Sri Lanka’s Land Bank faces tough choices in computerisation
Sri Lanka’s ambitious ‘Land Bank’ project aimed at improving access to private and state land while ensuring effective land management is now faced with tough challenges in computerisation of the information, Land Ministry officials said.
Computerisation of the information on the lands presently available in written documents and inclusion of the same in the land information system is not upto expectations at present, a senior Ministry official said.
The US Millennium Challenge Corporation recently signed an agreement with Sri Lanka to provide US$67.3 million in addition to state funding for improvement of access to private and state land.
This US funding will also be used to provide more uniform valuation of land, and assist the Government in improving the land policy and governance framework under which land is managed and administered.
Parliament made provisions of Rs.195 million and Rs.395 million in 2016 and 2017, respectively for the land bank project. Out of the provision in 2017, a sum of Rs.116 million or 29 per cent had been utilised. According to the project Action Plan, it was planned to implement programmes for the scanning of extracts of 22 Land Registries (E-Land Registry), development of data base for the Land Acquisition Division, introduction of the State Land Information Management System (E-Slim) and establishment of Land Information Centre (E-Land Hub).
However due to disagreements among top officials and politicians and tough choices in identifying land parcels and tender procedure to select qualified bidders for IT procurements, it was impossible to achieve the objectives expected from the project, the latest Auditor General’s report revealed.
Since computerisation of the data had not been properly carried out during the year under review, it had not been possible to scan the extracts of seven offices as planned and the software of six offices that remained in a feasible level to maintain office activities had not been updated, the audit query unearthed.
A database had not been developed· for the Land Acquisition Division, the AG’s report pointed out adding that the Land Settlement Department and the Land Use Policy Planning Department had not developed computer systems under the E-Land Hub programme.
According to the Action Plan of the year 2017, although the number of Title Certificates targeted to be issued during the year under review stood at 48,000, the number of Title Certificates 7registered stood at 48,240.
Nevertheless, 20,151 certificates or 42 per cent of the registered certificates had been issued to the people.