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ABSTRACT
A nations natural resources with land at the apex form the basis of economic growth in most
developing nations since the bulk of a nations raw materials required for industry be it agro,
chemical or automotive are extracted form these natural resources. This renders the proper
management of the resource of land crucial in any state or country as it is also the basis of
sustainable development. Such proper land management policies however remain a challenge
to most governments in African nations. This is further worsened by the need to readdress
pre-colonial land occupation imbalances in which the land reform fails to adopt proper
procedures and standards, which sympathise with economic growth procedures.
The objective of this paper is to justify the need for a digital cadastre as a solution to land
management problems as well as its role as a tool for economic growth.
1. INTRODUCTION
Cadastral systems have evolved from the allocation of land as grazing land, arable land as
well as hunting ground and often at village level while at the same time, land was acquired
and lost through wars. Thus each family possessed an acreage of arable land with access to
common pastures and this sufficed with the population then. However, the ever-growing
world population and increasing pressure on both natural and manmade resources renders
critical the need for land information as a basis for managing and exploiting such resources in
a sustainable manner. Without adequate up-to-date land information it becomes difficult to
execute any planning, development and exploitation project of such resources efficiently.
Land is undoubtedly one valuable resource and land information management forms an
integral part of urban development.
Land is at the core of a nations economy and as such it is essential to device methods for
improving its management. That explains why there had to be a scramble for Africa in the
first place as European nations sought land to expand their industries. In this respect, the
implementation of proper management tools and policies with respect to land results in
efficient land transactions and land markets. However, this is only possible if the rights
pertaining to different land units are well defined and documented. The availability of land
information also improves land valuation and taxation, rates collection and billing as well as
zoning since all these operations are based on the land unit. It is also important for local
planning authorities such as municipalities to be able to identify all land units within their
2. BACKGROUND
Manual systems of managing land information and the resource of land dates back to
antiquity with their traces in developing countries though in industrialised nations such
manual systems have been rendered obsolete and thus have been replaced or superseded by
more efficient computer based systems. Most developing nations are now embarking on
automation projects with a notion to develop systems which are comparable and compatible
to those in industrialised nations at the same time bridging the technological gap between the
different cadastral systems in use worldwide. However, the building of a computerised land
information system takes a considerable amount of time especially in developing countries
where map (geometric) data has not been computerised. The need for easy access to cadastral
records and efficient land transactions necessitates the need for a timely land management
tool, essentially the cadastre.
Zimbabwe is one such nation still employing manual and semi-manual techniques and as
such can improve its service delivery in local authorities and other government departments
by implementing a computerised system. The private sector has been very innovative in
computerising its operations and products with the main problem being wastage of resources
and duplication of effort as there is no defined board governing such efforts. The manual
systems in use are based on indexes written on card files upon which land information with
respect to a specific parcel can then be found in a corresponding file written on the card. A
computerised cadastre would also address the question of storage space and backup utilities,
which is also critical.
Traditionally a cadastre has been described as a specific type of land record supported by
maps, which included not only the area and land-use of the parcel, but also land value and
ownership information. The UN AdHoc Group of experts on Cadastral Surveying and LIS
(1985) adopted the following definition-The cadastre is a methodically arranged public
inventory of data on the properties within a certain country or district based on a survey of
their boundaries. Thus a cadastre is essentially a systematic description of the land units
within an area.
3. WHY AUTOMATION?
Population growth has been associated increasing pressure on the land resource facilitating
the emergence of various types of rights to use and develop the land emerge hence facilitating
the need for a cadastre to manage the use of the resource of land. At the same time, urban
land has been described by some as being among the most valuable economic and social
Information is the basic resource for any decision making to be done and as such it is the
function of a land information system (LIS) to support land management. This is in the light
of land information or information relating to land being input in the information system. A
land information system needs to be coupled with accurate and complete information if sound
decisions are to be made. McLaughlin et.al (1990), defined land management as the process
whereby land resources are put to good effect but what exactly is land? Land may
encompass all things directly associated with the surface of the earth including those areas
covered by water. Land management entails decision making and the implementation of
decisions about land- (Dale & McLaughlin, 1990).
The major problem faced in developing countries is the need for efficient management of the
land resource and land information yet land forms the cornerstone of all their economies. It is
on land that firms extract minerals and that very same land supporting agrarian activities and
reforms. Land hence has to be used sparingly as it is a convergence of different interests such
as agriculture, industry and urbanization. The need for employment has seen the bulk of the
rural population migrating to cities hence increasing pressure on land as far as
accommodation is concerned. Companies in turn seek land for expansion in order to produce
sufficient goods and services for the ever-growing population. However, there should be a
balance between land used for different economic activities to ensure tenure to the future
generation. Failure to implement effective land management and tenure policies may easily
rob the future generations their rights to land even those they could have acquired at birth.
