Residents of St. Catherine Receive Titles

Sixty-two residents of St. Catherine, were presented with land titles on Wednesday (October 1), as part of the Land Administration and Management Programme (LAMP), of the Government.
The presentation, which took place at the Point Hill Baptist Church in St. Catherine, saw persons from Point Hill, Kitson Town and several other neighbouring districts, being presented with titles, which had eluded them for many years.
Project Director of LAMP, Gloria Brown, told JIS News, that St. Catherine was targeted as the first parish under the programme for several reasons.
“St. Catherine was chosen initially, because it is near the executing agencies; a number of persons did not have registered titles; there is a heavy amount of fragmentation…many communities in St. Catherine are ripe for development, hence St. Catherine was chosen,” she informed.
Ms. Brown pointed out that more than 30,000 parcels of land were surveyed in St. Catherine, and to date, over 9,000 are being processed.
The LAMP was started in 2000, as a pilot project, jointly funded by the Government and the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), with the aim of addressing the issue of persons not being able to enter the formal economy, because they were without registered land titles. More recently, it has become institutionalised in the Prime Minister’s Office, with a mandate to bring about 100 per cent registration of lands in Jamaica.
“Ultimately, we hope to have 100 per cent registration. We hope to have every single parcel of land on the formal register. The aim of LAMP really, is to expand and to bring persons on to the register, because we need to recognise that over 300,000 parcels of land are unregistered, and that it is very, very important for us to bring those persons into the formal economy, because we can’t reach first world status, with over 40 per cent of our properties unregistered,” Ms. Brown emphasised.
One of the beneficiaries, Samuel Woodhouse, said he had been trying to get his title over a long period, and praised the role that LAMP had played in assisting him to obtain it.
“I tried for so long to get my title, and nothing was happening, then LAMP came along, and today I am smiling. I would encourage everybody to get on board and see what LAMP can do for them,” he said.
Clarendon was recently declared a LAMP area, and will be the next parish targeted. Areas in Manchester, St. Elizabeth, St. James and St. Thomas have also being identified as LAMP areas.