GEORGETOWN, Guyana – August 6, 2026 – Guyana’s Ministry of Legal Affairs has announced a clear timeline to resolve long-running land tenure questions for residents of Melanie Damishana-Non Pariel on the East Coast Demerara, with formal property titles set to be issued to qualifying occupants within the next fortnight.
Speaking at a community consultation focused on the country’s model village initiative held at the Melanie Damishana Nursery School this Thursday, Legal Affairs Minister Anil Nandlall confirmed that the decades-long cooperative land disputes affecting the area will be fully and finally resolved within 14 days, with government representatives deploying on-site to complete the process.
Nandlall explained that the land regularisation initiative, which first launched years ago to formalise tenure for dozens of occupied residential parcels in the area, was delayed after the former CEO of the Central Housing and Planning Authority (CH&PA), Sherwin Greaves, left his position. To get the process back on track, the minister confirmed that his ministry’s dedicated land regularisation unit will hold a planning meeting in Georgetown next week ahead of its on-site deployment to wrap up outstanding work.
Years of preliminary work has already laid the groundwork for the final step: the Guyanese government has already formalised its commitment to issuing full property titles – referred to locally as transports – to all qualifying homestead occupants, and a full occupational survey of the area has already been completed to clear the way for the final approval and issuing of documents. Following interministerial discussions with Cooperatives Minister Keoma Griffith and Housing Minister Collin Croal, the housing ministry has assigned a new liaison officer to support the Legal Affairs Ministry in moving the process forward. Nandlall appeared alongside Croal at Thursday’s community gathering, which was presided over by Guyana President Irfaan Ali.
The announcement came in direct response to questions raised by local residents during the consultation’s open question-and-answer session. One resident from nearby Bare Root, East Coast Demerara, pressed government officials for a clear timeline for title delivery, noting that he had already been organizing local residents to prepare for formal tenure by encouraging neighbors to begin paying required rates and taxes ahead of receiving their documents.
The regularisation process will convert land previously held under long-term lease to a cooperative society into formally titled individual residential properties, unlocking property rights, access to financing, and legal security for hundreds of local residents who have resided on the land for years.