09-04-2004, 05:30 PM
Excerpts from an article I found at one of the forums;
Pakistanâs lost capital
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The present haphazard, corrupt and archaic land records system has tremendous ramifications, both economic and social. The Musharraf government has placed great emphasis on attracting investment through privatisation and otherwise. Microfinance has also been earmarked as an emerging sector and development of infrastructure has taken up a significant portion of the recent budget. But there can be limited progress on these fronts if our land records system is not urgently modernised. For instance, why would an investor buy KESC or FESCO if the title to their assets or property is uncertain or has not been legally transferred to the entities in question? Would you blame a bank for not accepting land as collateral for a loan big or small when presented with an indecipherable land title document? How can the government excel in planning and infrastructure on the basis of outdated, faded cloth maps? Would you feel safe buying a house in Gulberg, Lahore when its records are in the custody of the Patwari? Pakistan probably loses out on millions in lost investment for this reason alone.
The good news is that De Sotoâs theory has resonated amongst the top members of our government, including the President himself. The problems have been recognised and the administration has decided to tackle them. The objective is to make all land records publicly and easily available and in a simple format so it is immediately apparent who owns what. Courts, banks and citizens should all be able to access the records and the possibility of abuse and fraud by the Patwari should be removed. In fact, the Government of the Punjab has been incredibly pro-active in this regard and has decided to develop and implement a system that would
a. make all transactions relating to land transparent and seamless.
b. Decrease rural poverty by providing secure land titles and tenure and encourage dealings in land.
c. Encourage and increase investment in urban and rural areas.
d. Increase government revenue through transparent and equitable taxation regimes.
e. Improve land management and local planning with the help of clear, easily accessible and accurate information.
Land Records Management Information Systems (LRMIS)
In March 2003, on the initiative of the Government of the Punjab, an advertisement calling for open tenders to bid on a solution to the problem was issued. Out of 42 national and international bidders, the Lahore-based company, Accountancy Outsourcing Services (Pvt) Ltd (AOS) presented the most viable and groundbreaking solution and were awarded a contract to modernise the existing land records in a particular area. They were later awarded a second contract to modernise the process of registration of deeds as this is closely linked to land records. For instance, presently in urban areas, mutations in deeds (i.e. sale deeds etc) must be registered at the land registry office, while in rural areas registration is verbal and is effected in front of a Patwari, a witness and Nambardar (local village authority). If registration of deeds and land records are linked and can be effected from a single platform, the system will be made far easier, advanced, less time consuming and less open to abuse.
AOS and the government have formulated a system called LRMIS to make the present land records system simple, modern and secure. At its root, the system significantly eliminates chances of abuse by Patwaris. According to Chaudhry Pervez Elahi, Chief Minister of the Punjab, âthe introduction of LRMIS will certainly eliminate the monopoly of the Patwari in revenue mattersâ¦and will attain accuracy, transparency and efficiency of the Revenue Department.â
It has been decided that the entire land records in Pakistan will be computerised and made available through a single platform. However, this is not just a matter of transferring details of ownership from one medium to another. Land records are by their very nature dynamic. They are not a static record of landholding. Donât forget, there is detailed information in all 17 of the Patwariâs registers. The nature of landholding is changing all the time â people give portions to their sons and daughters, tenants come and go, people buy and sell, crop size in any given year is differentâ¦the list goes on. Therefore, rather than laboriously writing in registers and cross-indexing all the 17 registers, which can take weeks and is difficult to locate, if all the information is computerised, all of it becomes available at the click of a button. For instance, at the touch of a button, you can tell who the legal owner of the property is, what the house looks like, who are the heirs, if it is a farm, what crops are grown there etc.
Significantly, Bill Gates of Microsoft heard about this project and was very keen to get involved. Microsoft has therefore teamed up with AOS to provide them with technological support and top of the line equipment.
Stage 1 Back to Sher Shah
The system that has been developed by AOS is nothing short of remarkable. The first thing that had to be done was to take a leaf out of the incomparable Sher Shah Suriâs book and make a map of Pakistan. But the map AOS have made is no ordinary map. As Pakistanâs satellite âdisappearedâ, AOS purchased detailed satellite maps taken by the American satellite âQuickbirdâ, which, incidentally, provided the maps the Americans used for their precision bombing in Afghanistan and misused to imprecisely identify chemical factories and vans allegedly containing weapons of mass destruction in Iraq! Quickbird is one of the best satellites used for mapping. A single pixel can cover an area as small as 0.6 metres (Pakistanâs ill fated satellite had an awful 30 metres resolution).
