area of land surveying training. It has also checked the benchmarks and survey control points throughout the country. And with a team of Brazilian surveyors, the commission has refurbished and replaced the international boundary monuments between Guyana and Brazil.
The statement says the commission aims to guide its activities to effectively and efficiently administer lands for the benefit of clients and national development.
Bishop revealed that new working practices have been introduced along with procedures and techniques to better service land users. A number of training activities have been undertaken by the commission this past year to develop its human resource base.
Efforts were also made to improve the physical work environment.