LAMP providing more Jamaicans with titles

KINGSTON – Since the year 2000, more Jamaicans have become legitimate landowners, through the assistance of the Land Administration and Management Programme (LAMP).

Now in its 11th year, the programme has entered a second phase, (LAMP II), making it even easier for persons to obtain land titles.

A land title is described as invaluable, particularly as it can be used as collateral to enable persons to access loans and improve their quality of life.

The overall goal of the programme is to alleviate poverty and enhance economic growth by improving land tenure security, and fostering the development of efficient land markets in rural and urban areas, through the development of an efficient system of land titling and administration. This is based on transparent, coherent, and consistent policies and laws and supported by an appropriate institutional structure.

Speaking with JIS News, Acting Project Director of LAMP, Lisa Campbell explains that LAMP II, is slated for two years, covering the parishes of St. Elizabeth, Manchester, and parts of Clarendon.

She adds that contrary to the initial LAMP, surveying services are being provided as a part of the process in these areas. LAMP II, she notes, is a collaborative effort involving LAMP, the Korea Cadastral Survey Corporation, and Geoland Title Limited, a private, Jamaican-owned company.

With respect to St. Elizabeth, Ms. Campbell says all the parcels will be surveyed and a cadastral map of the entire parish will be prepared. This map will be presented to the Government by the private partners, as it will be very useful for development planning.

For Manchester and Clarendon, the Programme will only survey properties for which persons have approached the agency, and expressed an interest in getting titles for their properties.

“In the other LAMP areas, we just don’t have the resources currently, so persons have to have their lands surveyed privately and come to us with a survey diagram and we can apply for title on their behalf,” she says.

Ms. Campbell noted that for this second phase of the programme, two additional offices have been opened in St. Elizabeth to better serve the clients. “We have ramped up our operations in the parish to serve our clients,” she says. These offices are located at Pines Plaza, Junction, St. Elizabeth, and Jake’s Sky View Mall in Santa Cruz.

Ms. Campbell also informs that LAMP II has added additional features as it seeks to partner with various financial institutions such as the commercial banks, the National Housing Trust, and the St. Elizabeth Co-operative Credit Union, in order to serve its clients better.

“We are trying to get these people on board to offer our beneficiaries and clients financing for their title operations. Sometimes persons come to us, they are able to find the deposit to proceed with their matters but sometimes…persons just don’t have enough money to proceed all at once so we are looking at partners…in order for them to finance the process,” she says.

Persons in the LAMP II areas are being encouraged to come out and ensure that they can benefit from the project. “We are hoping to target at least 15,000 persons and from that we are hoping to get at least half that number in registered title,” she says.

Speaking to the cost that will be undertaken for the processing, she notes that LAMP fees are based on the unimproved value of the land on the tax roll. “So we don’t use the market value but depending on the parcel size, the average cost for a parcel for about a quarter of an acre in St. Elizabeth is going to work out to be between $55,000 to $65,000 which includes the survey cost as well,” she says.

“The upside of that, is persons are required to pay a deposit and they have the facility to pay for the processing of the title over the time it takes us to process it, so they usually have about six or seven months in order to liquidate their balance,” she explains.

She laments that currently, there are many informal landholders in the island as “many persons are operating with a…common-law title or receipt…our primary mandate is to assist those persons in order to be able to get title for their property…(while) heightening the awareness of the general public regarding land transactions”.

Margaret Isaacs, from Leeds in St. Elizabeth is among the beneficiaries on their way to becoming legitimate land owners.

“I started my tenure with LAMP…because I was unable to get a title before for my land based on certain drawbacks we had, since then we’ve made progress and I think I’m almost at the end of my journey today…and I am grateful to LAMP, everything went…fairly easy, once we had all the requirements that they’d ask for in place,” she tells JIS News.

Another LAMP beneficiary, Donna Laing who received her title in 2010 says, “When you have a piece of paper in your hands…you can further your child’s education and you can help yourself (or children). If I have a child going to college, I can use that paper, step in any bank and get a loan,” she says.

The LAMP was first launched as a pilot, targeting St. Catherine. However, in 2005, the programme was extended, with the passing of the Special Provisions Act, which allows for the government to declare certain areas project areas.  This was in order to hasten cadastral mapping and tenure clarification to facilitate the easy and inexpensive processing of applications for land titles.

Under the Special Provisions Act, stamp duty and transfer tax are waived. Additionally, for first registration, all applications and fees are based on the tax roll value of the land and not on the improved value of the land.

In addition to St. Catherine (with the exemption of Portmore), the LAMP project areas are St. Thomas, Clarendon, St. Elizabeth, Manchester, St. Mary, St. Ann, Portland, and parts of St. James.

LAMP officers are assigned to various parishes on designated weekdays to ensure that persons are informed about the benefits to be derived from the programme.

On Mondays they are be located at the Clarendon Parish Council, the Clarendon Co-operative Credit Union in May Pen, the Rural Agricultural Development Agency (RADA) parish office, Folly Road in Portland.

On Tuesdays, LAMP officers provide services at the Battersea/Clarkestown Community Centre in Manchester; at the St. Ann Parish Council, on Jail Road; and also at the St. Mary Civic Centre, in Port Maria.

Officers are also based in Morant Bay at the Trinity Baptist Church, and at the Port Morant Methodist Church, on a Wednesday.

On Thursdays, they are located at the Clarendon Parish Council in May Pen; the National Housing Trust Office in May Pen; and the Bethel Open Bible Church in Osbourne Store in Clarendon. Additionally, they can also be found at the Yallahs Seventh Day Adventist Church, and the Saints Baptist Church, in St. Thomas.

On Fridays the officers rove in the pilot parish of St. Catherine in areas such as Bodles and Colbeck.

The project is headquartered at the Ministry of Agriculture’s head office, Hope Gardens, in Kingston. The Programme falls under the Office of the Prime Minister, and began with funding from the Inter-American Development Bank, and the government. For additional information, persons may contact the LAMP offices at 927-1731.

By CHRIS PATTERSON, JIS Reporter