Govt pushes land titling agenda this year; over 20 Greenwich Park families receive certificates

Some 23 families of Greenwich on the East Bank of Essequibo (EBE) in Region Three (Essequibo Islands-West Demerara) received their Certificates of Title – 18 on Wednesday and five the following day, New Year’s Day – as the Ministry of Housing embarks on an aggressive land titling programme this year with the Guyana Government’s continued drive to complete homeownership.

Greenwich comprises 52 unregularised house lots, of which 25 have already been formalised. Addressing the beneficiaries on Thursday at State House, President Dr Irfaan Ali congratulated them on being able to receive their official land ownership documents, which, he says, is “…so key and critical to you, your families and your future.” The Head of State assured citizens that this land regularisation process will be accelerated in this new term to ensure that all eligible communities receive legal ownership of their land. “We can’t stop working because today (New Year’s Day) is a holiday. We have set ourselves a very aggressive agenda, and that is what we’re delivering on that agenda,” the Guyanese leader declared.
Since 2020, the Housing Ministry, through the Central Housing and Planning Authority (CH&PA), processed over 25,000 Certificates of Title or Transports as part of the land regularisation programme. Of these, some 4498 were processed in Region Three alone, with 2953 titles distributed over the last five years. Between January and November 2025, 872 Certificates of Title were distributed.
Minister within the Housing Ministry, Vanessa Benn, who was present at Thursday’s distribution exercise at State House, assured those awaiting theirs that they are not the only focus on Greenwich Park. She explained some of these Greenwich families have been waiting for their titles for almost four decades. Nevertheless, Minister Benn noted that more communities will soon benefit from a similar exercise in the coming weeks. “I want to give the public the assurance that this is not something that is a one-time activity. It’s not being selective. It is an effort that will continue across our country in all the areas that are going through the process of regularisation and relocation… So, every community will get its turn. And those times are very fast coming upon us, because our team is working very assiduously,” the Junior Housing Minister stressed.

Delays
Meanwhile, President Ali reminded that the land regularisation process had begun in 2009 under the then People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) Administration but the work was stalled for five years during the former A Partnership for National Unity+Alliance For Change (APNU+AFC) regime.
“When we came back in [office in] 2020, unfortunately a lot of the good work that was done since 2009 was undone…because you had new persons who moved into the area. You had other persons who squatted. So, the surveys and plans were all thrown in disarray because of the changing conditions that took place between 2015 and 2020,” the Head of State noted. Going forward, areas such as Stewartville, Uitvlugt in Region Three and several villages along the East Coast of Demerara (ECD) are among the villages to be formalised in the coming months.
According to the President, “All of those are areas we hope to complete this year. But it requires a collective effort, that is, everyone being part of it and being disciplined. So that’s a few hundred of regularisation that must take place. But you know we have the added challenge of migrants coming into the areas and posing what I would term a threat to the process…” “So, by the 31st of December 2026… we definitely will have those areas coming on stream. Some of it are already advanced…most of it, as you hear, the surveys are already completed. And it’s just to go through that period of settling differences in boundaries, conflict, ownership, and all of these things and having that.”
In addition to their Certificates of Title, the beneficiaries also received additional relief from the Government including the waiving of approximately $35,000 in survey, conveyancing and administrative fees. This decision, it was explained, took into account the years families had been waiting to receive legal ownership of their lands.