Land markets are a necessity as they can ensure economic use of land and developments on
land to a certain level. Fiscal policies improve production mainly on agricultural land, as a
The need to share information at both Metropolitan and National level as well as that of
efficient service delivery still haunts most African nations. At the same time, a motion
towards a paperless office, that is, a fully computerised office is already long overdue as it
results in efficient storage and retrieval of information with an assurance of consistency and
integrity among the data. If all states work towards such projects within their jurisdictions,
land information can be made compatible for input into a computerised cadastre at
continental level as long as there are set up standards agreed upon.
The main drive to this digital cadastre is cadastral reform rather than the implementation of a
complete land information system, which is the total package for the near future. Cadastral
reform emphasizes or aims at enhancing the efficiency and operation of the current cadastral
TS 7G - Integration Approaches in Land Administration 4/16
Edward Kurwakumire
The Cadastre as a tool for Land Management-Economic Reform?
Deeds Survey
Tenure
Registry Records
Cadastre
Automation
The Land
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9101112
Database
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9101112 CONSOLE COL- CONSOLE
HS1 HS2 OK1 OK2 PS COL- HS1 HS2 OK1 OK2 PS
ACT- ACT-
STA- STA-
Information stored disparately in paper format within different sections forms the cadastre
but is difficult to integrate. A way to combat this difficulty is to classify information into
survey, tenure and deeds information, but all being united by the unique cadastral parcel and
automating into the land database. This results in a centralised database, which is linked to
other computers through the server or any other host computer upon which information can
be accessed and shared.
5. INFORMATION STORAGE
Tor Bernhardsen (1992) described information as one of the most strategic factors
influencing development citing the lack of information as a barrier to sustainable
development. Traditionally, land information has been recorded in written form on card files,
rotary files, horizontal files, lists and photographs upon which information would then be
organized in filing cabinets and folders. Such collections of data would then be referred to as
libraries or banks from which users would retrieve information through physical searches
through the banks and this sufficed though certain drawbacks were noted. Some of these are:
- Information retrieval is slow as a physical search through the files could take a
significant period of time.
However, the huge volumes of data available today which increase on almost a daily basis
facilitates the need for computerised data libraries and banks with physical storage on
magnetic or optical media. This is essentially a databank, which is a computerised system for
the deposit and retrieval of data, which introduces the concept of databases, and
information systems. An information system can be defined as a combination of hardware,
software, and telecommunications networks that people build and use to collect, create and
distribute useful data.
6. THE CADASTRE
The term cadastre may have been probably derived from the Greek word katastichon,
meaning notebook. It has been defined as a public listing, in which all land parcels of a
country of a defined area are stored-McLaughlin et.al (1990). Information on size, use and
value of parcels is described in the cadastre as well as the legal status of parcels. Cadastres
are public records of interests in land, encompassing both the nature and extent of the
interests. An interest in land may be narrowly construed as a legal right in land for example,
ownership, the right of occupation, servitude and lease. There are basically four types of
cadastres namely fiscal (e.g. Napoleons cadastre), land-use, juridical and multipurpose
cadastre all of them amounting to efficient land management and land transactions. There are
basically four types of cadastres namely the Fiscal, Land-use, Juridical and Multipurpose
cadastre though of great importance is the multipurpose cadastre which has been described a
cadastre that covers multiple aspects of land. Its purpose is to provide information for fiscal,
juridical, planning and administrative purposes and is usually conceptualized as a number of
operationally and administratively integrated land information subsystems. The unique
cadastral parcel identifiers play a key role in linking data from different land data files to
specific cadastral parcels.
A common feature of the different types of cadastres is that they contain information relating
to the land unit, which can be referred to as the land parcel. It is usually almost impossible for
one section to develop the information system for the whole organization by itself due to
human and technological constraints necessitating the need for integration between different
sections. In other words, it may be more appropriate to develop the land database section by
section or piecewise across the organisation but according to common set out standards to
allow future integration though there is often a danger of duplication of information and
effort. A piecewise approach is an alternative in which the database is created at a small scale
and then developed incrementally to a larger scale to cover the whole organisation.
