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Mrs Barbara Oteng Gyasi, Deputy Minister for Lands and Natural Resources, has called for a balanced development scheme to check the manner rural and peri-urban lands were being consumed rapidly by estate development.

This, she said, if not halted could render indigenes and customary owners of such lands homeless and jobless and thereby increase the unemployment rate as well as the drift to the urban areas.

The Minister expressed these concerns during the inauguration of a 26-member re-constituted Central Regional Lands Commission in Cape Coast.

The newly re-constituted commission had been tasked to manage public lands and also regulate the disposal of stools and other lands as enshrined in the 1992 Constitution under Article 258.

It had Dr Ekow Sam, an architect, as the Chairman with Mr Samuel Anini, Regional Lands Officer, as Secretary.

The other members are representatives from the Ghana Institution of Surveyors, Regional House of Chiefs, Ghana Bar Association, Town and Country Planning Department and the Ghana National Association of Farmers and Fishermen.

There were also representatives from the Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs) in the region.

Mrs Gyasi said the abundant natural resources in the Region have not been appropriately leveraged to fully unearth its potentials particularly in agriculture, housing, commerce and the agro-industry.

She urged members to develop new strategies to deal with the challenges of land management for the resources to reflect of the socio-economic development of the Region.

“With the region’s fate so tied to land, the lands commission has an arduous task of opening it up for development through the inflow of positive investment from the private sector”, she said.

Mrs Gyasi urged the Commission to collaborate with the Coastal Development Authority as well as the Zongo Development Fund to eliminate the high rate of poverty in the Region.

Mr Kwamena Duncan, the Regional Minister, said  land is important in the socio-economic development of a nation and expressed the hope that members would bring their expertise to bear for the accelerated growth of the Region.

Obrempong Krampah Nyanful XI, the President of the Central Regional House of Chiefs, urged the Commission to consult the traditional leaders in the administration of lands.

He admonished them to be guided by the constitution and pursue dialogue and alternate dispute resolution mechanisms in resolving the region's land litigation concerns.

Dr Ekow Sam, Chairman of the Commission thanked the Government for the confidence reposed in them and pledged to do their best to live up to expectation.