Land, house lot distribution for radical overhaul
-Speed, transparency guiding principles
Stabroek News
June 8, 2003
The system of land distribution proposed in the White Paper on land and house lot distribution calls for a one-tier land selection committee at the regional level and an independent mechanism to monitor the system and to provide adequate redress where discrimination is proven.
It also proposes specified timeframes for various aspects of the approval process.
The policy paper is a recommendation of the Constitution Reform Commission and the Parliamentary Committee on Constitutional Re-form, which had required the paper to be laid by January 1, 2000.
The paper proposes that the regional land selection committee should be chaired by a person appointed by the Minister of Housing and Water and should include three members representing agencies concerned with land use planning, agriculture and investment, and three members from the Regional Democratic Council. It also provides for a member from the Neighbourhood Demo-cratic Council, in which the land is located, to be present when that application is being considered.
The terms of the committee members will be for two years. The committee’s functions will include using evaluation criteria specified by the Commissioner of Land and Surveys; reviewing and evaluating applications for state land made through the field offices of the Guyana Lands and Surveys Commission (GLSC); and making recommendations on each application to the Commissioner of Lands and Surveys.
The paper calls for the regional land selection committees to submit their recommendations on each application considered to the GLSC including the score sheet and tally points for each application and the reasons for its recommendations.
The paper calls too for applications to be taken before the regional land selection committee within eight weeks of being filed and to be submitted to the GLSC within two weeks of the meeting at which it was considered. However, if the committee does not make a recommendation within two months of receiving the application it is to be forwarded to the GLSC without the recommendation of the committee.
The Commissioner of Lands and Surveys is then required to send a schedule of applications to the GLSC Board within a month of receiving the file from the region. He is required to prepare the lease for signing by the applicant within a month of the approval by the GLSC board.
Applications for renewals, transfers and cancellations of lands up to 40 acres and new applications up to 40 acres will be approved at the level of the GLSC board. Renewals, transfers and cancellations over 40 acres and up to 500 acres and new applications between 41-500 acres, where the applicants are resident Guyanese, must be approved by the GLSC board and the Minister of Housing. Where an overseas investor applies for land over 500 acres, the GLSC Board and the Cabinet will have to approve the application.
The criteria against which applications for land will be evaluated are to be put in a standardised point form. They will take account of the availability of the land including accessibility, suitability for the proposed use and compatibility of the proposed use with the neighbourhood, financial capability to utilise the land productively for which evidence will have to be provided for areas over 15 acres. Also considered is the real estate holdings, family and gender status of the applicant. The policy paper also calls for the intent to grant leases of more than 40 acres to be publicised in a paper of mass circulation.
House lot allocations
With regard to house lot allocation, the policy calls for all available house lots for new housing schemes in all the regions to be advertised publicly and for a seven-member allocation committee, comprising representatives of the RDC/NDC and the Central Housing and Planning Authority (CHPA) appointed by the Minister to consider the applications.
The RDC and the CHPA will each have three representatives on the committee with one of the representatives of the CHPA being the chairman who will have an original and a casting vote.
The criteria for low income groups are household size, income below $60,000, the year of application as verified by the CHPA, proximity to the scheme, ability to construct a house, and whether or not the applicant is living in rental accommodation.
For applications from the middle-income groups the criteria against which they will be evaluated include proximity to the scheme, household income above $60,000 and the year in which the application was first made as verified by the CHPA.
The committee will prepare and submit the list of eligible applicants for approval by the CHPA, which will then publish this list and provide a 30-day period for the public to comment or raise objections.
The paper proposes as an independent monitoring and appeal mechanism, a five-member Monitoring and Appeals Body set up under the Housing Act Chap 36:20. This would comprise a chairman appointed by the President after consultation with the Leader of the Opposition.
