Professor Ernest Aryeetey, Director of Institute of Social, Statistics and Economic Research (ISSER), on Friday said the Institute had proposed to the government to establish land banks to guarantee the interest of landowners and provide security for land users. He said under the proposal, arrangement would be made for all lands to be registered with the land banks for a period and the banks would make it available to the users in the form of leaseholds on which interest would be paid to the owners. "Just as we save our monies at the bank and they in turn pay us interest for using it to do business, the same way these land banks too would operate," Prof Aryeetey told reporters in Accra on the sideline of an international conference on "Land Tenure and Policy Reform in Ghana". The conference was organised by ISSER with sponsorship from USAID for land researchers and land experts from the Universities and Forestry Institutions. Prof Aryeetey said the proposal would have a number of legal instruments to protect both landowners and users so that people would give out their land without fear of losing them. He held that in Ghana, land ownership was not a problem but being able to secure the tenure was the problem, "and we at ISSER feel strongly that land banks are the best way this country can solve problems of land tenure system and its other related problems." He said apart from creating more jobs for the people, land banking would also reduce poverty, ensure harmony between landowners and users, and provide room for landless people to enjoy its usage without any interference. Conference participants had raised concerns about the high rate of deforestation and the pollution of river bodies and called on government agencies responsible to intensify education and sensitisation programmes to create the awareness among the populace. They also called for rigorous re-forestation project along the banks of main rivers to check pollution. Source: GNA