Government has launched the Strategic Land Administration Reform Project (SLARP), a comprehensive programme aimed at transforming Ghana’s land administration system into a modern, transparent, decentralized, and digitally enabled public service.
Speaking during the Government Accountability Series, the Minister for Lands and Natural Resources, Emmanuel Armah-Kofi Buah, said the project is intended to address problems in land administration and improve service delivery.
“The project responds to long-standing constraints in land service delivery, including fragmented manual records, weak integration between spatial and textual land information… prolonged turnaround times, and limited public confidence in formal land administration processes,” the minister said.
He said the project comprises several interrelated components, including improved maps and spatial data infrastructure, the digital transformation of the Lands Commission and the Office of the Administrator of Stool Lands, and decentralization of land services.
Other components include strengthening customary land administration and customary land secretariats, boundary demarcation, and data integration as well as institutional capacity building, change management, and project governance.
As part of the reforms, Mr. Buah said the ministry is supporting the implementation of the Land Bank Project to facilitate access to land for large-scale oil palm cultivation and value-added processing.
The minister explained that the initiative is designed to identify, acquire, and secure suitable land for commercial oil palm plantations, processing mills, and other downstream agro-industrial investments.
He said the project is expected to remove one of the major barriers to agricultural investment by providing investors with secure and readily accessible land for large-scale production.
According to Mr. Buah, geospatial mapping of identified areas is already underway to support land management, planning, and investment decisions.
He added that the ministry is “actively engaging traditional authorities and other key stakeholders within the selected districts to secure the necessary community support and facilitate land acquisition processes.”
The minister expressed confidence that the Land Bank Project would unlock private investment, promote agro-industrial development, create employment opportunities, and contribute to Ghana’s industrialization agenda and broader economic growth.
