Criminalize sale of unapproved lands – Surveyor

Mr Meister Afriyie, a surveyor and a fellow of the Ghana Institution of Surveyors, has suggested the promulgation of a law to criminalize the sale of unapproved lands by the Lands Commission.

He said making such unapproved sale of lands a criminal offence would deter individuals who sell lands to two or more people, resulting in land litigations.

Mr Afriyie, who also works with the Volta River Authority (VRA), was a participant at a workshop that discussed a National Spatial Development framework.

National Spatial Development involves the methods used by the public sector to influence the distribution of people and activities in spaces of various scales. For instance, the kind of amenities in a particular district or region could influence the number of people who migrate there.

With a National Spatial Development Framework for the country, developers and government as a whole, can project into the future in terms of providing infrastructure and other social amenities.

Mr Afriyie told the GNA that criminalizing the illegitimate sale of land would enable the government to have lands demarcated and used for specific purposes.

“We need lands demarcated for transmission lines, railway lines and other national projects to be available before investors come,” he said; and explained that sometimes projects were stalled because lands that had been demarcated for specific purposes were used for building homes.

Mr Afriyie also called for coordination between sectors and departments that deal directly with development.