Lamp gets $18 Million Injection from Petrocaribe

The Government has secured an $18 million grant from the Petro Caribe Fund to advance work under the Land Administration and Management Programme (LAMP).

The money will go towards subsidizing the cost of another 1,000 land titles. “The grant will help beneficiaries, who have been unable to pay for their titles for years now, to complete their payments and so receive their land titles,” said Minister of State in the Ministry of Water, Land, Environment and Climate Changes, Hon. Ian Hayles.

He was making his contribution to the 2013/14 Sectoral Debate on June 18 in the House of Representatives.

Giving an update on the LAMP/Korean International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) Grant Aid Cadastral Mapping and Titling Project, he informed that more than 500 parcels of land have been surveyed to date.

The US$2.1 million project, launched in March, is targeting 1,000 needy households in land settlements to be surveyed and titled, in the parishes of St. Mary, Portland, and St. Ann. “Surveying activities are now fully underway,” Mr. Hayles said.

He noted that the LAMP project, implemented in 2000, continues to play a critical role in the regularisation of parcels of land across sections of the island.

“The most recent figures reveal that a total of 19,193 files have been opened; 3,865 new titles have been produced; 736 estates administered; and 2,009 existing Certificates of Title updated,” he informed.

LAMP II, which is an extension of the original initiative, has been extended for a further period of 10 years and the number of parishes expanded to eight.

The additional parishes are: Clarendon, Manchester, St. Elizabeth, St. Ann, Westmoreland, Hanover, Trelawny, and St. James.

“LAMP II had cadastrally surveyed 2,654 parcels during the first phase and placed 3,749 parcels in the digital Cadastral Map database for St. Elizabeth. There were 5,178 files opened, and 1,120 applications for titles have been made, 388 titles have been completed, and another 645 have been provisionally approved,” Mr. Hayles informed.

LAMP is funded by the Government and through grant funds.

CONTACT: CHRIS PATTERSON