–as Guyana readies to meet the demand for housing with coming of oil and gas

IN what has been described as a historic development in addressing the growing need for qualified professionals in land valuation and management, the University of Guyana (UG), in collaboration with the Guyana Lands and Survey Commission (GLSC), on Thursday launched an inaugural Diploma in Valuation Programme.

The Programme, which comes under the Faculty of Earth and Environmental Sciences (FEES), will run for 18 months, starting off with some 30 students.

Delivering the feature address at the launch was Minister of State Dawn Hastings-Williams, who stressed to the students the importance of land administration, and the critical role they could go on to play in helping to craft policies that will guide the country in the prudent management of our land resources.

“Considering the oil-and-gas industry and [economic] growth, land interest has already been on the increase, primarily along the coast,” Minister Hastings-Williams said, adding: “It is you the upcoming students to make stakeholders feel confident to take decisions in the face of uncertainty. You the professionals equipped with the requisite skills will play a key role to build a functional and effective valuation system.” The first batch of students comprise staff from the GLSC, the Central Housing and Planning Authority (CH&PA); National Industrial and Commercial Investments Ltd (NICIL); Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC); Lands Registry, and Deeds Registry.

“We thought it important for all the agencies involved in land management to be involved in this training,” GLSC Commissioner Trevor Benn said. “We have to ensure we oversee our nation’s patrimony to bring good value to Guyanese. As stewards of the government, we can depend on this batch of students to start the process, to make sure we get value,” he added.

The majority of the students, 21 to be exact, will come from GLSC, which is sponsoring the programme for its staff. Benn noted that the other agencies are being encouraged to sponsor their staff as well. The programme is expected to cost approximately $30M.

CAPACITY BUILDING
“At GSLC,” Benn said, “we take the education of our staff very important. We have been making an effort to make sure that we expose our staff to various work processes that they can bring to Guyana to elevate our work.”

He noted that this investment in the Commission’s staff is part and parcel of a wider capacity-building initiative at the Commission, to ensure that the agency is able to meet the demands being placed on it. Several staff members have also been part of overseas training programmes, while the Commission also has a collaboration with the University of Twente in the Netherlands, to assess the needs of the Commission and commence training of the staff.

Benn emphasised that it is important for GLSC staff and all Guyanese to become competent in areas where there is a skills need in the country, in the face of the growing immigration to Guyana by foreigners in search of job opportunities.

The Programme is the second that the GLSC has collaborated on with UG to implement, the first being a Diploma in Land Administration.
“The two programmes that we have launched so far are very critical to the work this country is about to embark on in oil and gas, as we prepare for the people that are coming to Guyana,” Benn related.

Also speaking at the launch was UG Registrar Dr. Nigel Gravesande, who noted that there is a significant skills gap for competent professionals in land valuation in Guyana, as well as in the wider Caribbean Region.
Noting that the Region is estimated to need over 5000 such professionals by the year 2025, Dr Gravesande said.

He said that notwithstanding the need, initiatives to meet the demand have not been corresponding, as in all of the Caribbean, only the University of the West Indies (UWI) and now UG that are offering programmes in the sector.

“At both universities, the current cohort of students pursuing such programmes number less than 100. UG sees itself therefore as playing a critical role in satisfying the skills gap not only locally but also regionally,” Dr. Gravesande said, adding: “This Diploma was initiated as a result of a very direct and frontal request by the GLSC. It is also responding to critical feedback from other stakeholders that UG must extend its offering to provide training and competencies in the discipline of valuation.”

Also making remarks at the event were: Dean of the Faculty of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Dr. Temitope Oyedotun; and Chair of the University’s Transition Management Committee, Professor Paloma Mohamed.

The students were given an orientation talk by Assistant Registrar, Students’ Welfare, Daniella King.