Holness outlines KOICA land registration upgrade and new road safety measures

Prime Minister Dr. Andrew Holness last week pointed to land titling reform and road safety enforcement as major national priorities, outlining a KOICA-supported land administration project and new measures agreed by the National Road Safety Council.

At Tuesday’s signing for the Land Administration Capacity Enhancement Project, Holness said the initiative should help remove obstacles linked to insecure land tenure. The programme, being done with the Korea International Cooperation Agency, is funded by a US$9 million grant, or about J$1.4 billion, covering the period 2025 to 2031.

The partnership will create a Land Administration Innovation Centre at 84 Hanover Street in Kingston. The facility is to be renovated for use by the National Land Agency and wider Government, with office areas, conference rooms, computer labs and storage. The project will also provide desktop computers, office furniture, rugged laptops, surveying tools, drones and specialised software.

Training is to cover geoinformatics, cadastral mapping, surveying technician skills, government cyber security, land records management and advanced GIS using ArcGIS Pro. Holness said that digital capability is important as the NLA moves toward electronic land registration, replacing fragmented and paper-based processes with secure, connected systems.

He urged Jamaicans occupying land without proper titles to regularise ownership, saying the absence of title limits access to finance, inheritance, security and the formal economy. He also thanked the Government and people of the Republic of Korea and KOICA, saying Jamaica hopes to build the discipline and ownership systems Korea developed.

On Thursday, Holness met with the National Road Safety Council to review road safety performance. The meeting heard that repeat Road Traffic Act offenders were involved in 40 per cent of road deaths in 2025. Decisions included faster integration of iMap into the Jamaica Constabulary Force private cloud, stronger enforcement of warrants against repeat offenders, an updated Health and Wellness Ministry study on crash impacts, HEART/NSTA Trust training for motorcyclists and the purchase of 10,000 helmets.

The Jamaica Customs Agency is to be sensitised on new helmet standards, while a national reset of points tied to traffic tickets is scheduled for August 1, 2026. Further changes will address Road Traffic Regulations, offence points and the use of photographs from cameras.