Mobile Land Clinic Serves Freetown and Caribbean Shores
Constituents from Belize City, in Caribbean Shores and Freetown, queued up at the Belize City Center today to take advantage of the Ministry of Natural Resources’ Mobile Land Clinic. The roving clinic which has been held in several parts of the country was organized to expedite the services provided by the ministry. The assistance being offered ranges from renewing expired leases to processing applications for purchasing a property. News Five’s Paul Lopez reports.
Paul Lopez, Reporting
Belizeans across the country can attest to the fact that a visit to the Land’s Department is time consuming, and often frustrating. Commissioner of Lands, Talbert Brackett, explains that due to long lines and backlogs within the system, completing a simple transaction can take up to three months.
Talbert Brackett
Talbert Brackett, Commissioner of Lands, Ministry of Natural Resources
“If you have a lease hold interest and you want to convert to free hold interest, you could go to any of our district office. There is a cashier and you would have to take the queue if somebody is after you, but that will be one day. And then, when you leave there are instruments that proceed. So, if you have one, two, three, four five, and somebody have before those digits, those are inputted before yours.”
Through its mobile land clinic, the Ministry of Natural Resources has been able to cut down that three-month process to just one day. The expedited service starts with a brief vetting process conducted by the relevant area representative. Today, Area Representatives Francis Fonseca and Kareem Musa met with their constituents at the Belize Civic Center.
Kareem Musa
Kareem Musa, Area Representative, Caribbean Shores
“There is a lot of issues our constituents face. For example in the Button Wood Bay area of Caribbean Shores, a lot of the leases have expired. So, a lot of my constituents are here to renew their leases and or to apply to purchase the property so that they can convert it to a free hold title. Then a lot of them want to convert their title to a first registration to get a land certificate.”
The Minister of Natural Resources, Cordell Hyde, then signs off on the land documents. Over the course of two days, Minister Hyde will authenticate more than three hundred land documents.”
Paul Lopez
“Why is your signature needed on the document?”
Cordel Hyde
Cordel Hyde, Minister of Natural Resources
“Well someone will ultimately have to take responsibility for what is issued. Ultimately, my signature is me taking responsibility for any lease or any purchase approval or any title that is issued. Someone has to be held responsible. It has gone through a certain process before it reaches me. We have a bunch of people who have to go through the file, to verify that we have the privilege or the right to issue it, verify that the location is reasonable, it is not in sensitive area, a reserve area, for residential purpose it is then in a residential area.”
But, the heart of this operation is not the Minister of Natural Resources, neither the area representatives present. It is the staff of the ministry that gets the work done. They have been working tirelessly across the country to complete land transactions in record time.
Cordel Hyde
“Ultimately, that is what we are being paid to do. We are being paid to make people happy. We are being paid to improve people’s lives. And the only way we can do that is if we can complete the process. So, it is about pushing, within human limits of course because sometimes they get tired, because it is demanding work. And there is something money can’t buy, certain gratification that comes with seeing people relieved, seeing people ecstatic, people cry as well when they get a paper that has alluded them for many years.”
Talbert Brackett
“There is no backlog here. It is a direct system.”
Paul Lopez
“And that is what makes it such an effective system.”
Talbert Brackett
“It is very effective.”
Reporting for News Five, I am Paul Lopez.
