Way paved for body to regulate land surveyors

Jan 17, 2014 News

As part of the bigger plan to update the country’s management of its land and water resources, Government last evening successfully piloted new legislation that will see the establishment of a special board to oversee land surveyors.

Natural Resources Minister, Robert Persaud

In arguing for the Land Surveyors (Profession) Bill 2013, Natural Resources Minister Robert Persaud also explained that the board will be tasked with licencing, registering and regulating the land surveyors.
Persaud, who has ministerial jurisdiction over the Guyana Lands and Survey Commission (GL&SC ), said that land surveyors are often not given due recognition, pointing out that it is a fact that Guyana’s first President, Arthur Chung, was a trained land surveyor.
The issue of quality surveyors takes even more significance when the country’s thrust of development at this time is taken into account. Development in areas like natural resources, housing and hospitality, has pushed land surveying into the spotlight.
The harsh reality is that there are simply not enough surveyors available, with GL&SC suffering from a shortage. With increased activities in mining and forestry, Government had introduced increased training, doubling the number of surveyors in the last two years.
Persaud admitted that over time there were numerous complaints about the quality of work from some surveyors as well as issues regarding their honesty. With the last changes to the laws in the 1970s, more than four decades ago, there have been gaps. The old laws do not even address issues of using Global Positioning System (GPS) as a means to conduct surveying.
The Minister also admitted that many professionals “got away with murder”, but moves are being made to comprehensively address the issues. The board will deal with regulations and code of conduct, as well penalties for the breaches.
Within the last two years, there were significant increases in inspections, monitoring, approvals and lease preparations, as well as increases of activities.
Meanwhile, Dr. Rupert Roopnaraine, senior Member of Parliament of A Partnership for National Unity (APNU), was also cognizant that new techniques of land surveying have changed since the ‘70s. The old laws, he said, lacked critical attention of examination.
“When considering the issue of land tenure, the importance of administration and legislation becomes critical,” he said.
The old laws had also placed significant power in the hands of the Minister.