Surveyors across the country have received firm assurance from the Minister for Lands and Natural Resources, Hon. Emmanuel Armah-Kofi Buah, that the long-awaited Surveying Council Bill will not gather dust.

Speaking on behalf of the Sector Minister, the Deputy Minister for Lands, Hon. Sulemana Yusif, at the 21st Surveyors’ Week and 57th Annual General Meeting of the Ghana Institution of Surveyors on Thursday, 26th February, 2026, declared that the passage of the Bill remains a personal priority and a non-negotiable commitment.

He stressed that strengthening professional regulation and enforcing ethical standards in the surveying space is central to restoring public confidence and modernising land governance in Ghana.

The Minister said, the theme, “Strategic Professional Collaboration as a Catalyst for Sustainable National Development,” speaks directly to Ghana’s development reality. He described surveyors as indispensable architects of national growth providing spatial certainty, valuation accuracy, cost efficiency and accountability across infrastructure, housing and natural resource management.

As government pushes urban renewal, housing delivery, land reforms and climate resilience, he noted that collaboration among land, valuation and quantity surveyors is no longer optional but essential.

Touching on reforms within the land sector, the Minister outlined progress under the Land Bank and Digitalisation Project, including securing large tracts of land for commercial agriculture and mapping the entire country to produce up-to-date orthophotos.

Following the Minister’s intervention, the Ministry of Finance has approved the retention of 100 percent of the Lands Commission’s internally generated funds, with 67 percent dedicated to digitalisation. This, he said, will decentralise land services, digitise legacy records and significantly reduce turnaround times.

Weak boundary definition, fragmented geospatial data and poor land-use control, he noted, create loopholes for abuse. He underscored that technology-enabled surveying, backed by strong ethics and inter-agency data sharing under the forthcoming National Geospatial Policy, will be critical in winning the fight. “My resolve to see the Surveying Council Bill passed into law remains firm,” he assured, adding that he will only entertain petitions that strengthen the Bill, not weaken it.

Delivering the keynote address, Prof. Douglas Boateng challenged surveyors to recognise what he termed their “unexercised power.” He argued that although surveyors are indispensable to Ghana’s development architecture, the profession remains insufficiently protected within the legislative framework, a gap he linked to persistent land disputes and the rise of land guards.

Citing World Bank data and Rwanda’s land reforms, he demonstrated how secure land systems can boost investment by up to 40 percent, improve agricultural productivity and expand access to credit. “When land is uncertain, capital hesitates; when land is secure, capital accelerates,” he stated, urging surveyors to unite and push for legal recognition.

In his welcome address, President of the Ghana Institution of Surveyors, Surv. Kofi Obeng-Ayirebi, described the week-long event as a moment of renewal and strategic repositioning. He reaffirmed the profession’s centrality to infrastructure, housing, ports, mining and urban development, stressing that surveying does not merely support development, it enables it.

He announced plans to establish a Centre of Excellence to strengthen continuous professional development, research and innovation, positioning the Institution as a strategic partner to government and industry.

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