Institutional investors are sitting on billions of cedis in pension and insurance capital ready to flow into Ghana’s housing and infrastructure sectors, but a finance expert has warned that the money will not move without the professional and legislative credibility that a long-stalled surveying law would provide.
Kofi Fynn, Managing Director of Petra Trust Company Limited, made the warning at the 21st Surveyors’ Week and 57th Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the Ghana Institution of Surveyors (GhIS) in Tema on Friday. “Billions of cedis in pension and insurance funds are ready for investment, but institutional capital demands precision, clear land titles, and strong professional standards,” Fynn said, describing surveyors as the single most critical link between investor confidence and productive deployment of long-term savings capital.
He stressed that no road, building, or financial transaction succeeds without reliable surveys and valuations, and that with pension and insurance funds now holding tens of billions of cedis in long-term capital, significant opportunities exist to address Ghana’s housing deficit and expand infrastructure development if the professional standards of the land sector inspire confidence.
The remarks arrived as Lands and Natural Resources Minister Emmanuel Armah-Kofi Buah reaffirmed that the Surveying Council Bill, a proposed law that has been in circulation for more than two decades, is a personal priority. The bill is currently at the Attorney-General’s office for review, while a companion National Geospatial Policy is awaiting Cabinet consideration. Deputy Lands Minister Sulemana Yusif, speaking on behalf of the sector minister, described passage of the bill as a “non-negotiable commitment.”
If passed, the legislation will establish a Survey Council to oversee professional licensing, enforce conduct standards, and discipline surveyors. The institution has argued that without statutory backing, it cannot enforce standards on unqualified practitioners who operate freely, undercutting qualified surveyors on price while delivering substandard outputs that generate land disputes and structurally compromised buildings.
Beyond the bill, the Ministry provided updates on the wider land governance reform agenda. The Ministry of Finance has approved the retention of 100 percent of the Lands Commission’s internally generated funds, with 67 percent earmarked for digitisation. Officials said the arrangement will support the decentralisation of land services, digitisation of legacy records, and shorter processing times for property transactions. A Land Bank and Digitalisation Project is also underway, with nationwide mapping in progress to produce updated orthophotos and large tracts of land being secured for commercial agriculture.
GhIS President Kofi Obeng-Ayirebi, who has repeatedly linked the absence of a regulatory law to Ghana’s persistent land boundary disputes and collapsed building incidents, announced plans to establish a Centre of Excellence to strengthen professional development, research, and innovation within the profession.
The institution, founded on February 28, 1969, marks its 57th year as Ghana’s leading professional body on land resource management, and its leadership has said the Surveying Council Bill represents the most important unfinished piece of business in the profession’s history.
