Atimpoku (E/R), Nov. 10, GNA - Ghana can lay a firm foundation for a giant industrial stride if customary lands are surveyed, demarcated and well documented, a land officer has said. Mr Justice Morgan, Eastern Regional Land Officer, who said this at a day's workshop on land demarcation project on Tuesday, noted that disputes over lands had been the main reason for slow and poor development. The workshop attended by chiefs and village heads mainly from the Anum traditional area in the Asuogyaman District and surrounding areas such as Bonsu Akwamu, Tsito, Peki and Abutia was to educate the people on the need for proper demarcation of lands. The project, which was piloted at Ejisu in the Ashanti region with relative success, had now been extended to the Eastern Region as part of the Land Administration Project (LAP), which started in 2003 by the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources.

The six-month project, aims at establishing actual boundaries of beneficiary communities in the short term, document them and the final document handed over to the paramount chiefs. It would also assist in obtaining information relating to spatial features of the boundaries, land documents, maps or plans including court judgments. Mr Morgan stated that the problem of indeterminate customary boundaries has been identified as the main source of conflict as result of the fleeting and impermanent. He explained that some lands were demarcated on mere agreements based on streams, rocks, stones and trees and most of which have been lost due to degradation of nature thus creating uncertainties about the exact boundary lines. "There could not be genuine and sustained development in the country without tackling head-on issues concerning land," he said. The commencement of this project, he said, would "mark the beginning of a new era of peace prevailing among stools and skins paramouncies' communities and families." Mr Morgan appealed to the chiefs to offer unlimited support since the process cut across several traditional areas. Mr Kwesi Opoku, a Principal Staff from the Survey Department Accra, said the success of the project was dependent on the willingness of the traditional leaders to show the boundaries and how the system compensates them for their support.

Disputed lands with cases pending in courts, Mr Opoku said, would not be surveyed unless parties resort to Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR). He said demarcated boundary would have either survey pillars (erected along rivers) or boundary pillars (erected at a 100 metre interval on straight lines) adding that where demarcations were circuitous drought resistant, trees would be planted at such points. Mr Opoku said the field work would involve two elders from each community that shared boundaries with each other adding that when one disagreed on a particular boundary as shown by the other, the aggrieved party must not reply until he or she had his or her turn to show the boundary. Mr Johnson Ehiakpor, District Chief Executive for Asuogyama District, who chaired the event called on all the paramount chiefs to inform their sub-chiefs about the project. He asked all to cooperate with the officers, who would be working on the field for the success of the project. The project is being executed by Losamills Consult Limited, a local surveying company. 10 Nov. 09