Rest of the article can be found on the magazine's website http//www.bluechipmag.com/
Mapping Pakistan - Taking a Leaf Out of Sher Shah's Book
Pakistanâs lost capital
------------------------
The present haphazard, corrupt and archaic land records system has tremendous ramifications, both economic and social. The Musharraf government has placed great emphasis on attracting investment through privatisation and otherwise. Microfinance has also been earmarked as an emerging sector and development of infrastructure has taken up a significant portion of the recent budget. But there can be limited progress on these fronts if our land records system is not urgently modernised. For instance, why would an investor buy KESC or FESCO if the title to their assets or property is uncertain or has not been legally transferred to the entities in question? Would you blame a bank for not accepting land as collateral for a loan big or small when presented with an indecipherable land title document? How can the government excel in planning and infrastructure on the basis of outdated, faded cloth maps? Would you feel safe buying a house in Gulberg, Lahore when its records are in the custody of the Patwari? Pakistan probably loses out on millions in lost investment for this reason alone.
The good news is that De Sotoâs theory has resonated amongst the top members of our government, including the President himself. The problems have been recognised and the administration has decided to tackle them. The objective is to make all land records publicly and easily available and in a simple format so it is immediately apparent who owns what. Courts, banks and citizens should all be able to access the records and the possibility of abuse and fraud by the Patwari should be removed. In fact, the Government of the Punjab has been incredibly pro-active in this regard and has decided to develop and implement a system that would
a. make all transactions relating to land transparent and seamless.
b. Decrease rural poverty by providing secure land titles and tenure and encourage dealings in land.
c. Encourage and increase investment in urban and rural areas.
d. Increase government revenue through transparent and equitable taxation regimes.
e. Improve land management and local planning with the help of clear, easily accessible and accurate information.
Land Records Management Information Systems (LRMIS)
In March 2003, on the initiative of the Government of the Punjab, an advertisement calling for open tenders to bid on a solution to the problem was issued. Out of 42 national and international bidders, the Lahore-based company, Accountancy Outsourcing Services (Pvt) Ltd (AOS) presented the most viable and groundbreaking solution and were awarded a contract to modernise the existing land records in a particular area. They were later awarded a second contract to modernise the process of registration of deeds as this is closely linked to land records. For instance, presently in urban areas, mutations in deeds (i.e. sale deeds etc) must be registered at the land registry office, while in rural areas registration is verbal and is effected in front of a Patwari, a witness and Nambardar (local village authority). If registration of deeds and land records are linked and can be effected from a single platform, the system will be made far easier, advanced, less time consuming and less open to abuse.
AOS and the government have formulated a system called LRMIS to make the present land records system simple, modern and secure. At its root, the system significantly eliminates chances of abuse by Patwaris. According to Chaudhry Pervez Elahi, Chief Minister of the Punjab, âthe introduction of LRMIS will certainly eliminate the monopoly of the Patwari in revenue mattersâ¦and will attain accuracy, transparency and efficiency of the Revenue Department.â
It has been decided that the entire land records in Pakistan will be computerised and made available through a single platform. However, this is not just a matter of transferring details of ownership from one medium to another. Land records are by their very nature dynamic. They are not a static record of landholding. Donât forget, there is detailed information in all 17 of the Patwariâs registers. The nature of landholding is changing all the time â people give portions to their sons and daughters, tenants come and go, people buy and sell, crop size in any given year is differentâ¦the list goes on. Therefore, rather than laboriously writing in registers and cross-indexing all the 17 registers, which can take weeks and is difficult to locate, if all the information is computerised, all of it becomes available at the click of a button. For instance, at the touch of a button, you can tell who the legal owner of the property is, what the house looks like, who are the heirs, if it is a farm, what crops are grown there etc.
Significantly, Bill Gates of Microsoft heard about this project and was very keen to get involved. Microsoft has therefore teamed up with AOS to provide them with technological support and top of the line equipment.
Stage 1 Back to Sher Shah
The system that has been developed by AOS is nothing short of remarkable. The first thing that had to be done was to take a leaf out of the incomparable Sher Shah Suriâs book and make a map of Pakistan. But the map AOS have made is no ordinary map. As Pakistanâs satellite âdisappearedâ, AOS purchased detailed satellite maps taken by the American satellite âQuickbirdâ, which, incidentally, provided the maps the Americans used for their precision bombing in Afghanistan and misused to imprecisely identify chemical factories and vans allegedly containing weapons of mass destruction in Iraq! Quickbird is one of the best satellites used for mapping. A single pixel can cover an area as small as 0.6 metres (Pakistanâs ill fated satellite had an awful 30 metres resolution).
Rest of the article can be found on the magazine's website http//www.bluechipmag.com/
Mapping Pakistan - Taking a Leaf Out of Sher Shah's Book
