Dear Editor,
The PPP/C Government has always placed high importance on land distribution and allocation to the population. Public land distribution is seen as vital to the social and economic development of our country. Over the past years hundreds of thousands of acres of public lands have been distributed and occupied to the benefit of individuals and communities. Policies were formulated and programmes implemented to ensure equity and transparency in the land distribution process with the objective of enabling every Guyanese to access for the benefit of themselves and their families.
The National Land Distribution Policy relates to land for agricultural, commercial, industrial, eco-tourism and shelter and settlement. These public lands fall under the jurisdiction of the State Lands Act and under the control of the Guyana Lands and Surveys Commission. Today in this Region the Town Council and the NDCs are utilizing the Commission’s powers to distribute state lands on the agricultural reserves.
In recent years the Government implemented significant institutional and policy reforms to improve the beneficial utilization of public lands and provide equal opportunities to the population in accessing land. This includes the passage of new legislation and the establishment of the autonomous Guyana Lands and Surveys Commission with a broad-based governing Board of Directors. This changed it from being a Department under a Ministry to an autonomous Commission. Changes in land tenure policy have increased the tenure of state land leases from 25years to 50 years. This has resulted in the beneficiaries accessing loans from the banking institutions using the extended lease agreements. It has also provided for the conversion to freehold of parcels up to 15 acres which have been beneficially utilized for 25 years.
A countrywide programme for tenure regularization to provide titles for thousands of occupants of state lands and to establish an accurate public lands register for proper and effective land administration is in train.
Yours faithfully,
Mohamed Khan
