Accra, July 17, GNA - Alhaji Collins Dauda, Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, said the first phase of the Land Administration Project is in its last year of implementation.

The Minister, who was speaking in parliament during question time, said the project which was to undertake key institutional and policy reforms, would end in December 2010.

He sated that it would also undertake key land administration pilots to lay the foundation for sustainable land administration systems that would be fair, efficient, cost effective and guarantee security of tenure.

The achievement of the project, he said, included the passage of the Land Commission Act 2008 (Act 767) which merged four public sector land agencies, and the establishment of eight land registries to provide for land registration services in each region.

He stated that this had led to the reduction of the time used for processing land transactions.

Alhaji Dauda said the system also established 37 Customary Land Secretariats throughout the country to improve customary land administration and provide support for the Judiciary by way of funding the automation of the Land Courts.

He noted that the project also piloted Customary Boundary Demarcation in the 10 regions, systematic Land Registration in eight regions, procurement of architectural consultants and capacity building for the staff of the land sector agencies, the Ghana Institute of Surveyors and the land based department of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology.