Govt. acquires former NBS building for “more than $100M”

Mar 29, 2013 News

– Land Registry for revamp

Government has signaled its intention to relocate the Land Registry, situated on the ground floor of the High Court building, to the former New Building Society (NBS) Head Office, Avenue of Republic, which it acquired.
Claiming to be unaware of the actual cost paid to the New Building Society for the building, Head of the Presidential Secretariat, Dr. Roger Luncheon, said that the Land Registry provided the cost of

The Land Registry is to move to the former NBS Head Office on Avenue of the Republic.

the Sales Agreement, which is more than $100M.
He made that announcement yesterday at his weekly post-Cabinet press briefing held at the Office of the President.
The need for full utilization of resources and better functioning were cited as the main reasons for the removal of the Land Registry from its current location, which it shares with the Deeds Registry.
According to Dr. Luncheon, in October 2012, Cabinet commissioned an audit of the Land Registry and a comprehensive report was submitted earlier this month. He added that Cabinet endorsed the findings and disclosures of the audit conducted by an Attorney.
Dr. Luncheon enlightened that Cabinet approved the preparation of an implementation camp and the establishment of a unit to see the realization of recommendations in the report.
The audit found the Land Registry to be under-resourced and there was weakness in its functioning, particularly in process management, which has a great deal to do with transactions. Several recommendations were made, of which Dr. Luncheon shared three with the media.
The intent to relocate the Land Registry is the move towards satisfying one of the recommendations. Funds available through the Competitive Programme will be used to enhance the facility to offer better services, he added.
The report also recommends the implementation of Information, Communication and Technology (ICT) applications – essentially e-government, websites, and electronic communication – to the functioning of the Land Registry.
Dr. Luncheon related that the Land Registry did not benefit from ICT application upgrades when the Deeds Registry was upgraded, because the two entities got separated. It is hoped that with this upgrade there will be preservation of records, communication with users of the entity, and access, storage and retrieval of land titles.
To bring the operations and functioning of the Land Registry to the level of contemporary norms, legislative reform would need to occur.
“I think Cabinet is not unmindful of what has and is taking place with the reforms with the Deed and Commercial Registry and saw some parallels that could develop with regards to the land registry,” he added.