LAP-2 to deepen decentralisation of land services

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By Konrad Kodjo Djaisi

The second phase of the Land Administration Project (LAP-2) is giving greater emphasis to decentralisation and demand-driven service orientation, having had the benefit of experiences of the first phase of the Project.

The first phase of the reforms under LAP-1, implemented from 2003 to 2010, laid the foundation by reviewing the statutes on land, carrying out institutional reforms and undertaking pilots on a number of initiatives such as Customary Boundary Demarcation, establishment of Customary Lands Secretariats, digitising land records, establishment of Lands Courts, and systematic title registration among others.

The second phase aims to consolidate the gains made under LAP-1 by deepening the reforms, enabling the land sector agencies to be more responsive to clients, and cutting down the cost and time of doing business.

This was revealed by the National Project Coordinator of LAP-2, Dr. Isaac Bonsu Karikari, at a day?s orientation workshop for staff of all land sector and project implementing agencies in the Greater Accra Region on Wednesday.

Dr. Karikari emphasised that though LAP 2 is designed for all the ten regions of the country, mapping under the second phase will be carried out in four regions: Greater Accra, Western, Ashanti and Northern Regions.

He explained that Greater Accra was selected for purposes of reducing land litigation and enhancing security of investment. Western was picked primarily due to the discovery of oil in the area and the likelihood of emergence of land disputes.

The Northern Region was selected for its poverty focus and high potential for large-scale commercial agriculture, whereas Ashanti was chosen on the basis of having a fairly cohesive single traditional authority, making it an advantageous area for scaling up the development of traditional land administration systems.

Dilating further, Dr. Karikari said LAP-2 has the following four inter-related components: Strengthening the Policy, Legal and Regulatory Framework for Land Administration (US$5 million), Decentralisation and Improving Business and Service Delivery Processes (US$23.27 million), Improved Maps and Spatial Data for Land Administration (US$31.51 million) and Human Resource Development and Project Management (US$10.78 million).

He stressed that LAP-2 would require an implementation approach which includes public and private institutions for effective execution of the project activities in order to attain the development objectives.

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