Accra, June 1, GNA - A 10-member Committee tasked to draft a new Land Act was on Friday inaugurated by the Minister of Lands, Forestry and Mines, Professor Dominic Kweku Fobih.

The new Act would help to abolish the numerous agencies that had been responsible for land administration and registration and form a one-stop-shop.

It would fuse agencies such as the Land Valuation; Land Title Registry; Survey Department; Office of the Administrator of Stool Lands; Town and Country Planning Department and the Lands Commission to become the Lands Commission with only about three agencies under it within one building.

Prof Fobih said the Committee's task would involve the early preparation of the necessary draft bill and facilitation of the eventual passage of the law in accordance with the proposed roadmap for the Land Administration Project (LAP).

"It is our expectation that the new Land Act should receive Presidential assent by the middle of July 2007," he said. The Committee, which is also tasked to prepare the accompanying memorandum, is under the chairmanship of Nana Aterkyi, Kukuomhene and the representative of the National House of Chiefs on the Committee. The Committee would also facilitate stakeholder and public consultations to ensure broad public participation in the formulation of the Land Act as well as partner the Parliamentary Select Committee on Lands and Forestry to conduct public hearing on the draft bill. Prof. Fobih said it was his expectation that throughout the work, the Committee would apply participatory processes that would ensure widespread engagement with the public and all identifiable stakeholders. "This will not only ensure broad public participation in the formulation of the Land Act, but also eventually lead to greater ownership and acceptance of the outcomes of the exercise." The Ministry last December submitted to Cabinet a number of proposals that were approved. These included the revision and consolidation of the existing legislation for land administration, land management, land tenure and survey and mapping fashioning one piece of legislation to be designated "The Land Act".

They were to reorganize the Survey Department, Land Title Registry, Land Valuation Board and the Existing Lands Commission Secretariat into one corporate entity under the Lands Commission.

The proposals also included the re-location of the Office of the Administrator of Stool Lands with the re-organised Lands Commission as well as confirm the autonomy of the reorganized Lands Commission and the Office of the Administrator of Stool Lands by removing them from the Civil Service Structure.