Preparing for future investors, Samoa

LEI are currently working with the Ministry of Natural Resources & Environment (MNRE) in Samoa through World Bank funding to implement the 2009 Unit Titles Act. The Unit Titles Act, the first of its kind in Samoa, was introduced to promote investment in property development in Samoa. LEI are providing a small consultancy team to establish clear and comprehensive administrative mechanisms and regulations to support the enacted legislation.

The team of registration, legal, survey and IT experts completed the first phase in March 2012 and this month are completing the second phase of the project. The MNRE have been working closely alongside the LEI team, playing an effective role in facilitating more than 12 stakeholder meetings. These question, answers and feedback sessions were part of the stakeholder engagement process to explain the enactment of the Unit Titles law. Representatives from government departments (including MNRE, Attorney Generalís Office, Planning, Works Transport and Infrastructure), private sector surveyors, lending institutions, valuers, the law society and members of the chamber of commerce attended these sessions.

In addition to consultations and training workshops, the team and MNRE counterparts have:

• Prepared an implementation strategy to implement the Unit Titles Act.
• Reviewed the Unit Titles Act and a draft amendment Bill.
• Drafted regulations that now await the Attorney Generals approval.
• Reviewed the survey processes and prepared and trained surveyors in procedures and guidelines to up-skill the Public and Private sector surveyors in Unit Title plan preparations.

While MNRE work simultaneously on the development of an Open Source Software Land Registration System (SOLA), our IT expert in collaboration with this team is making necessary adjustments to the existing computerized Land Registry System to ensure the seamless registration of Unit Title applications until the new SOLA system is in place.

For more information, please direct your queries to Mr John Meadows, Team Leader/ Registration Specialist.