Land Acquisition Important In Highway Construction

As the country continues on its growth trajectory, with infrastructural development being a key feature, the National Road Operating and Constructing Company (NROCC) executes a process of land acquisition for the construction of tolled highways.

Senior Manager, Land Acquisition at NROCC, Phillip Myers, tells JIS News that a highway is considered a public good that redounds to the benefit of the nation.

As such, privately owned lands that are along the projected alignment of a highway to be constructed, and particularly a toll road, are acquired by NROCC on behalf of the Government of Jamaica.

Mr. Myers also indicates that land acquisition for highway projects is governed by the parameters of the Land Acquisition Act.

“The provision of road infrastructure is a public good. The Government would, therefore, declare that the project will require lands to satisfy the footprint and when a route is determined, the [portfolio] Minister would then have Section Three Notices published and gazetted. These notices would indicate that a number of parcels that string together to form that route are likely to be affected by the project,” he explains.

“In doing that, NROCC, which acts as the managers on behalf of the Government for the construction of tolled roads and highways, would then be able to narrow the path and specify those particular parcels that will be affected,” Mr. Myers adds.

Once an approved alignment [route] has been secured, NROCC goes according to the acquisition procedures, which include surveying the property, executing land transfer agreements and making payments at market value for the lands, buildings and crops for the titles to be transferred to the NROCC.

Under that provision, the NROCC in preparing to present those cases to the Commissioner of Lands can acquire the lands where there are known owners by private treaty arrangements.

Mr. Myers points out that this is so, particularly where the land is registered, and, therefore, the owners’ whereabouts are also known.

“Having served the Section Three and Section Five notices to the owners, or on the land or in a public place where there is no private treaty possible to be concluded by Sale Agreement, NROCC would refer those matters to the Commissioner of Lands for compulsory acquisition” he adds.

Mr. Myers indicates that all other lands that have indeterminate ownership, such as lands that have no registered title, would also be referred, and while that process leads to the issuance of a Section Nine Notice, appraisals of the land and survey plans are prepared so that the Commissioner can have that data when a hearing is convened.

The hearing takes place 21 days after the issue or posting of the notice, and notices such as the Section Three and Section Five notices are posted on or near the land, or are posted for the attention of persons who may have an interest, in a public place like a post office or at the Municipal Council.

“The process is very defined and well established by the Act, and so persons who have an interest in the land or where the registered owners have not accepted the terms for concluding Private Treaty, they will come forth and have an opportunity to represent their side of the story or their concerns to the Commissioner of Lands,” he states.

During that hearing, the Commissioner may make a note of all parties that have an interest, so that a determination can be made for an award to be issued under Section 11 at the end of the process.

According to Mr. Myers, the award would specify that a particular area is being taken from a specific parcel, from a specific owner.

“In the case of unregistered lands, the best information the Commissioner may have would be persons that are established to be in possession or in ownership by the tax roll, but that in itself does not secure or specify concretely that this person is the owner,” the Land Acquisition Manager contends.

He adds that most times, those persons are deceased and the persons occupying the property do so while continuing to pay taxes in the name of that person, “so if the award is issued to the person who is deceased, they are not able to accept the award”.

Persons who are in a position to accept the award would do so within six weeks of the issuance of the award under Section 11, and where they are not prepared to accept the award, they can ask the Commissioner to refer the matter to the Supreme Court for adjudication.

Mr. Myers points out that this could be in the event of a discrepancy of value or some other issue that they may have.

He also indicates that in terms of the unregistered parcels, the Commissioner would require that the strongest route of title, which is the registered title, be secured, so that the award may be changed from the person who is deceased, or whose whereabouts are not known or has not come forward.

“Should somebody come forward with the registered title, then the Commissioner can reissue the award. Having issued the award in the first instance, the funds can be paid into escrow in the Accountant-General’s Department and be available when somebody comes forward with the registered title,” he says.

The Land Acquisition Manager further explains that as part of that process, compulsory acquisition ends with the Commissioner making application to the Minister once again to have a notice issued under Section 15 that possession has been given of lands that are required for the project, so that the project can proceed until financial settlements are arranged.

“In the interim, where there are structures that exist on the land, the agency doing the acquisition would have to secure the legal possession, which would have gone via the provisions of the compulsory purchase through provisions of the Land Acquisition Act,” Mr. Myers explains.

He adds that physical possession would have to be addressed, and that is to effect compensation and relocations for any tangible assets that exist, whether these be agricultural structures, residential structures or commercial structures as well as pay for any crops that are economic and cultivated crops.

The Land Acquisition Manager also points out that where the Act doesn’t specify, NROCC’s Settlement Action Plan outlines that “in order to secure physical possession, we have to recognise that persons who have had their homes on these lands, now being asked to relocate themselves, which is the tenet of our Resettlement Action Plan, should have the proper choice”.

He cites that where persons are not fully literate to be able to deal with contracts that would involve their relocation, the NROCC team would try and walk them through the process.

Some persons, he explains, are able to negotiate and acquire new spots or relocate themselves on other sections of the land, but where the house is within the footprint, “then what we do is offer replacement value for the house, so that they are not disadvantaged, they are no worse off than they were”.

To have offered them a depreciated price, Mr. Myers asserts, would mean that they would only be able to build back a section of the house that they occupy, which would not be reasonable.

The Land Acquisition Manager says that rent allowance is also provided upfront and that this allows persons to secure alternative, sometimes temporary, accommodation while they relocate. Once rental assistance is provided, that family would then use the agreed timeline to relocate.

Mr. Myers points out that the house is not required as in an open market purchase for it to be left intact, based on the fact that it will ultimately become part of the rubble in the clearing and grubbing of the land. On that basis, the homeowners are welcome to have all of the salvageable elements such as windows, doors and roofs that they require for their reconstruction at their new location.

This, he says, also helps NROCC because it allows for persons to vacate the structures so that the contractor can be given physical possession of the property, at which time the structure would be demolished.