Wa, July 16, GNA - Development projects in two educational institutions in Upper West Region have been stalled because landowners have vowed not to allow work to be undertaken until Government paid compensation for the land on which the projects are located. While compensation for the land acquired in 1978 for the expansion of Wa Technical Institute has not yet been paid, Jirapa Senior Secondary School had to be relocated at a high cost to the Jirapa/Lambussie District Assembly as a result of similar problem.

Mr Ambrose Dery, Out-going Upper West Regional Minster, announced this in an address read for him by Mr David Yakubu, Upper West Regional Coordinating Director at a regional land forum organized by Ministry of Lands, Forestry and Mines under the Land Administration Project (LAP) at Wa.

It is the third in a series of forums being organized nationwide to collect views from stakeholders and the public in each of the 10 regions for discussion at a five-day national land forum scheduled for Accra this year.

Among the issues discussed included land ownership, access to land, security of tenure for women and the vulnerable, rights associated with customary grants and terminologies used in land management in the Upper West Region.

Mr Dery urged land user agencies to re-examine the cost of documentation of land which was prohibitive, in order to encourage more people to register their lands.

He said land sector agencies and municipal and district assemblies in the region should also be proactive and strict in dealing with issues of land use to ensure orderly development of settlements. Dr Odame Larbi, National Coordinator of LAP said the essence of regional forums was to ensure that the public became participants in the formulation of land policies and legislation.

"As tradition changes, society also changes, so we all have to make our views and inputs on land acquisition and management known in order to maximise the returns from it," he added. Mr Kwame Gyan, Legal Specialist of LAP said under the new land bill that was before Parliament, all six land sector agencies, which together had 166 different pieces of legislation would be brought under a single agency with one omnibus Land Act.

In transacting land related business, he explained, nobody would deal with six agencies but rather a single organization in one building under the one-stop shop concept. 16 July 07