5,000 land titles now digital
L-R: Richard Oput coordinator Land Sector, Gabindadde Musoke, permanent secretary Lands ministry, and FAO’s Massimo Castiello, during a workshop in Kampala yesterday. PHOTO BY RACHEAL AJWANG.
What you need to know:
Lands ministry officials say the move is to eliminate fraud in titles as well as enable safe storage of information.
Kampala
A total of 5,000 land titles in five districts have been digitalised in a bid by the ministry of Lands to make land information available and eliminate fraud.
This was revealed during the launch of the second phase of the programme which will see 15 districts benefit by having their land titles processed and stored digitally at National Information Centre, in Kampala yesterday.
The first phase of the programme which cost approximately Shs31 billion started in February 2010 and ended in February 2012. It saw the information of five districts of Kampala, Wakiso, Jinja, Mbarara, Masaka and Mukono captured.
According to Mr Gabindadde Musoke, the permanent secretary ministry of Lands, the second phase which will cost approximately Shs54 billion is to start in February 2015 and will last until 2019.
“The work you have to undertake is mainly to extend the computerised land information system to cover the entire country. You will also ensure all the physical plans are incorporated in the system because the whole country was declared a physical planning area. The valuation function this time around will also be handled under this system,” Mr Musoke said while addressing IGN France, the company contracted for the job.
He added that the project will benefit individuals by doing away with the manual system of extracting data and type writers and improve storage of information. Districts in the second phase include Gulu, Lira, Arua, Masindi, Kibaale, Kabarole, Mpigi and Luweero, among others.
The money awarded by World Bank will see information ranging from titles to land demarcations digitally processed and stored. According to Ms Nadege Orlova, the regional manager IGN France, it will now take someone one day to process a land title and a few days to deal with legal procedures.
“The data generated has better quality and has lesser mistakes than the previous one which sometimes saw two people awarded the same land title,” Ms Orlova explained. She said to ensure security of the data, employees who do not have internet access which can allow for hackers to tap into the storage.
