“We’re not in the business of real estate” – GLSC Head

…warns against sale, releasing of state lands

Chief Executive Officer of the Guyana Lands and Surveys Commission (GLSC), Enrique Monize, has warned persons who possess lease lands against selling or re-leasing them, noting that the agency is not in the business of real estate.
He was at the time speaking at a recent exercise which saw dozens of leases handed over to persons at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre (ACCC).
The GLSC Head has revealed that the entity is aware, and looking into cases of persons listing state lands for sale.

“If you run the ads in the land market, [where] there is a lot of state lands available for sale — quite a lot, and we’ve been checking on them – we will be checking on them,” he said. “We will not allow persons to attempt to sell [state] land. We’re not in the business of real estate. We’re giving people the opportunity to have a piece of land; to own a piece of land for their own development…to empower you; not to sell it for a profit, because we could have sold it too. We could’ve just called a sale and have everybody come in and pay $2 million and get the piece of land,” Monize pointed out.
Currently, state lands are being leased at a meagre rental cost of $100 per acre. This fee was reintroduced by the People’s Progressive Party/Civic Government, in keeping with its Manifesto promise, after the previous A Partnership for National Unity/Alliance For Change (APNU/AFC) Coalition regime had increased the fee. In some instances, the rents were doubled, and even tripled.
Monize further emphasised that the sale of state lands is not allowed, and he encouraged leaseholders to ensure they develop their properties in accordance with the terms of their leases.
“We expect you to take up the lands and do what you proposed to do in your application to us. If you say you’re going to build a house, go build a house. If you say you’re going to do agriculture, go do agriculture; because some of these lands are also in areas that are zoned for certain things. You cannot take an agriculture land and say you’re going to put up a sawmill, or a residential land and you put up a sawmill to the detriment of the neighbours. So, ensure that you utilise the land in the manner you proposed,” he stressed.
The leases that were issued to persons on Wednesday provide a 50-year security of tenure. This allows the lease holders to mortgage the lands for developmental purposes.
Additionally, these leased lands can also be passed down through wills.
“If you have developed the land, and let’s say you build a house, you can leave that property in a will for whomever the beneficiaries are, and it is transferrable,” the GLSC Head stated.
But Monize went on to explain that while these leased lands can be transferred, permission is needed from the Lands and Surveys Commission to do this. “When that request comes to us for a transfer, we do an inspection. If we see bush, we’re not going to transfer it, because it just means that you [could] just collect the lease and sell it. But if you have development, that’s a different story. You’re allowed to transfer your development, because your development will have value. So we do transfers based on merit, it is not something automatic,” he stressed.
Meanwhile, GLSC CEO disclosed that the agency has had to deal with a backlog of applications for state lands that existed prior to 2015.
According to Monize, the demand for land across the country has risen incredibly in recent years.
“In 2021, we had over 5,000 requests for land; and currently, we have over 5,000 requests for lands in Region Four alone, that is pending. This is just requests; they have not applied as yet. We’re in the process of allocating and we’re working from a list of around 5,000. This is more than double the historic records the Commission has seen,” he noted.
The GLSC Head further pointed out that providing lands that are accessible is becoming increasingly difficult. However, he explained that the challenge is not necessarily availability of land, but rather accessibility.
“There are a lot of lands in Guyana, but [there is] the issue of accessibility… Most persons who come to the Lands and Surveys Commission, they will ask you they want a piece of land close to the road and next to a creek. That has been the basic thing… We have many creeks, but we have a few roads; so, in order to meet that criterion, it has to be a very selective process,” he noted. (G8)