It is still advantageous to let the most competent agency manage data collection and retrieval
within its own area- Larsson (1996). Thus there is need for data custodians to maintain and
update information specific to them with the authority or mandate to amend the information
in the shared database. Other sections may only access and manipulate the information on
other platforms or remote terminals without changing the original information. Australia
owes much to its cadastral systems as they have delivered certainty and security to her land
market. The operation of a cadastre creates, links and binds information about and to the land
and hence can provide much of the information, and means for managing information, about
humankinds interaction with land (Bevin 1999).
The main emphasis on cadastral systems has been on the land parcel. Larsson (1996) defined
a land parcel as a unit of land with homogeneous tenure interests and described land as the
main resource for economic activity. This makes vital the information of who disposes land
and who has rights in land and their nature. Land tenure can be described as the relationship
between mankind and land or how land is held. There are several types of land tenure, which
exist in rural and urban areas. However, the focus of this study is in urban tenure types such
as freehold, leasehold and easements. The need to uniquely identify each parcel is of
paramount importance in any land database in which parcel numbers can be used though
geocodes may be more appropriate as they give the geographical location of the parcels. Such
geocodes are normally coordinates of boundary points or the centroid of the parcel.
However, it is a common feature today that most cadastral systems are influenced by the land
information concept in which cadastral systems are now developed into multipurpose
economically and ecologically oriented land information systems. This way, sustainable
development can be ensured as such modern systems seek to provide reliable information
about the land unit. It is mostly in developing nations that such modern systems are required
since there is a technological gap though difficulties in accessing financial resources often
impede this reform process. Industrialized nations, however still need to continue reviewing
and updating their modern cadastral systems.
Todays modern cadastre depends on the uniquely defined land unit as a basis for integrating
many different records such as land-use and ownership such that there results vast amounts of
relevant information relating to that land unit. However, such a high level of integration is
difficult when all records are kept manually such that automation is essential- Larsson
(1996). At the same time, the design of cadastral and land registration systems must be future
oriented such that it is a noble measure to develop a system basing on the experiences of
7. CADASTRAL REFORM
Cadastral reform as applied in developed countries takes into consideration the automation of
the cadastre and the role of the cadastre as a larger land information system (Kaufmann
1999). The world is characterized by different cultures, values and ethos as well as different
political and economic systems, which are in a permanent development process. Such
development leads to increased consumption of natural resources making the traditional
cadastre inadequate as a land management tool. Cadastral reform is a way of improving the
cadastral systems in line with the dynamic socioeconomic changes. Thus, cadastral reform in
African nations can be achieved through automation of certain aspects of their current
systems.
The two main objectives of cadastral reform as set out by (Egzgbalike and Benwel-1994) are:
- To make land holdings more secure through the availability of title information so
that landowners can obtain development funds on the basis of secured land rights.
- To facilitate the administration of land resources.
A necessary focus in any cadastral system is the efficient and timely processing of the many
transactions made on it (Bevin 1999). An efficient system which is user driven will hence
impact positively on economic development since different economic transactions can be
done effectively in real time at minimum or no delay.
Land tenure, with tenure having been derived from the Latin word tenoe which means to
hold, can be described as a mode of holding rights to land or the way in which land is held
which is basically the relationship between man and land. It is concerned with the rights,
restrictions and responsibilities that people have with respect to land. Some common land
tenure types as specified by (FIG, 1995) include Ownership, Leasehold, Easement and
Mortgage. However, land-holding systems in most developing nations have been described as
much concerned with culture and identity of the people rather than as an economic affair
(Nega et.al). Thus land is merely viewed as something acquired as a customary right and as a
means to livelihood.
It is also however crucial that even if this land is used for agricultural purposes, production
levels should not only meet the need to subsist but should also contribute to the national grain
board. That way, the land would have proven to be an economic commodity. At the same
time, most rural communities prefer growing edible crops forming the staple food rather than
cash crops which generate a foreign currency influx due to fear of the unknown.
Communities need have been educated about the need for insurance even on land, as there
will come a time when it needs more nourishment as the natural fertilizers become exhausted.
In this respect, the value of land to the rural community and to the city people is different.
People living in urban areas have managed to produce more output on their small pieces of
land because they understand the value of the land and the fact that there is a land tax to be
rendered. This way every individual is oblivious about boundaries though no one usually
It is important that the system of survey and land records be tailored to support reform though
cadastral systems which are appropriate to situations in different countries cannot necessarily
be transplanted to other nations because of differences in land holding systems, social and
political factors (Dale 1976). Focus was however directed towards the Surveyor Generals
office and City of Mutare, a municipality and the general view of stakes dealing with spatial
data to obtain an understanding of the existing cadastral system in Zimbabwe.
