The Lands Commission is set to transform Ghana’s land administration system through the Strategic Land Administration Reform Project (SLAP), an initiative aimed at digitising land records, improving service delivery, strengthening land tenure security and boosting revenue mobilisation.

Speaking on the project, Surv. Jones Ofori-Boadu (FGhIS), Deputy Executive Secretary in charge of Corporate Services at the Lands Commission, said the initiative will consolidate previous reforms and address longstanding challenges in the sector.

“SLAP, or the Strategic Land Administration Reform Project, is an integrated land administration reform project to complete and scale up the transformation of land administration in Ghana,” he said.

He explained that Ghana’s land administration system has been affected by fragmented institutional operations, manual record-keeping, outdated maps and delays in processing land documents.

“Over the years, the issues we’ve had with land administration has been the issue of fragmented land agencies. 

Paper records, because most of the records in these agencies are manual and in paper format, paper maps, notebooks, and stuff like that,” he stated.

According to him, the continued reliance on manual processes has made it difficult to retrieve records promptly and deliver efficient services to the public.

Surv. Ofori-Boadu further said the previous interventions under the Land Administration Project (LAP I and LAP II) introduced important reforms including institutional restructuring, the development of digital systems and improvements in customer service.

He cited the Lands Commission Act, 2008 (Act 767) which consolidated four agencies into one institution and the Land Act, 2020 (Act 1036) as key milestones in the reform process.

He also highlighted the establishment of the Customer Service Access Unit which allows clients to access services through a central front desk rather than visiting different divisions separately.

“Because previously, you had to go to each of the divisions individually to submit your documents and collect your documents. But now, because of the CSAU, you can go to one staff office front desk and then transact business with the Lands Commission,” he explained.

However, he noted that despite these improvements, the digitisation process remained incomplete.

“But with that done, the front office was digital, but the back office still remains manual,” he said.

He disclosed that approximately 10 percent of the commission’s records has been digitised, highlighting the scale of the work still required.

“I guess we must have done roughly about 10% of the records that are there that has been moved into the digital environment,” he stated.

Entire Country To Be Mapped

One of the major components of SLAP is the development of improved maps and a National Spatial Data Infrastructure (NSDI) to support effective land management and coordination among public institutions.

Surv. Ofori-Boadu said earlier mapping exercises had covered only a fraction of Ghana’s total land area.

“For example, the mapping that was done under LAP I covered 25,000 square kilometres and LAP II covered 29,000 square kilometres,” he said.

“And it may interest you to know that the whole country is 239,000 square kilometres. So that tells you that it is just a minute aspect of the country that was mapped,” he added.

He further expressed concern about the age of Ghana’s topographic maps, stressing the need for updated information to support planning and land administration.

“It may interest you to know that the last topographic maps that were done for the country were done in 1974,” he stressed.

Under SLAP, the entire country is expected to be mapped while the NSDI will facilitate the sharing of spatial data among government agencies to reduce duplication and costs.

“The NSDI would consolidate the collection of data. So, data will be collected at one point and shared amongst different agencies, and that will reduce the cost that government pays in data collection across several agencies,” he explained.

Eight Components To Drive Reforms

The project is structured around eight components covering mapping and spatial data infrastructure, digital transformation, decentralisation, systematic land titling, customary land secretariats, boundary demarcation, land banks and capacity building.

The digital transformation component will involve scanning, indexing, barcoding and archiving paper records while automating the business processes of the Lands Commission and the Office of the Administrator of Stool Lands.

Surv. Ofori-Boadu said the digitisation of records would help address the difficulties associated with missing files and delays in retrieving information.

“We believe that this will help resolve the issue of files that cannot be found, or it takes a long time to look for these files in the manual records,” he said.

The project will also decentralise services to the district level to make land administration more accessible to citizens.

“Currently, we’re in the 16 regions of Ghana, but we want to decentralize to the district level,” he stated.

Another priority is systematic land titling and the establishment of a national cadastre containing information on land parcels including ownership and size.

Automation To Improve Ground Rent Collection

The project is also expected to strengthen the commission’s revenue mobilisation efforts, particularly through the automation of ground rent billing and collection.

Surv. Ofori-Boadu said improved digital systems would help the commission identify outstanding payments and collect revenue that might otherwise remain uncollected.

“We believe that ground rent is very key to the revenue generation of the Lands Commission moving forward, and so, we need to revamp that and be able to collect all that latent money that is sitting there that is not being collected,” he said.

He explained that the project’s financing arrangement would rely on revenue generated by the Lands Commission with a portion allocated to support implementation.

According to the presentation, projected revenue for the five-year period to 2030 stands at $1.8 billion while the projection for 2026 is $203 million.

Surv. Ofori-Boadu disclosed that the SLAP Project Management Unit was established on July 1, 2026 and had begun preliminary implementation activities.

He said the project team has initiated assessments and designed processes for the land information system and ELIS, developed a project implementation manual and prepared terms of reference for all eight components.

Work plans for 2026 have also been completed while staff received training in financial management and procurement-related matters.

He added that the project team has applied to the Ministry of Finance for commitment authorisation and awaits a response.

The next phase will include the selection of an anchor firm supported by a consortium of experts to oversee the implementation of the project’s various components.

Project Expected To Restore Public Confidence

The success of SLAP will be assessed through improvements in record retrieval, reduced processing times, increased digital applications, better ground rent collection, operational district service points and improved citizen satisfaction.

Surv. Ofori-Boadu said the project is designed to create a modern, transparent and accountable land administration system that will serve the needs of the public more effectively.

In his concluding remarks, he said: “The Strategic Land Administration Reform Project seeks to provide a credible and integrated blueprint for modernizing land administration in Ghana.”

He added that the initiative will bring together previous reforms under a single implementation framework.

“It also seeks to consolidate all the interventions aimed at improving land service delivery under a single implementation framework,” he said.

The project is expected to play a significant role in improving access to land services, strengthening tenure security, increasing government revenue and enhancing public confidence in land administration.