More than 100 residents of Plantation Mosquito Hall also known as ‘Riverview’, Mahaica, East Coast Demerara, are growing impatient as they wait for their Certificates of Title for lands they currently occupy.
But the Housing Ministry says the issue is being rectified and the residents should have the document within the next quarter of the year.
Some of those residents complained that they made payments for their lands since 2004.
Documents presented to the News Room by one of the residents, Mahadeo Persaud, showed that he paid the sum of $58,000 for the plot of land situated at 68 Riverview, Mahaica.
Persaud also has a transport for the land but has not received his Certificate of Title to date.
“Since 2004 we pay fah land at Unity and every time we go Housing them keeping telling we them nah ready fah we yet,” Persaud told the News Room in on Monday
The News Room understands that the area consists of two parcels of land: Block LVIII, Mosquito Hall (Old Housing Scheme) and Plot A, Part of Plantation Mosquito Hall. They consist of 36 and 83 lots, respectively.
When contacted, Minister of Housing and Water Colin Croal told the News Room that Riverview is part of a number of other areas which the ministry is currently working to regularise.
“They don’t have ownership for the area but it’s one we are rectifying. It’s one we are regularising,” he said.
Croal explained that in 2001 and 2004, surveys were conducted and the verified owners made payments for the lots.
Allocation letters were subsequently issued, he said.
However, Croal said the Certificates of Titles were not processed since there was a challenge verifying of ownership of the area.
As such, Croal said the Surveys Unit conducted research and the information was submitted to the Corporate Legal Secretariat.
And based on advice, he said a Draft Order was sent to the Attorney General Chambers for a commencement order to be published in the Official Gazette to declare the area a Land Registration Area.
Once completed, Croal said the transport has to be converted to title and then individual titles will be processed.
“We are finalising a list of areas. I don’t want to do one area by itself. I am doing a list of areas for which we will start the gazetting and then we will have to do what’s called a converting the transport to land registration,” Croal explained.
“In order to do that, the issue is the land so I am told the area is transport so we have to convert that to land registry,” he added.
The process is likely to take two months and according to Croal, the residents can expect to receive their Certificate of Titles within the next quarter of the year.
