–President Ali says, as close to 200 titles distributed to Region Five residents
–gov’t unveils plans to rigorously address land regularisation

CLOSE to 200 residents from Cotton Tree, Region Five, and other surrounding communities received land titles, on Monday.
While addressing a gathering of hundreds of residents at the ceremony held to distribute the legal documents, President, Dr. Irfaan Ali, said while the exercise may seem simple generational wealth and prosperity is being created for communities.

“This title is a symbol of economic and financial empowerment, because if you take this title now, you know have a legal value …the value of what you are receiving can be cashed in a financial institution for $10 million, you can then use that as collateral to get resources, to invest and to empower yourselves,” the President said.

The regularisation process in the region had started back in 2011, when residents had made a representation to the then President. An exercise had begun subsequently where interviews were conducted with residents to begin the process, however it was later delayed under the APNU+AFC in 2015.

Currently, similar exercises are being done across the country to address a backlog of land regularisation issues and other land related matters.
To further address the backlog, the President mulled plans for judges to collaborate with the Judicial Service Commission to establish a mechanism to process all outstanding titles.

Currently only two land court judges are available in the country; however, the President noted that other judges will be employed within this capacity temporarily to expedite the process.
A further examination of all pending land matters in the country will be done to assist citizens who have pending land matters at the level of the courts.

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The President highlighted that massive infrastructure will now be done to complement the regularisation of communities in which residents received their respective land titles.
“The financial analysis shows that when the infrastructure is upgraded in your communities, your asset value, your land and your home value grows incrementally by a minimum of 15 per cent,” the President added.

He highlighted that residents could look forward to transformation in several communities, with billions of dollars already set aside to improve roads, drainage and other infrastructure.
Dr Ali, however, requested that residents be cooperative during this process.

“The government is putting a lot of effort into it but you guys have to give a little bit too,” the Head of State said.
Attorney-General Anil Nandlall said that the lands that have now been regularised are lands that were inherited from both Afro-Guyanese and Indo-Guyanese ancestors.

“Generations and generations of both Afro-Guyanese and Indo-Guyanese have been occupying these villages without any form of title certifying that they own the lands upon which their houses are built, upon which their fore parents have been living and is the state that this simple ceremony is intended to rectify and change,” he said.

A similar exercise is being conducted at Number 41 Village in Berbice, where some 300 families will also receive titles for their lands for the first time.
Other exercises will see the delivery of titles to families at Cotton Tree, Edderton, Number Five village, Number Seven Village, and other communities.

A project is being rolled out in Ann’s Grove and other surrounding communities along the East Coast Demerara to distribute 450 titles for ancestral lands.
Similarly, works are underway to regularise farmlands along coastal villages like Nabaclis.
“You have your titles now…it means for the first time in your life you are an owner of a document to say this piece of land in the Cooperative Republic of Guyana is owned by, me by law,” the Attorney-General said.