THE Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) on Tuesday officially handed over the keys to the Guyana Lands and Surveys Commission’s spanking new office building at Mibicuri, Black Bush Polder.

The building was constructed by Kascon Engineering to the tune of approximately $35 million.

GL&SC Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Commissioner, Enrique Monize, in his remarks at the handing-over ceremony, said that the community of Black Bush Polder is one that has a high demand for the services offered by the commission.

He said that having recognised this, a decision was made to build a new building in the area which would decentralise the services that are offered to meet the high demands in the Black Bush Polder area.

Much to the delight of those gathered, the CEO stated that this office will be connected to the main office in Georgetown, an arrangement that would allow staff to access digital records in a matter of seconds, as opposed to the manual system of using ledgers.

Additionally, the office would make use of new cutting-edge GPS technology that would allow staff to conduct surveys more efficiently and effectively.

Monize stated that the use of this technology to conduct surveys would allow for a margin of error of less than 1cm in measurements, which will minimise the number of complaints or disputes.

Meanwhile, speaking on behalf of FAO Country Representative Dr.Gillian Smith, the organisation’s Chief Technical Adviser Dr. Alan Roberto Gonzalez explained that the project was funded by the Guyana Red Plus and Investment Fund (GRIF).

The building is furnished, has computers and equipment and upgraded software that is in keeping with the overall technological advancement of land management that the Sustainable Land Development and Management Project (SLDM) is undertaking.

This project focuses on advancing technology, systems, and skills to improve land-use management, monitoring, and environmental restoration which will contribute to the mitigation of deforestation and help Guyana to maintain or increase in the long term, its carbon- credit earnings while meeting the national reporting commitment on land monitoring and degradation to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD).

Gonzalez added that the FAO is pleased to be a part of the process to strengthen the GLSC’s operations in the Black Bush Polder and ultimately bring comfort to the GL&SC team and residents of the area.

Also present at the commissioning ceremony was Regional Chairman David Armogan, who commended all stakeholders for delivering the new building.

He noted that the community is one where land matters are high on the agenda and the new office marks a significant stride towards enhancing services related to such matters.

The regional official emphasised that this development will ensure improved services and efficiency with the inclusion of computerised systems.

He noted also that the new office will complement the work being done in the region to open up an estimated 15,000 acres of land.

“…so the office will become busy. A lot of applications are expected with the opening of new lands within the region…Provisions of new offices, new staff, better systems augur well for the future development of land use in our region,” he added.

The building also caters for differently-abled persons and has a five-member staff to service members of the public.