By NATARIO McKENZIE
Tribune Business Reporter
nmckenzie@tribunemedia.net
A SENIOR government official yesterday called for stiffer penalties to prevent persons acting as unlicensed and unqualified land surveyors.
Thomas Ferguson, the Acting Surveyor General, speaking to Tribune Business on the sidelines of the Bahamas Association of Land Surveyors conference, said: "We have unlicensed persons who are able to go and do work, and we are not able to to regulate them.
Perhaps we need to consider heavier fines for those unlicensed and unregulated persons found to be practicing or purporting to be surveyors. It is a prevalent issue, and has caused a lot of problems in many of the land cases that I have seen.
"We see that persons who were never truly qualified went and messed up certain areas when you look at the approved plans, and what should have been done on the ground. If licensed professionals did it they would carry insurance, meaning the insurance would have covered the individual who would have been the purchaser."
Mr Ferguson said the Department of Lands and Surveys endorsed the one-day conference, dubbed a 'Prelude to Land Registration and Management', as it was not only topical but critically important to this Bahamas' economic development.
"Land registration would assist in getting the Bahamas more investors," he said. "You would clearly know who owns the land. If there is certainty on land ownership it is easier for a competent seller to sell to a competent buyer, and infrastructure projects would be devoid of the squatter issues and the Quieting of Title, which tends to stagnate land development because many of those cases drag on for lifetime."
Mr Ferguson said land registration would assist realtors, lawyers and town planners, and allow for a smoother construction development process.
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