It’s no secret that since the UDP took office, there’s been a sort of bureaucratic paralysis at the Lands Department. Natural Resources Minister Gaspar Vega explained in the House of Representatives recently that it was because they needed to do an audit of all the shady deals that went down in the fast and furious run-up to the elections. That’s all fine and well, but when land transactions slow down, so does the economy – because so much cash outlays and construction are fuelled by land deals. And the pressure to make deals start going through has been mounting on the Ministry – and so today, in a public show of progress, 75 Belizeans received land titles at the office in Belmopan. Minister of Natural Resources and the Environment, Gaspar Vega, personally handed over the titles He told the Government Press Office what caused the delay.
Hon. Gaspar Vega, Minister of Natural Resources
“The titles that we are delivering titles to people today are titles from the audit that because of the audit we realized that these files went through the proper process. So what we’re doing is we’re preparing the titles and given it to the people who deserve it. These are titles just from the audit. We have our everyday walk-ins that we are processing as they come in and we are planning on doing this on a monthly basis for all those people with titles. We are going to try and do it as quick as possible because we know a lot of people have been wondering when I will be able to get my title, especially those that consciously know they went through the process. Unfortunately they were caught up with the others that needed to be reviewed. What we’re working so hard at is to change the image of the Ministry to prove to the people that this Ministry will be a Ministry that serves the public, that will serve every single Belizean and that whenever they come here, they come with a different attitude, not one that they will tell me to come back next week or come back next month and they have you like that for years. We are trying to ensure that whenever people come here they get served and if they don’t get what they came for on that day, they will be told when they can come back and get whatever they want.”
Over fifty land titles are processed and delivered on a monthly basis by the Ministry of Natural Resources.
