By: Denise Dennis
Date: August 24th 2016
Source: Jamaican Information Service
The Government is finalising a draft Bill to amend legislation governing land registration and ownership.
Prime Minister, the Most Hon. Andrew Holness, said amendments will be made to the Registration of Titles, Cadastral Mapping and Tenure Clarification (Special Provisions) Act, to reflect a more culturally relevant legislation.
Mr. Holness noted that the Bill will also serve to strengthen the work of adjudication committees set up by the Land Administration and Management Programme (LAMP), to work at the community level in the interest of applicants for the registration of lands.
He was addressing a ceremony hosted by LAMP, on August 23 at Jamaica House, to hand over some 220 land titles to persons from across the island.
The Prime Minister said there are 11 active adjudication committees in St. Catherine, St. Elizabeth, Clarendon and Manchester.
Additional committees are to be established in St. Mary, St. Thomas and Portland. More than 200 persons have so far been assisted through these committees.
Mr. Holness said LAMP will continue its mandate to conduct cadastral mapping, tenure clarification and regularisation in project areas and subsequently reduce the number of unregistered parcels of land, thereby bringing them into the formal sector.
“This Government is committed to building on initiatives already undertaken to ensure more Jamaicans own land and possess documentary proof of that ownership in the form of titles,” he added.
The Registration of Titles, Cadastral Mapping and Tenure Clarification (Special Provisions) Act was enacted in October 2005, to allow for the declaration of project areas to facilitate the expeditious cadastral mapping – showing the extent, value and ownership of land for taxation, and clarification of boundaries.
The Act also provides for certain exemptions and waivers of taxes and fees.
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