Regional News of Sunday, 22 July 2007

Source: GNA

U/E holds forum on new land reforms

Bolgatanga, July 22, GNA- A one-day seminar on the benefits of the new land reforms deeds has been held in Bolgatanga over the weekend. Participants were sensitised on the mode and benefits of the new reforms and the need to patronise the system.

Mr J Owusu-Sarfo, of the Land Registry, who was a resource person, explained that the Deeds system would curtail the many problems associated with the transaction of land businesses in the country. He said under the system, a solid and reliable documentation of land records would be built and all lands registered.

This, he noted, would prevent multiplication sales of lands and as well as litigations, which often resulted into many court cases. He pointed out that, under the land deeds, the bureaucratic tendencies would be a thing of the past since all the lands agencies would now be brought under one roof.

Mr Owusu-Sarfo said it takes only a day to process all land documents under the land deeds system.

He said with the decentralisation of the land Deeds, one does not need to travel long distances to process land documents. He urged the participants to take advantage of the system and register their lands under the deeds system to avoid any future litigation with others.

Mr Owusu-Sarfo advised the participants to demarcate all their land boundaries before registering it at the Deeds. He cautioned the participants to deal only with officials of the land agencies to avoid being cheated.

The Participants asked that, for the land Deeds to be successfully implemented, there was the need for more quantity Surveyors. They also urged all district assemblies in the region to register their administrative lands, since they were the development planners. They however, expressed their dissatisfaction with the high cost of processing of land documents.