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Institute of Surveyors holds annual seminar
Accra, Sept. 25, Ghanadot/GNA - Developmental projects like
the Bui dam and the recent oil find can never be a curse but
a blessing to Ghana, if stakeholders use principled approach
to address concerns of the local communities.
The government should therefore take seriously related
issues such as land management and environmental concerns
associated with such critical projects to effectively
assuage public dissatisfaction with investors and
institutional actors.
Awulae Annor Adjaye III, Paramount Chief of the Western
Nzema State, Benyin made these remarks at a two-day annual
seminar of the Ghana Institute of Surveyors (Gh.I.S) at
Greenhill near Legon, Accra.
This year’s seminar was under the theme: “The Bui Dam and
Oil Discovery in Ghana; Opportunities and Challenges - the
Role of the Estate Surveyor”.
Awulae Adjaye observed that with the deepening of democracy
and the fact that Ghanaians were becoming more assertive,
those whose livelihoods were threatened by such projects
would not allow their rights to be curtailed without
commensurate mitigation measures.
“We’re all aware that defiance strategies that lead to
disruption of project execution with its attendant mayhem
are not the best alternative to dispute resolution, but the
strategy seems to win acceptability and immediate attention
by the powers that be in resolving long-standing disputes in
our part of the world. This, to say the least, is most
unfortunate,” he said.
He said though development partners had promulgated various
measures to address socio-cultural and environmental
concerns relative to involuntary settlement, their
prescriptions looked more like “cut and paste” solutions
that did not consider the peculiarities of cultural setting
and beliefs that characterised long periods of rural
settlements.
He said there were examples that such precautionary measures
were not complied with, and infractions went unpunished by
supervisory agencies, resulting in deepening dissatisfaction
and suspicion regarding project goals and objectives, and
the lack of trust of professionals such as estate and
valuation surveyors.
Awulae Adjaye noted that while some surveyors displayed
character and integrity, some had become shady in their
dealings, especially with land issues for large development
projects in rural areas, adding, these non-professionals
charged land owners prohibitive fees, which they
subsequently convert into lands.
He said the adherence to professional standards and code of
ethics needed rigorous enforcement to salvage the sinking
image of surveyors and land administrators, and called on
stool land owners to desist from multiple and indiscriminate
sale of prime land to meet present needs.
The chief suggested that new arrangements should be
introduced in the land market to extol not only the
institutionalization of land banks, but also to encourage
land owners to engage credible professionals to value and
use such property as equity in future projects for the
benefit of posterity.
He also suggested that in addition to putting in place
commensurate measures to mitigate the environmental concerns
of communities, scholarship schemes should be instituted to
train human capital for such projects in the catchments by
government and development partners.
Mr James Dadson, Chairman of the Estate and Valuation
Division of the Gh.I.S called on government to assist the
Institute with the needed resources to build its capacity.
GNA
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