Greater Accra Lands Commission office inaugurated
The Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, Samuel Abu Jinapor, has inaugurated the Greater Accra Regional Lands Commission office complex with an assurance that the government will go to any length to provide the needed infrastructure for effective land administration in the country.
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Mr Jinapor observed that since land was one of the most critical factors of production, every effort must be made to support the Lands Commission to deliver efficient services to the public to promote sustainable development.
“All human activities revolve around land; land is the fulcrum to the success of all sectors of the economy such as agriculture, mining, security, manufacturing, finance, trade, education, transportation, infrastructure, energy, and health, among others. Hardly, anything gets done without land,” he said.
Again, he said the adverse consequences of “ineffective, fraudulent and weak land administration” was damning and that underscored the need to equip and empower the Lands Commission to perform its constitutional functions.
Inauguration ceremony
The Damongo Member of Parliament (MP) said that at the inauguration of the Greater Accra Regional Lands Commission Office in Accra yesterday. Present at the ceremony were the Deputy Minister-designate for Lands and Natural Resources, Akwasi Konadu; National Chairman of the Lands Commission, Alex Quaynor; the Executive Secretary of the Lands Commission, Benjamin Arthur; and the Greater Accra Chairperson of the Lands Commission, Yvonne Sowah.
The Greater Accra Regional Lands Commission Office
Others are the Chairman of the Parliamentary Select Committee on Lands and Forestry, Francis Manu-Adabor; a former Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, Collins Dauda; and chiefs from the La Traditional Council.
Interventions
According to the 2021 Population and Housing Census (PHC), 90 per cent of the population derive their livelihoods from land. Against that backdrop, Mr Jinapor said it was important to resource the Lands Commission to be in a better position to deal with the complexities associated with evolving land use in the country.
He said it was in that regard that the government had ensured the construction of regional offices to decentralise and facilitate the delivery of land services.
“We are also implementing our Urban Redevelopment Scheme under which 504 one-bedroom and two-bedroom self-contained housing units with a school complex, a clinic and a recreational area have been constructed for the Ghana Police Service, and office complexes constructed for the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority (DVLA), the Ghana Airport Company Limited (GACL) and the Ghana Meteorological Agency (GMA).
“This will pave the way for the redevelopment of the 80 acres of land between Stanbic Heights and the Ministry of Defence,” he added.
Mr Jinapor said an aggressive digitisation agenda was also being pursued to digitise the records of the Lands Commission to promote a robust land administration that ensured peace, security, economic growth and resource development.
He said the Commission had successfully migrated some of its operations into the digital environment and also rolled out the Enterprise Land Information System (ELIS), which offered some select services fully online.
“Today, a search in the Commission’s records can be conducted from anywhere in the world, and at any time of the day. The introduction of the Electronic Property Mass Appraisal System (EPMAS) has also facilitated the revaluation of properties in several metropolitan, municipal and district assemblies (MMDAs), boosting revenue collection,” he said.
Befitting accommodation
Mr Quaynor said the construction of the Greater Accra Regional Lands Commission office would help to boost service delivery in the region.
He said the edifice had been constructed using internally generated funds (IGF) and was meant to improve service delivery to the public.
"The building was put up across the tenure of five executive secretaries, and this shows that when we commit to ensuring continuity in policies and projects, we can resolve our development challenges," he noted.
Mr Arthur said the building was a big relief as it would provide a conducive environment for workers to give of their best for effective land administration.
He added that the complex, which was the first two phases of the Accra Regional Lands Commission development project, would host four administrative departments of the regional Lands Commission.