Holness: Full roll-out of electronic land titling system in two years
Published:Sunday | March 23, 2025 | 10:01 PMErica Virtue/Senior Gleaner Writer
Vendor selection and system implementation for the roll-out of the government’s Electronic Titling (E-Titling) programme is expected by 2027-2028, following legislative amendments to the Registration of Titles Act. The reflects the Government’s move away from the current paper-based land titling system in yet another attempt to regularise squatter communities.
Prime Minister Dr Andrew Holness, in his contribution to the 2025-2026 Budget Debate, said yesterday that the government was advancing the transition, and the new system would be used to regularise parcels in urban areas, starting with a pilot study to inform an expansion of this programme.
“To support this expansion, we are increasing the number of commissioned land surveyors through an apprenticeship programme at the National Land Agency (NLA) with plans to train 33 student surveyors and equip them with modern surveying instruments. Additionally, a geospatial training centre, developed in partnership with the government of Korea, will enhance land survey capabilities using advanced UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle) - or drone - technology, expediting cadastral mapping and land registration,” Holness said.
The prime minister, under the housing and urban renewal heading of his presentation, acknowledged that approximately 20 per cent of Jamaicans live in informal settlements, a situation which is even more dire in urban areas. According to him, about 60 per cent of the urban population reside in unplanned, substandard housing, a higher proportion than nearly every other country in Latin America and the Caribbean.
“Decades of rapid urbanisation have outpaced proper planning [and] a significant number of Jamaicans [are] unable to leverage land as an asset, access credit, or receive essential public services. Beyond poor living conditions, these areas often become breeding grounds for gangs, threatening national security and economic progress,” the prime minister said.Squatter communities can be found islandwide, with some parishes impacted more than others. They are significant voting blocs and have determined the outcomes of several parliamentary and local elections. Both administrations have made efforts to address the problems associated with unplanned communities using different methods over the years.
According to Holness, the Government was committed to transforming informal settlements into “secure, legally recognised communities that foster stability, economic empowerment, and a better quality of life for all Jamaicans”.
He said the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) Government in 2007 restructured the “failed Operation PRIDE” programme, the former administration’s ambitious plan to move hundreds of individuals into home ownership. He said the Housing Agency of Jamaica (HAJ) is the leading force in land tenure regularisation and continues to prioritise security of tenure for low- and middle-income earners. It has delivered approximately 1,000 homes across several projects.
Among them are St Paul’s Lane (Kingston), Catherine Estates (St Catherine), Sandown Palms (St Catherine), and Edmund Ridge (St James).
Additionally, the HAJ, he said, has been tasked with upgrading 81 informal communities, with work beginning in Eden Park (St Mary).
“To expand home ownership, the HAJ plans to implement 10,000 housing starts and 4,000 completed solutions over the next four years. The HAJ will also be intervening in five small informal urban communities (five acres or less) to upgrade their housing and infrastructure, replicating the successful St Paul’s Lane model,” he said.
Allman Town, Annotto Bay, Parade Gardens, Long Acres, Montego Bay, and Russia in Savanna-la-Mar, are the communities slated to benefit from this intervention. The HAJ’s Land Titling Initiative has made significant progress issuing 230 titles this financial year.
The HAJ was only one part of our broader land regularisation strategy and, through the Systematic Land Registration programme, the NLA is set to deliver 12,000 titles in the four years of its operations, and is targeting producing 8,000 titles in 2025-2026.
Meanwhile, the long-awaited Registration (Shared Community) Bill was tabled in the House on Tuesday, a commitment the prime minister said was made and one that was kept. When passed, the act will provide a clear legal framework to govern all new and existing communities where the proprietors own common real estate or other facilities and amenities.
It was noted that a substantial number of communities across Jamaica have shared facilities, which necessitate shared management and expenses. It was the experience with strata properties that such communities are plagued by numerous challenges that could only be addressed by new legislation.
Property owners were urged to review the legislation and provide feedback where necessary, to ensure it adequately addresses their needs.