By Delicious Mathuthu
The government of Zimbabwe has introduced an electronic land register, dubbed the Electronic Cadastre (eCadastre), a project to cub inefficiency and lack of transparency in land administration.
The project seeks to improve general land management and attract investors, doing away with the continued potential controversies and land disputes perpetrated by the current manual system since the advent of the land reform.
Ministry of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development Permanent Secretary, Dr. John Basera, speaking in Harare, Zimbabwe, at Monomutapa Hotel on Tuesday (30 May 2023) on the occasion of the eCadastre workshop said land is key to socio-economic development and investment.
“This is an important opportunity as this nature of the project represents a major milestone in the Second Republic’s efforts to modernize the land administration system and improve the management of valuable land resources.
“Land is a critical resource for any form of investment given the rise of land based and land linked investments in our country.
“Its proper, efficient and modern management is essential to facilitate economic development, growth and social well-being.
“As it stands, the current land administration system is largely manual, fragmented and poses numerous challenges including its opaque, non-transparency and inefficiency nature.
“These challenges have hindered efforts to promote sustainable land use, attract investment, reduce poverty and inequality,” Dr. Basera said.
Cadastre systems provide primary building blocks where the national land administration system is based.
Thus, Dr. Basera said the eCadastre comes to address identified challenges in the manual land management and part of government’s push for digitalisation of its departments.
“The Electronic Cadastre (eCadastre) project is a key part of government strategy to address identified challenges and transform our land administration system into a robust, efficient and effective system.
“This squarely resonates and aligns with the National Development Strategy 1 (NDS1), which prioritizes the modernization of public services and the promotion of good governance, transparency and accountability,” he said.
eCadastre provides a modern, reliable and user-friendly platform for land registration, land register management, and information services.
Dr. Basera said the system also has embedded advantages such as improving the accuracy and completeness of land records, reducing the time and cost of land transactions, and enhances the security of land rights.
He said centralisation of land registry between Harare and Bulawayo will be a thing of the past, as the eCadastre system will be online.
“It will break and effectively eliminate silos within government Ministries, departments and agencies involved in the land administration value chain.
“The project will promote social justice and empowers our citizens, especially the marginalized and vulnerable.
“Where the public was obliged to physically visit either Surveyor General’s offices in Harare or Bulawayo for services, these are now going to be on a click of a button away.
“All general property searches are going to be available online,” Dr. Basera said.
The eCadastre system will not only be for government departments but will be extended to the private sector, especially those into financial and real estate services, to enhance their operations.
Dr. Basera said the building and success of the eCadastre is based on key stakeholder input and feedback.
“I am informed that sector specific and group specific consultations will kickstart soon.
“This will ensure that all stakeholder inputs and aspirations are incorporated,” he said.
After the completion of the project, Dr. Basera said, evaluation of the process will be done to take stock and assess whether all stakeholder concerns and needs were taken on board.
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