Region 5 residents to get land titles after decades of waiting

The Guyana Government, through the Attorney General’s Chambers and the Guyana Lands and Surveys Commission (GL&SC), have commenced a land registration exercise in Region Five (Mahaica-Berbice), intended to provide families with a Certificate of Title for lands they have been occupying for decades.
This exercise will benefit residents of Number 3, Number 4, and Number 5 Villages on the West Coast of Berbice (WCB).
On Saturday, Legal Affairs Minister Anil Nandlall met with the residents and explained that the exercise commenced over a decade ago, beginning at Cotton Tree village, WCB, and is now being extended to the neighbouring villages.
He informed the residents that the Cotton Tree village exercise is about to be completed and as such, focus will be placed on other villages.
In his address to the residents, he explained the importance of having a formal legal title for the lands.

“It is this legal instrument that will allow each title holder to lawfully transmit this land to their heirs and beneficiaries. It is this instrument that will lawfully allow for the lands to be sold and for the purchasers to receive a title and it is this instrument that will allow for the lands to be used as collateral for borrowing at commercial banks and lending institutions,” he said.
“While many are pontificating publicly about empowering people, pontification without action is nothing but empty rhetoric. What our Government is doing is not merely talking, but delivering real empowerment to people. I must emphasise that it is the Government that will be bearing almost all the costs in this exercise. The beneficiaries of these titles in the end will pay little or nothing but will get a Certificate of Title for their lands after living as glorified squatters for generations,” he added.

Nandlall also shared that the citizens’ cooperation is crucial for the process to be completed. This entails supporting the GL&SC so that the lands can be properly surveyed and demarcated.
“You are to assist and cooperate with the sworn land surveyors from the Guyana Lands and Surveys Commission who will begin work in your community. It will entail a survey of the entire block of the village as well as an occupational survey of each house lot. It may involve persons being required to adjust their fences in order to have clear ingress and egress to streets in the community as well as to bring alignment to persons’ property that may extend beyond its lawful boundaries,” he said.
The citizens expressed their gratitude to the Government of Guyana for this initiative and they thanked President Irfaan Ali and his team.
Also in attendance at the engagement were Member of Parliament for Region Five (Mahaica-Berbice), Faizal Jaffarally; Vice Chairman Rion Peters and other officials. Leading the team from the Guyana Lands and Surveys Commission was Rene Duesbury.