Govt distributes 250 land titles to Cotton Tree residents

– mechanisms in place to fast-track regularisation activities in surrounding areas

A total of 250 Certificates of Title for plots of land in Cotton Tree, West Coast Berbice, Region Five (Mahaica-Berbice) were distributed to residents on Monday.
The community that was undocumented for decades is now regularised as a result of the Government’s commitment to empowering Guyanese through land ownership.

During his feature address at the distribution exercise, President Dr Irfaan Ali revealed that over $100 million was expended by his Administration to support the Cotton Tree land-titling project, which was initially launched in 2013.
On this point, the Guyanese Leader underscored the importance of economic and financial independence through the acquisition of viable assets.
Against this backdrop, he encouraged those gathered to invest in wills and/or legal inheritance documentation to secure generational wealth for their families.
“This title is a symbol of economic and financial empowerment, because if you take this title now, you now have a legal value of your property… today when you receive this title, your net worth, in some cases, would be $10 million…what it does automatically is open up the opportunity for more than 4500 persons to have access to capital that can move you right up to the middle class and create the ability for all of you to become entrepreneurs, that is the inherent benefit that this title offers you,” President Ali explained.
Further, during his address, the President acknowledged the backlog of applications in the system and the challenges with processing titles on time.
One such challenge is the availability of Land Court Judges, given that there are only two such persons in the judicial system.
In this regard, President Ali revealed that the Attorney General’s Chambers will appoint temporary Judges to address the backlog in Cotton Tree and surrounding areas, within six months.
Moreover, the Housing and Water Ministry has been instructed to have all outstanding lands on the West Coast of Berbice regularised within eight weeks, and provide land titles to residents in these areas.
“Bush Lot, that is 166 persons who are currently under regularisation and within six weeks these 166 families will have their titles in their hands from the Ministry of Housing. But it is not only the regularisation and the issuance of the title that is important, this now allows for a swift and smooth operation in the expansion of the infrastructure into your communities,” Ali stated.
The President noted that with this newly-announced land titling initiative over 4500 titles will be processed and over 18,000 persons will benefit from this initiative.

Cotton Tree land-titling project
A total of 3000 residents of Cotton Tree, West Coast Berbice, are said to benefit from the project being spearheaded by the Attorney General’s Chambers and the Guyana Lands and Surveys Commission.
In 2013, then President Donald Ramotar visited the community and announced a land-regularisation exercise for the locality through a land-registration process that is enshrined in the country’s laws. He had also pledged some $43 million to survey the parcels of land.
When the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) demitted office in 2015, the registration exercise, which required much Government assistance, was disregarded.
However, while out of Aovernment, Attorneys Anil Nandlall and Priya Manickchand provided legal assistance to the residents to facilitate the process as far as possible.
After the PPP/C assumed office in August 2020, engagements were held between Government Ministers and residents in the area, after which, the land titling process recommenced.
The process involved declaring the area a “registration area” under the Land Registry Act, surveying the parcels of land occupied and upon completion of the survey, submission of applications for title to the Land Court, which conducted hearings and took evidence of occupation before ownership is granted.