ST ELIZABETH, Jamaica – A total of 440 land titles have been delivered to first-time landowners in St Elizabeth by the National Land Agency (NLA) under the Government’s Systematic Land Registration (SLR) programme.

Market Research and Public Relations Officer at the NLA, Rasheeda Campbell, said that 1,300 titles have been prepared for residents of the parish.

An initial 35 titles were handed over in February, and Campbell said that the remainder will be distributed as expeditiously as possible.

Campbell, who was addressing the recent handover ceremony at the Saint Patrick Methodist Church in Santa Cruz, said it is “heartwarming” to see residents coming forward to receive titles for property they have occupied for several years.

“Land is an asset and if you have a title, you can use your land to help improve your life and your children’s lives. In fact, you can use your title as collateral to apply for a loan to do just about anything you want,” she noted.

“It gives you security and it is the only way to prove that you own the land. It can help you to start a business, pay school fees, improve your farm and build your dream house,” she pointed out.

The NLA implemented the SLR programme to increase the levels of land registration in Jamaica.

SLR is the methodical and orderly registration of parcels of land in a designated zone known as the systematic adjudication area. In January 2021, Prime Minister, Andrew Holness, declared several districts across the island as systematic adjudication areas.

Through the Adjudication Services Division, persons in these areas will be assisted to obtain titles for property they have lived on under open, undisturbed, and undisputed circumstances for upwards of 12 years.

Campbell told said that the focus is now on communities in St Elizabeth but other areas across the island have been identified for landownership under the SLR and will be visited by the NLA team.

One of the major benefits of SLR is that the Government will advance the entire cost for the registration process.

The NLA, which is an executive agency, brings together the core land information functions of Government under one roof. These are land title, survey and mapping, and land valuation and estate (Crown land) management.

This merger enables the Government to build on the synergy of these combined functions to create a modern national land (spatial) information system to support sustainable development.