Accra, Oct. 13, GNA- A Division within the High Courts is to be set up to speedily deal with land disputes as part of land reforms aimed at reducing poverty and enhancing socio-economic growth, Vice President Aliu Mahama, said on Monday.

Additionally, the Vice President said, public sector land agencies would be reorganized into one corporate body to promote business-like and professional land management practices based on sound economic and financial consideration and transparent consultative processes. Vice President Mahama said this when he launched the 15-year Ghana Land Administration Project (LAP), which seeks to simplify the processes of acquiring land, developing the land market and fostering prudent land management.

The World Bank and other development partners have released 54.4 million dollars for the implementation of the first phase to cover five years, which would focus on developing a sustainable land administration system that is fair, efficient, decentralized, cost effective and capable of enhancing land tenure security.

Vice President Mahama said Alternative Disputes Resolutions (ADR) mechanisms would also be strengthened among various stakeholders to reduce the volume of litigation.

He stressed that Ghana's efforts at achieving sound socio-economic growth would be undermined unless efficient land management and tenure system was put in place.

"We are heavily dependent on primary-land based products for our socio-economic sustenance: agriculture, mining, timber and construction dominate sector contributions to the country's gross domestic product," he said.

However, the Vice President noted that inadequate regulatory framework, weak customarily and public land administration regimes, indeterminate boundaries of customarily lands, compulsory acquisition by government of large tracts of land without payment of compensation and other problems were hindering the progress of the economy.

Many investors, the Vice President said, had left the country with their investments because of the land administration system and its associated delays and frustration.

Consequently, he said, it was crucial to ensure "easy access to land, security of land rights and tenure, prudent use of the nation's land resources and the ease of transfer of land rights."

Vice President Mahama said land ownership and administration system also played a critical role in the implementation of the Ghana Poverty Reduction Strategy (GPRS), whose medium term priorities centred on infrastructural development, modernized agriculture based on rural development and private sector development.

"Failure to provide for the protection of land rights and prevention of abuse of traditional and institutional procedures places the land rights of the poor, the illiterate, the vulnerable and women at risk," he said.

He, therefore, tasked the implementing agencies of LAP to review the "Abunu" and "Abusa" of agricultural tenancies negotiated in oral agreements in line with modern demands to make the system fairer for the mutual benefit of stakeholders.

Ms Theresa Ameley Tagoe, Deputy Minister Lands and Forestry, said the first phase of LAP, would achieve the harmonization of Land Policy and Legislative Framework; Institutional reform and Development; Improvement in Land Titling, Registration, Valuation and Information Systems and effective monitoring of the processes.

She said a comprehensive consultative process was used in the formulation of the project, adding that researchers, traditional rulers, businessmen, industrialists and agriculturists were involved. Ms Tagoe said the approach would be maintained in the implementation of the project to be spearheaded by Land Policy Steering Committee.

Odeneho Gyapong Ababio II, President of the National House of Chiefs, said it was important to involve traditional rulers in all the stages of the project to ensure its success.

He called for a legislation that would ensure the involvement of chiefs in the processes of land development and use to curtail the haphazard manner in which projects are sited and its associated environmental and safety hazards.

Odeneho Ababio who is also the Omanhene of Sefwi Bekwai urged the government to increase the revenue on land paid to chiefs so that they could contribute to the development of their areas, saying it was unacceptable to pay 60 per cent of their revenue to the Forestry Commission, which is not accountable to them.

Chiefs from various parts of the country, land administrators and developers and other stakeholders attended the ceremony.