real estate

ROP meetings slated for interior

la prensa

disputed: The government is attempting to resolve outstanding “rights of possession” issues in the interior.1116036

The Civil Society Advisory Council, which is part of the National Program for Land Administration, will hold a series of meetings as the first step in trying to resolve the problems surrounding the issue of rights of possession of real estate.

The meetings come in the wake of recent land disputes that led to the eviction of families in Pedasí and Bocas del Toro,

César Carrasquilla, chairman of the council, reported that the first meeting will be at 9 a.m. Thursday in Pedasí, in the province of Los Santos. It will involve residents, investors, local and national authorities, and will focus on the issue of rights of possession. The second meeting will be in Bocas del Toro on Saturday.

Carrasquilla said the government wants to regularize the status of land owners as part of an effort to title land in those two areas.

The intention, he said, is that families who have lived on a parcel for a number of years can get the land titled, and be able to qualify for bank loans to purchase the land outright for possible development.

The issue has grown so serious in Bocas del Toro, he said, that some parcels have been sold up to four times without it having ever been properly titled.

Faced with criticism that the effort to title the land is a pre-election gimmick designed to drum up support in the interior for the ruling government, Carrasquilla responded that the issue has been a problem for years.

Currently, in the Land Registry Department, there are 5,600 applications from families who have been waiting for land titles, but those applications have been stagnant because the issue has not been resolved.