Jamaica and South Korea on Tuesday launched a multimillion-dollar programme they expect will improve land administration, allowing Jamaicans to more quickly acquire titles for the land on which they live and work.

The $1.42-billion programme is being implemented against the background that the plots of land registered and titled across Jamaica total about 55 per cent, Robert Montague, the minister of land titling and settlements, told the launch event at the Office of the Prime Minister in St Andrew.

“You should all have your names entered in the titles book. If you do that, prosperity will run from Morant Point to Negril Point,” Montague said.

Those financial opportunities for citizens and the Government, alongside an increase in transparency, ease in the titling process and even a potential decrease in inter-family conflict over land are the driving forces behind the project, Prime Minister Dr Andrew Holness explained.

“Many Jamaicans have experienced land administration as slow, opaque, and difficult to navigate. We are determined to change that. We are building a system that is faster, more accurate, more accessible, and more responsive to citizens, investors, planners, and communities,” he noted.

“When land is properly surveyed, mapped, recorded, and titled, the effects ripple outward. A family can access a mortgage, a farmer can use the land as collateral, an investor can access a site with confidence,” Holness added.

Pointing out that in the 1950s, South Korea restructured its agricultural land tenure system, abolishing absentee land ownership and transferring ownership to those who actually cultivated the land, the prime minister said while land ownership is to be protected, Jamaica is hoping to develop a similar structure.

“There are many Jamaicans alive today who have worked the same piece of land, some for more than 50 years, built a home on the land, farmed the land, raised family on the land, and who still cannot provide proof that the land belongs to them,” he said.

“That gap between possession and title is not a bureaucratic inconvenience only, it is a barrier to finance, security, to inheritance, and to the formal economy. A land title is more than a document, it is a platform for opportunity. This project is about building that platform at scale,” the prime minister said.

A collaboration between the National Land Agency (NLA), Korea Land and Geospatial Informatix Corporation, and the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) which is providing the US$9-million ($1.4-million) grant, the Land Administration Capacity Enhancement Project aims to accelerate the rate of land registration locally by increasing both digital and personnel capabilities in the sector.

Stage one, which will run from 2026 to 2027, lays the foundation, through institutional reform, for the Land Administration Innovation Centre (LAIC) which will be housed at 84 Hanover Street and eventually become a hub for practical trainer development through intensive preparation courses.

From 2028 to 2029, stage two transforms the LAIC into that national training hub with technical courses, field practice, geographic information system, data management and trainer development.

Then starting in 2030, the LAIC will be fully operational by the NLA, supported by targeted technical cooperation and a trainer-trainer model that aims to keep expertise in Jamaica.

President and CEO of Korea Land and Geospatial Informatix Corporation Myoengso Eo explained that the implementation of land administration is at the core of national infrastructure.

“[It] serves as the foundation for the development of roads, railways, airports, urban planning, tax, etc. Korea has achieved a rapid economic growth based on effective land management,” he explained.

Project organisers noted that by strengthening land administration, the project supports faster registration, secure ownership, stronger public revenue, planned development, skilled jobs and smart digital land services.

Charge d’Affaires at the Embassy of the Republic of Korea in Jamaica Joongkeun Oh added: “Providing this foundation for economic self-reliance remains a testament to the sincerity of our collaboration.”

He noted that with the combination of the digital infrastructure and the technicians to be trained at the centre, Jamaica will be empowered and can systematically utilise land to achieve food self-sufficiency and provide essential data for energy companies to design highly efficient and modernised energy grids.

He also shared that Korea and the United States stand ready to support Jamaica by facilitating consultations with international financial institutions such as the World Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank to move the project forward.

“We are prepared to collaborate closely in exploring practical financing and implementation strategies for this advanced system integration,” he said.

The project was described as built on partnership and designed for self-reliance, to eventually support Jamaica’s long-term progress through stronger institutions, local expertise, and a more sustainable land administration system.