• An Economic Assessment of the Institution of Land Use Planning in the Cities of Sub-Saharan Africa

      Egbu, Anthony; Antwi, Adarkwah; Olomolaiye, Paul (RICS (Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors), 2006)
      The institutions of land use planning in the countries of sub-Saharan Africa have come of age. For more than 40 years, the received colonial town planning laws and associated regulations have guided urban land development processes in the region. In spite of the problems of ‘illegal’ developments and delays in the procedures for obtaining land and development rights, no economic assessment of the system of land use planning in Africa seems to have been attempted. This paper analyses the impact of land use planning on urban development and examines the incentive structure of the political market of planning in the cities of sub-Saharan Africa. The objective is to identify the institutional weakness of land use planning in the region. The paper concludes that it would appear the system of land use planning in sub-Saharan Africa operates in such a way that allows the externalisation of costs onto those actors of the society whose interests are not sufficiently represented within the land use planning system. (RICS)
    • Compulsory Land Acquisition in Ghana - Policy and Praxis

      Larbi, Wordsworth Odami; Antwi, Adarkwah; Olomolaiye, Paul (Amsterdam: Elsevier, 2004)
      Compulsory land acquisition powers have been used extensively in Ghana since colonial times, as the main means of the state's access to land for development. The underlying principle is supremacy of the state over people and their private property, and is aimed at providing land for public and social amenities, correcting economic and social inefficiencies in private market operations and providing greater equity and social justice in the distribution of land. The paper analyses compulsory acquisition practice in Ghana in the light of these principles. It argues that few of the presumed principles have been met. Rather compulsory land acquisition has resulted in adverse socio-economic consequences including in landlessness, poverty and heightened tension in state-community relationship. The paper advocates for a new legal and institutional environment for employing compulsory acquisition powers.
    • Customary Landholding Institutions and Housing Development in Urban Centres of Ghana : Case Studies of Kumasi and Wa

      Abdulai, Raymond Talinbe; Ndekugri, Issaka E. (Amsterdam: Elsevier, 2007)
      In Ghana, land is vested in families and chiefs in the traditional land sector. These corporate bodies, referred to as customary landholding institutions control over 90% of the total land area in the country. The institutions therefore govern access to land. Urban centres in Ghana are plagued with a plethora of problems and one of them is inadequate housing. The urban housing problem is partly attributed to the existence and operation of the institutions. The customary landholding system is perceived as communal landownership, which does not permit individual ownership. It is thus argued that the system does not provide incentives for investing in housing development. This paper reports on a study carried out to test the assertion that the system does not permit individual ownership using two urban centres as case studies. The analysis shows that the operation of the institutions permits individual landownership. The traditional landownership system cannot therefore be the cause of the urban housing problem based on the premise that it does not permit individual ownership of land rights.
    • Is Land Title Registration the Answer to Insecure and Uncertain Property Rights in Sub-Saharan Africa?

      Abdulai, Raymond Talinbe (RICS (The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors), 2006)
      The importance of security and certainty of land tenure cannot be overemphasized. A key justification for it is that it provides incentives for investment in land and therefore an impetus for sustainable economic development. In the customary land sector in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), land is vested in communities represented by families/clans, tribes and chiefs. These families/clans, tribes and chiefs are commonly referred to as traditional landholding institutions. It is, however, believed that property rights to land emanating from these institutions are insecure and uncertain, implying a disincentive to investment and therefore a barrier to economic development. This belief appears to be premised on the fact that customary ownership of land is not formally recorded or registered. Thus, since the colonial era, governments have been embarking on various land title registration programmes supposedly to guarantee greater security and certainty of customary land tenure for sustainable development. Evidence, however, abounds in the sub region to indicate that: (a) land title registration has done little to guarantee security and certainty of land tenure; and (b) there is no clearly discernible link between land title registration and investment behaviour. These form the basis of the thesis pursued in this paper. The paper argues that increasing security and certainty of land tenure does not necessarily require the registration of land titles and therefore defines the ingredients of secure and certain land rights. (RICS)
    • Regulating recovery of historic wreck in UK waters: when is a salvor not a salvor?

      Williams, Michael V.; Fletcher-Tomenius, Paul (Informa Legal Publishing (UK), 2000)
      Whether historic wrecks should be subject to salvage regime and therefore capable of exploitation by commercial interests and whether existing legislation is sufficient to protect sites of archaeological interest.
    • Traditional Landholding Institutions and Individual Ownership of Land Rights in Sub-Saharan Africa

      Abdulai, Raymond Talinbe; Antwi, Adarkwah (InderScience Publishers, 2005)
      As first level suppliers, land is vested in indigenous corporate bodies like clans/families, tribes and chiefs in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). The corporate bodies are called traditional landholding institutions. This socio-political arrangement of landownership has, however, been described as communal landholding which does not permit individual ownership of land rights and this, it is argued, impedes economic development. This paper critically examines the customary land tenure systems and concludes that they are composite with communal as well as individual landownership akin to what obtains in England. Traditional landownership systems in SSA do not appear to constrain individual ownership of land rights. (InderScience Publishers)