Money Allocated for Cadastral Mapping Project

Beginning this fiscal year, the Government, through the Ministry of Water, Land, Environment and Climate Change, will embark on a cadastral mapping and land registration exercise in sections of the country.

The project is aimed at assisting persons, particularly rural residents currently occupying lands but not in possession of titles for those properties, to formalise their holdings by providing them with those documents.

This is expected to enable them to, among other things, access capital to undertake and improve farming activities, thereby empowering them through economic development.

Just over $89 million has been set aside in the 2012/12 Estimates of Expenditure, currently being reviewed in the House of Representatives, to undertake this engagement.

The project, which is slated to run until March 2014, is expected to entail registration of properties occupied by some 1,000 settlers in St. Mary, St. Ann and Portland. Additionally, it will target improvements in the technical capacity of the cadastral mapping and land registration system, through the provision of equipment and training, to the relevant personnel engaging in same.

Jointly funded by the Government of Jamaica and the Korean International Co-operation Agency, the project is expected to result in registration of lands for approximately 350 settlers in project sites, as well as the provision of equipment to facilitate cadastral mapping, during the first year, between April 2012 and March 2013.

By Douglas McIntosh, JIS Reporter