Enforce regulations on building permit — Dormaahene

The Dormaahene, Osagyefo Oseadeeyo Agyemang Badu II, has called for the strict enforcement of regulations on building permit.

He said such a measure would make it difficult for people who did not have titles to plots of land to build.

The Dormaahene said enforcement of the regulation would also forestall the occasional demolition of buildings constructed on lands by non-title holders which he described as not only a waste of resources, but also an indication of a disorganised society.

"Come to think of lands owned by citizens that we allow several people to develop only to take a decision in the long run that all of them should go down.

"I am not a believer of demolition of buildings because after all, how much do we have as citizens that you invest in a house only for the building to be demolished later due to land issues?” Osagyefo Badu II, queried.

Event

The Dormaahene, who is also the President of the Bono Regional House of Chiefs, was speaking at the 2022 Seminar of the Land Surveyors Division of the Ghana Institution of Surveyors in Sunyani in the Bono Region last Thursday.

The two-day seminar was on the theme: "Coordinated implementation and management of local plans (schemes) for the socio-economic development of Ghana."

It was attended by surveyors from across the country.

According to the Land Act 2020, the Dormaahene said surveyors at various metropolitan, municipal and district assemblies were supposed to exact their duty on schemes before registration commenced.

"The land value chain is a huge sector of the economy that could be exploited positively than this piecemeal approach that is rather giving way for quacks than professionals," he said.

The Dormaahene further advised the leadership of the Lands Commission to peer-review one another and ensure that professionals who were shamefully involved in unhealthy practices that sometimes resulted in long litigations and needless loss of lives were brought to book.

Challenges

The Chairman of the Land Survey Division of the Institution of Surveyors, Isaac Larbie, said most of the challenges in attaining economic growth could be attributed to uncoordinated infrastructural development, including the wrong siting of projects without the knowledge of land surveyors.

He said the conference was to enlighten participants and the country about the role being played by surveyors in the development of the country.

For her part, the Bono Regional Minister, Justina Owusu-Banahene, urged surveyors to take stock of their past activities and chart a new path to avoid the haphazard physical development in the country.

Writer's email: emmanuel.adu-gyamerah@graphic.com.gh