ARD Human Settlement Consultant Ivan Laughlin made the proposal
today during a meeting of stakeholders at the ARD Board Room, including
representatives from the Lands and Surveys and Land Use Divisions in
the Ministry of Agriculture, the Physical Planning Unit and the
Valuation Division in the Ministry of Finance, the Supreme Court
Registry in the Ministry of Legal Affairs and the National Disaster
Management Authority.
Issues surrounding land ownership, use and development have come to
the fore in the wake of Hurricane Ivan, while the lack of title and
appropriate documentation have prevented many citizens from accessing
loans to rebuild.
“Ivan has marked a watershed in the life of Grenada. The Country has
the opportunity to confront the many issues surrounding development,”
Mr. Laughlin said.
This will require involvement of people, integration of all aspects
of development and an incremental or phased-in approach to
implementation of the Human Settlement Policy and Strategy. Addressing
the various constraints in the relevant Government departments and the
lack of communication among these departments will be essential,
according to Mr. Laughlin.
Such constraints include:
- The poor physical conditions under which documents are housed at the Supreme Court Registry,
- The inadequate land survey records. These have no base map showing Crown lands,
- Cadastral surveys of private lands are not recorded at the Land and Surveys Division;
- The urgent need for a comprehensive re-mapping of Grenada, since the last mapping of Grenada was done in 1979
“It is important to plan and implement at the same time, even if the first step is a small step,” he added.
Participants at the meeting agreed that the first step is the
establishment of the Human Settlement Task Force, comprising
representatives of the Valuation Division, Physical Planning Unit,
Supreme Court Registry, Lands and Surveys Division, Land Use Division
and the Housing Authority of Grenada. The first meeting of the Task
Force will be convened by the ARD on July 28.