SANTA CRUZ, St Elizabeth — MAYOR of Black River, Jeremy Palmer has repeated calls for a change in the laws governing land titling to make life easier for land-owning Jamaicans.

“The system of title registration in Jamaica is broken. And it is broken largely because the registration of titles act has not worked to register all the lands,” Palmer told a financial exposition staged by the Land, Administration and Management Programme (LAMP) at the Santa Cruz Transport Centre in St Elizabeth recently.

Palmer argued that while LAMP had made it easier to acquire titles, it was not a complete solution.

“They (Government) need to amend or repeal the registrations of titles law and bring in place a law that will make it simple for all Jamaicans to get a title for the land they own. If we are going to have a meaningful attack upon the backlog, we are going to have to change the law,” said Palmer.

LAMP was officially launched in 2000 with the mandate to benefit persons who cannot afford the fees associated with the processing of titles. To help ease the financial burden on applicants, all paperwork relating to land surveys and legal matters is carried out in one location.

The Black River Mayor praised LAMP for “outstanding work” but he also emphasised the need for support systems.

“I think LAMP is doing a good job but it has its limitation. Because one institution set up for that

purpose can’t handle every registration in Jamaica. The thing needs to be opened so that people can go through whichever agency or attorney they choose and have the same facility they would get out of LAMP,” Palmer said.

“The Government opening up a window with LAMP alone will not solve the problem. LAMP is only a window or a small light. Title registration is an extremely dark place,” Palmer said.

Three thousand applications were received and processed for titles by LAMP in 2009.