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that compensation be paid only on the basis of unexhausted improvements in the land, not the land
itself. As the MOL lacks a valuation department, this task must be performed by the Valuation
Department of the Ministry of Local Government and Housing—a cumbersome and time-consuming
process.
The Lands and Deeds Registry Act of 1914 (CAP 287) provides for the registration of
documents, the issue of Provisional Certificates of Title and Certificates of Title, and the transfer and
transmission of registered land. Every lease for a period of more than one year must be registered,
as must any assignment of, mortgage, or charge upon such a lease (SECTION II.4). Any document not
registered in the designated time period is null and void (SECTION 1I.6). Any proprietor of a lease of
14 years or more must first apply for a Provisional Certificate of Title. After 6 years, the proprietor
of the lease may apply to the registrar for a final Certificate of Title (SECTION 111.43).
Before any title certificate (provisional or final) may be issued, the applicant must submit a
survey diagram which complies with the requirements of the Land Survey Act of 1960. The act makes
comprehensive provisions for the registration and licensing of land surveyors, provides for the manner
in which land surveys are carried out and the diagrams and plans connected therewith, provides for
the protection of survey beacons and other survey markers, provides for the establishment and powers
of a Survey Control Board responsible for the registration and licensing of land surveyors, and for the
exercise of disciplinary control over such surveyors.
The act imposes high and rigorous standards of ground survey. The Land Survey Division of
the MOL, with severely limited staff for meeting these standards, is badly behind in survey work.
Currently, the MOL estimates a backlog of roughly 30,000 applications in various stages. To avoid
long delays in the issuance of title certificates, the Survey Division and the registry have for many
years adopted a policy of accepting, for registration, leases of up to 14 years if accompanied by an
adequate sketch plan (thereby sidestepping the rigorous standards of fixed-boundary survey). Once a
Land Survey Act survey is conducted, the 14-year lease is surrendered, a 99-year lease is granted,
covered by a final Certificate of Title. This practice is common, and is the mechanism for grants of
land in settlement schemes. Its legality, however, is an open question because of the lower survey
standard. In addition, the majority of the above backlog cases are reportedly 14-year titles for which
surveys were never undertaken. The pending expiry of these leaseholds is raising anew the issue of
surveying bottlenecks and added registry work associated with either renewing them as 14-year leases
or converting them to a 99-year basis.
These procedures, involving six different sections in three different ministries (the Agricultural
Lands Board, the Commissioner of Lands, the Land Registry Section and the Land Survey Section,
all in the MOL, the Land Use Planning Branch in the Ministry of Agriculture, and the Valuation
Branch in the Ministry of Local Government and Housing) are far more complex than can be justified.
This complexity, coupled with severe understaffing, results in extended delays in leasehold transactions
(see chapter 2 for further analysis of the registration process).
The Town and Country Planning Act (CAP 475) is the legal framework for the control and
regulation of all development of statutory leaseholds. Submission and approval of these plans can be
an onerous exercise, as indicated by a recent ODA (1989) study:
The system often fails to plan and program the release of land to meet demand or
development policy and to program and coordinate the release of funds for plan