UG, GTI, GL&SC to sign MoU to enhance land surveying

…8 new surveyors sworn in

At the swearing-in ceremony for eight new land surveyors, Guyana Lands and Surveys Commission (GL&SC) Commissioner Trevor Benn said that they were in the process of inking Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) to further enhance the Land Surveying programme at the Government Technical Institute (GTI) and introduce a Land Administration Diploma programme at the University of Guyana.
“Both signed on to work with us and the Board of Directors approved of this exercise and we are about to sign MoUs with those institutions to ensure that we can continue to support all of our budding surveyors and land administrators,” Benn noted.

The eight newly-minted Sworn Land Surveyors are Kitfai Sue; Orvil Parris; Romario Denhart; Kevon Williams; the lone female – Moyica Dodson; Mahendra Sahadeo; Brentnol Bart and Bhgeshwar Murli.
Commissioner Benn noted that the role of a land surveyor was integral to the execution of the Commission’s mandate. He added that over the years, Mathematics and Astronomy were two of the subject areas with the lowest pass grade and they have taken steps to correct that with extra classes being offered.
He also noted that they would be seeking to introduce an internship programme for prospective land surveyors before they are sworn in.
“In 2018, however, it is going to be the beginning of a new era for surveyors in Guyana and this is resulting in the Land Surveyors Profession Act that was assented to in 2014, but for which we have been able to bring effect to some aspect of it at this time. The Act provides for the registration of land surveyors, the regulation of the practice of surveying and the administering of penalties in accordance with what is set out in the Act,” he informed.
“Surveyors will be now only able to conduct surveys legally if she or he has a certificate of registration beginning in 2018. Certificates will reflect whether the surveyor is a government or private surveyor. This is so because for Government surveyors you are entitled to free registration, but for private surveyors there is a fee involved in the registration process,” he added.
At the swearing-in ceremony, Minister of State, Joseph Harmon, who also has responsibility for the GL&SC, urged the new land surveyors to ensure that they act in a manner that further enhance the image of the surveying profession.
“I believe that surveying is an exact science and, therefore, it cannot be who is right or who is wrong, it is what the science says. If it says this is a boundary, this is the boundary and it is not because your client pays you more money that you will say ‘look, this is not the boundary; that is the boundary’. That is professional dishonesty and we have to guard against that and surveyors are required to provide honest, impartial and fair service,” Harmon advised.
Examiner and Board Member, Magistrate Dylon Best said that despite the myth of favouritism in the selection of land surveyors, the Board was bound to treat everyone fairly and did not condone favouritism.