Gov’t Partners with KOICA to Transform Jamaica’s Land Administration

The Government has signed an agreement with the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) for a groundbreaking project that will strengthen Jamaica’s land administration framework.

The Land Administration Capacity Enhancement Project (LACEP), which will run from 2026 to 2031, is designed to build technical capacity and advance geospatial technologies at the National Land Agency (NLA).

KOICA is providing a grant of up to US$9 million or approximately J$1.42 billion to facilitate the initiative.

Prime Minister, Dr. the Most Hon. Andrew Holness, who officially launched the partnership at Jamaica House on Tuesday (May 12), said it will support the establishment of the Land Administration and Innovation Centre (LAIC), which will be located at 84 Hanover Street in Kingston.

He informed that the property, which has been reacquired for this national purpose, will be renovated and equipped as a modern training and innovation facility for the NLA and the wider government.

“The renovation will include office spaces, conference rooms, computer laboratories, and storage. The project will supply equipment – desktop computers, office furniture, rugged laptops, land surveying equipment, unmanned aerial vehicles, drones, and specialised software. This is the kind of investment that shifts institutional capacity in a tangible and lasting way,” Dr. Holness stated.

He said the centre will offer programmes including geoinformatics, cadastral mapping, surveying, technician training, cybersecurity for government, land record management, and advanced geographic information system (GIS) training using ArcGIS Pro.

He noted that the ArcGIS component is particularly significant, as it will prepare the NLA staff for the transition to electronic land registration solutions.

“Jamaica must move from fragmented, paper-heavy, manual systems to integrated, digital, and secure, accessible systems. This is essential for efficiency, transparency, and public trust, and for competitiveness,” the Prime Minister affirmed.

He said the Government is committed to transforming the land administration process from one that is slow, opaque, and difficult to navigate, to a system that is faster, more accurate, more accessible, and more responsive to citizens, investors, planners, and communities.

Dr. Holness emphasised that the project will lead to improved infrastructure planning, more precise environmental management, accelerated delivery of housing and a reduction in disputes over land tenure.

“When land is properly surveyed, mapped, recorded, and titled, the effects ripple outward. A family can access a mortgage, a farmer can use the land as collateral, an investor can access a site with confidence, government can identify and unlock the value of public lands, communities can establish tenure security, but importantly, disputes decline,” he pointed out.

Dr. Holness said the project includes expert deployment, training, invitational programmes in Korea in community technical instruction, and support for student surveyors to become commissioned land surveyors.

“Commissioned surveyors will guide and supervise practical training. This addresses one of the sector’s most pressing constraints – we need a deeper pool of trained professionals,” he stated.

Dr. Holness expressed gratitude to the Government and people of the Republic of Korea, while noting that Jamaica hopes to develop the same structure, disciplined system of ownership and administration of land that Korea has developed.

In her remarks, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the NLA and Commissioner of Lands, Cheriese Walcott, said the project demonstrates a collective commitment to strengthening Jamaica’s land administration framework and equipping a professionals with the expertise to support a modern, digitally enabled Jamaica.

She noted that the establishment of the LAIC will create opportunities for capacity-building across the wider public sector, especially for professionals involved in surveying, mapping, GIS, land management and geospatial technologies.

The Commissioner of Lands thanked the Republic of Korea and KOICA for their unwavering partnership, noting that the NLA has benefited significantly from specialised training programmes, technical exchanges and professional development opportunities over the years.

Chargé d’affaires at the Embassy of the Republic of Korea in Jamaica, Joongkeun Oh, said that the LACEP is “a decisive first step towards realising Jamaica’s grand vision, awakening the nation’s sustainable economic potential and dramatically enhancing administrative efficiency through transparent digital governance”.

He noted that by transforming outdated processes into a state-of-the-art digital systems, Jamaica will ensure transparent property rights for citizens and bolster government revenue.

LACEP will be implemented by the NLA in collaboration with the Ministry of Finance and the Public Service, the Ministry of Economic Growth and Infrastructure Development, and Korean partners.

It builds on earlier Korea-Jamaica cooperation, including the LAMP II project, which introduced systematic surveys and improved land-registration processes.

Stage one of the new project will run from 2026 to 2027 and will focus on elements such as land-registration reform, the establishment of the LAIC, a unified address roadmap, and better land-development rules.

Stage two, scheduled to run from 2028 to 2029, will focus on transforming LAIC into a national training hub for technical courses, field practice, GIS, data management, and trainer development.

Starting in 2030, LAIC will be fully operational by NLA, supported by targeted technical cooperation and a train-the-trainer model that keeps expertise in Jamaica.