PM Requests Lower Title Rates for Seniors

Prime Minister, the Most Hon. Portia Simpson Miller, has requested that senior citizens, who are accessing their certificates of title for the first time, do so at a reduced rate.

She has asked the Ministry of Water, Land, Environment and Climate Change, to explore the possibility of offering the seniors a reduction in the cost associated with the process.

The Prime Minister made the request while delivering the keynote address at the official launch of the Expansion of the Land Titling Project (LAMP II), at the Golf View Hotel in Mandeville, on May 15, where just over 200 persons, most of whom were senior citizens, received titles and certificates of compliance.

The beneficiaries are from the parishes of Clarendon, Manchester and St. Elizabeth, the original three parishes under the Land Administration and Management Programme, when it first started in 2010.

Mrs. Simpson Miller said she will be waiting for Portfolio Minister, Hon. Robert Pickersgill, to make an early submission to Cabinet to lower the rate for the elderly.

“We know that times are hard, and many of you find it difficult to pay even the reduced fees charged by LAMP for registering your land,” the Prime Minister said.

She noted however, that LAMP is still the best value for money available today for land registration services, and urged land owners to take advantage of it.

The Prime Minister pointed out that land is a major asset, especially for persons with little cash, who cannot access certain facilities simply because they have no titles.

“In Jamaica it is a stunning fact that of the over 800,000 land parcels, only about 50 per cent have a registered title. This Government wants to see that each and every land owner has security of tenure.  By that I mean a Government-guaranteed registered title,” Mrs. Simpson Miller said.

In the meantime, Mr. Pickersgill said the administration will continue to seek innovative ways to make the process of land ownership cheaper, so that more persons can acquire a registered title.

Mr. Pickersgill noted that LAMP will be one of the vehicles through which this is done.

The Minister thanked the South Korean Government and the Korea Cadastral Survey Corporation for allowing the programme to be extended.

LAMP 11 will extend the project beyond the initial three parishes to include five additional parishes of St James, Westmoreland, St. Ann, Hanover and Trelawny.

The time frame of the project has also been extended from two to 10 years, during which its targets will include: updating and amending the valuation/property tax roll for 100,000 parcels; delivery of certificates of compliance for 50,000 parcels; Cadastral surveys for 112,000 parcels; completion of the cadastral map for St. Elizabeth, and the registration of 12,500 parcels of land across the project parishes.