Residents of Plantation Hope, West Coast Berbice were all smiles yesterday after they received transports for their lands confirming them as the undisputed owners of the lots which they have been occupying for decades.
The thirty residents purchased their lots from the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo) through the Sugar Industry Labour Welfare Fund Committee. However, they had never received their transports for reasons unknown.
At the handing over exercise held in the area yesterday, Minister of Legal Affairs and Attorney General, Anil Nandlall SC explained that residents would have purchased their lands from GuySuCo over twenty-thirty years ago “but for whatever reason, they never obtained the transport for the land they are occupying.”
Nandlall met with the residents early last year – a meeting that triggered the commencement of a process to ensure that the residents received their land transport.
He stressed, that the document might just seem like a piece of paper to some, but it signifies the “absolute ownership” of the lands to the residents occupying them. “Right now you may own the house but you don’t own the land, today when we hand over these titles to you these documents certify formally and lawfully that you are the absolute owner of this property.”
According to Nandlall, the government stood the majority of the expenses through the waiving of certain fees, while the Deeds Registry, GuySuCo, the Guyana Revenue Authority, and GuySuCo (Sugar Welfare) also supported it.
As a result of the government’s intervention, the residents individually saved over $200,000.
Nandlall told the residents yesterday afternoon, “for the first time in your life you have a legal document recognized by all to say that you are the absolute and undisputed owner of the property.”
The owners can now use their transports for many purposes which include securing loans from a banking institution or other commercial institutions. Also, with their titles, the owners can now create wills to hand over their lots to their children or relatives after they have passed. With the title, they can also sell and properly transfer the lands to the new owners.
One Plantation Hope resident, Manstram Bridgelall, 59, said, that he occupied the lot since June, 1999 and has been desperately trying to obtain the transport. He said, “Many efforts we make, we go in all in Sugar Welfare office and them told us when they ready they go tell we.”
Bridgelall said that he has two children who he can now feel comfortable leaving his property to and not have to worry that they might experience any difficulty in the future.
Basmattie Ramdan, 45, who has been occupying the lot since 2003 said, that she also felt happy to finally receive the transport. “We been go in and find out and the girl did tell we not as yet.”
Another resident, Devi Sampooran, 57, who has been occupying her lot for over twenty-two years said that she has been constantly pushing for this. “I feel very happy because it has been a rough time getting it.”
The woman also thanked the Minister of Housing, Collin Croal and Nandlall for paying attention to the issue and ensuring that it was finally dealt with.
Meanwhile, according to Nandlall similar processes with the Lands and Survey Commission have begun at Cotton Tree, Number Four Village, Number Five Village, Number Six Village, and Number Seven Village, West Coast Berbice to regularize with the intention to distribute the titles to the owners in those villages. “Four huge villages where people have been living for decades on lands upon which they have houses…”
To draw a timeline of how long people have been waiting in those areas, Nandlall pointed out that in some situations the owners’ grandchildren are now occupying the lands. “Many generations may have died and they never got titles for those lands…”
He said, that the same is being done for some villages on the Corentyne, while it has already been done in other parts of the country.
