The Land Administration projecthas contributed to theestablishment of land titles, whichhas resulted in security of tenureand ultimately increasedinvestments in agriculture.

Ghana Land Administration Project Improves Ease of Land RegistrationACCRA, April 29, 2010—Ghana is heavily dependent on primary land-based products notably agriculture, mining and timber for itsgrowth and socio-economic development. However, Ghana’s economic growth and development has faced severe challenges thatinclude difficulty accessing land, insecurity of land tenure and mismanagement of the nation’s land resources.

The Government of Ghana’s Growth and Poverty Reduction Strategies (GPRS-I and 11) recognizes the considerable role that the landsector plays in the attainment of the country’s development objectives; it describes the sector’s main challenges as:

(i) inadequate policy and legal framework; (ii) fragmented institutional arrangements and weak institutional capacity; (iii) underdevelopedland registration system and inefficient land market; (iv) weak land administration system that excludes land owners and chiefs from majordecisions on land administration; and (v) compulsory acquisitions by Government of large tracts of land without payment of compensation.

These challenges have given rise to massive land disputes, as well as a failure of the country’s land resources to fully contribute to ruraland urban development.

Approach

To address its land challenges, the Government of Ghana sought assistance from the World Bank. As a result, the Land AdministrationProject (LAP) was designed and approved by the World Bank Board of Directors in the 2004 fiscal year for US$20.51 million. The project,funded by the Bank’s concessional lending arm, the International Development Association (IDA), is a multi-phase (15-20 years) programfinanced through an Adaptable Program Lending (APL) instrument. It provides a framework for multi-donor support with a common annualprogram of work, and includes a common monitoring and evaluation system as well as a common reporting system.

“The goal of this project is to undertake land policy and institutional reforms and to develop land administration pilots which will lay thefoundation for a sustainable, decentralized land administration system,” said World Bank project leader Charles Frempong. “This will leadto a land sector that is fair, efficient, cost-effective and ensures land tenure security.”

Results

Significant progress has been made at the country level with the development and approval of a spatial development planning frameworkpaving the way for the preparation of a comprehensive land-use Bill. The project has also resulted in the strengthening and streamlining ofinstitutional arrangements for land administration in Ghana with the passage of the Lands Commission Act 767 (2008) by Parliament onOctober 29, 2008.

“Now that l have title to my land as a result of interventions from LAP, am more comfortable to develop it,” said Robert Owusu Sekyere, aland owner in Accra. “I can also use it to secure a loan [and] obtaining a building permit was faster and easier.”

The decentralization of the deeds registry to all the nine regional capitals, as part of the project, has brought the registration of deedscloser to the clients making it easier to access land for agricultural purposes and paving the way for faster turnaround time for theprocessing of land documents. This has resulted in the reduction in the time it takes to register a deed from 36 months to two months. Aministerial directive issued in 2006 has also resulted in cutting the time it takes to register deeds of sale with the Lands Commission from135 days to 34 days. The efficiency gains are expected to be increased further by re-engineering processes and systems.

Thirty eight Customary Land Secretariats (CLS) have been established exceeding the initial target ofthirty. The CLS have so far compiled an estimated 58,000 land records. The eight pilot activities whichinclude systematic titling, customary lands demarcation, Geodetic reference network, a land valuationdatabase, land information systems, deed registration, community-based land use planning, and landcourts geared towards testing best practices have all yielded useful lessons for scaling-up.

IDA’s Contribution

Out of a total budget of US$59.77, IDA has contributed US$20.51 towards: i) assisting with theestablishment of land titles, ii) ensuring security of tenure to land and peaceful possession, iii)facilitating investments in housing, industry, agriculture and services sectors of the economy, iv)supporting traditional authorities to maintain systematic records of land transactions, and v) helpingdevise formulae which will ensure that poorer members of the community are not made landless whenrural lands are converted into urban housing plots. Public Disclosure Next Steps

A follow-on project is being planned for the 2011 fiscal year and will focus on deepening the institutional and legal framework for landadministration and decentralizing services closer to the client.

Feedback from Civil Society

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In an editorial published March, the Public Agenda (owned by ISODEC – one of Ghana’s leading CSOs) pays glowing tribute the LandAdministration Project (LAP) for devising a more progressive method of getting land owners to have their parcels of land registered devoidof the frustrations that have characterized the exercise. To read the full editorial, please visit: LAP's Systematic Land Title Registrationis Commendable.

Related Content

Documents

Ghana Land Administration Project

Websites

The World Bank in GhanaThe World Bank in AfricaBlog: Africa Can End Poverty