Govt. to regularise 24,000 acres in Region Six

Nov 26, 2025 News

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…massive land push to deliver titles, unlock development

By Shermon Hawker

(Kaieteur News) – Lands across Region Six (East Berbice-Corentyne), which altogether span thousands of acres will soon be regularised by the government, allowing for legal ownership and the accompanying benefits of services for citizens there.

President Irfaan Ali, as part of government’s drive to make more land available signaled to citizens of the region that a massive new 24,000 acres of land will be standardised.

The decision was made public after the president and his cabinet made an official two-day public outreach to Region Six last week, during which he reported that matters pertaining to land ownership through the Guyana Lands and Surveys Commission (GLSC) generated much interest. Foremost among the issues highlighted by citizens were housing and land.

At his most recent press conference, which was held in Berbice, President Ali revealed that there are 289 applications in the system at the GLSC. Of that total, 89 sit at the head office, and the remaining 200 are logged at New Amsterdam, Skeldon and Black Bush Polder awaiting further documents.

“While that number seems small, the request per application in terms of the total acreage of land that is applied for, is far beyond the supply available,” the president explained, shedding light on the evident demand-supply mismatch of land available through the agency.

For the GLSC in Region Six, the acreage for particular areas outlined by the president are: 1000 surveyed acres at Maratraite (Mara) on the East Bank of Berbice. There are 5,000 acres at Mara which the president indicated will need at least four miles of road extensions to allow access.

Further, some 3,000 acres of land are available aback Manaribisi, while there are 15,000 acres along Corentyne river between the El Dorado and Orealla boundaries.

“The new acreage that we are pursuing totals 24,000 acres,” he calculated.

Also available in the region are 20,000 acres that will be allocated for cattle pastures. This amount will be surveyed into 100-acre plots, the president outlined.

Advancing the regularisation drive, the president highlighted targeted areas along the Corentyne Coast, those being Liverpool with 52 plots already regularised, Manchester Second Depth with 59 plots completed, and at No.50 Village, Leeds, at which “the work there (is) completed and is now before the land court.”

President Ali told reporters that his government took a methodical approach to the matter of land issues in the region, beginning by addressing the agency.

“What are the steps we’re going to take to further expedite our work to regularise old areas, and to have the ownership of land by title or deed completed? The first is that we recognise the burdensome load that is before the Guyana Lands and Surveys Commission.”

To aid in this process, government has decided to broaden the agency’s capacity with a special project team that will be handed the sole mandate of addressing the outstanding applications for Region Six.

The president also announced that 70 families of No. 46 occupying lands for generations dating back to over 100 years will receive titles for those lands before June, 2026. He assured that 25 of those titles will be ready by the end of January, 2026.

The state, he noted, had purchased the land from private persons and distributed to those who have been in occupation and therefore, the occupants now have official titles. This gives credence to the government aligning itself with the interest of the people, he posited.

“It is important that the state has borne and will continue to bear all of the costs related to these transactions. The legal fees, the surveying fees, the filing fees and acquisition fees. And I think this is not only commendable, but this must be the first country in which the state is acting in this manner in the interest of our people.”

Meanwhile, he highlighted, as an encumbrance to land acquisition in the region, the fact that there are many co-operative societies strewn across the region drawn from various sectors, but which are now nonfunctional. Already, steps are being taken to acquire these lands for the residence to secure. The process is not without hurdles, the president acknowledged.

“They own or have in their possession hundreds of acres of lands that persons have been occupying without leases. We have to take steps now to best these leases in the occupants’ names. But that comes not without challenge…. almost on a weekly basis, there is a legal file, there are controversies, there are challenges to land ownership.”

Despite this, it was also announced by President Ali that a special team will be set up to conduct occupational survey with the inclusion of communities, “granting leases from the master lease to bring the leases in line with lawful land occupation.”

There will also be a cabinet sub-committee appointed to focus specifically on other land interests across the region.

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• land titles, lands, President Ali, Region Six

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