Municipalities are in a deep slumber when it comes to automation and their challenges with
respect to inefficiency are very common due to failure to manage properly the land resource.
Zimbabwe, which is operating in an environment characterized by hyperinflation, has seen
major municipalities such as the Mutare, Harare and Gweru City Councils failing to provide
services such as water and refuse collection in their respective jurisdictions. At the same time
it is not unusual that the City Engineers department is the only one that comprehends the
rational of a possible digital cadastre or any other form of reform as land forms the core of
any municipal offices activities. The benefits of a digital cadastre can even extend to
facilities management in which utilities such as water, sewer and electricity networks can be
properly monitored and maintained as they are on the unit of land. The City Engineers
department is a convergence of intertwined sections namely Civil and Water Engineering,
Town Planning, Building Inspectorate and Surveying whose lifeline is dependent on the pulse
or heartbeat of the cadastre.
Imagine what havoc a paper cadastre could cause if some paperwork is misplaced and
different parties acquire rights of the same portion of land at the same time. This can be
avoided by the implementation of a digital cadastre, which for safety and consistency reasons
could operate real time at metropolitan level but in say three hour or so batches at national
level as information at national level must be thoroughly checked before amending. This
would ensure security of tenure as it avoids fraudulent activities with respect to the land unit.
However, so many challenges still haunt most government and public offices dealing with
land such as the Surveyor Generals office and the Department of physical planning as it is
difficult to acquire the necessary hardware and software. Most of the new machines in most
departments are of specifications of the order 256MB RAM, 40 Gig Hard drive and Pentium
(4) 2.8GHz processor. The purchasing and upgrading of software is also a threat and even the
creation of LANS, metropolitan networks and WANS is still a challenge even though the
appropriate labour force is available. Some organizations are still using Pentium II and III
machines. These would likely be unable to support the graphics that would be part of the
cadastre in terms of memory size and processing speed so most municipalities need an
overhaul as far as their computer hardware is concerned. This is however not easy in the
prevailing situation of hyperinflation. Government intervention to jumpstart such projects
The Department of the Surveyor General has a system in place but for its own use. There has
been no room for connectivity with other systems that may be existent which usually amounts
to redundancy and duplication of effort. The department, as the main custodian of spatial data
at national level should ideally communicate with the Physical Planning department,
municipalities, the forestry commission and other environmentalists as well as with surveyors
to plan the future of the cadastral system. Important issues especially those concerning
metadata can also then be addressed so that all spatially referenced information can be
documented and shared to minimize expenditure in terms of human and technological
resources.
Start search
No
New search
Survey Diagram
Survey diagram
files and End
folders
The use of Satellite Positioning methods such as GPS and GALILEO would improve
fieldwork significantly in terms of efficiency though there is reluctance to employ such
techniques in cadastral surveys by the Surveyor Generals office. The use of satellite
positioning methods ideally means that the development of standards for the execution,
presentation and documentation of fieldwork and results will be necessary for the sake of
consistency. However there also arise several questions such as; 1How does a surveyor lodge
a survey? Softcopy? 2Does the Surveyor Generals office have the capacity to support digital
lodgment of cadastral and topographical surveys? 3Should the department but software off
the shelf and recommend it to all surveyors or should a consultant or agency be hired to
develop a software compatible with use in Zimbabwe (AutoCAD, Surpac and Vcad) as well
TS 7G - Integration Approaches in Land Administration 11/16
Edward Kurwakumire
The Cadastre as a tool for Land Management-Economic Reform?
City of Mutare has been storing land information in the form of a register and a general
valuation roll, the common aspect in these two being the stand number and the title to land in
most cases (see Figure 2). The register also relates the stand number to a general plan number
in a local filing system such as 5/D/152 where 5/D stands for the Dangamvura area or
township and 152 being the plan number in the Dangamvura series. If the stand number does
not appear in the register then card files arranged in numerical order of stand numbers can be
employed which also extends the search to a general plan number or a survey diagram
number. These card files also have information on any subdivisions and consolidations
otherwise any other information is mostly found in filing cabinets through physical searches
which are often rigorous as the information is usually haphazard.
A possible solution to collating and sharing information within various departments can be
represented by the following context diagram.
Surveyor
Survey Records Deeds Registry
General
Title Information
Examination of deeds
Examination and approval of surveys
Housing and
Request for General Public and
Commnunity services Information
department
The Land Information corporate bodies
Database
Zoning
Surveying
Towm Planning Results
Section
The Department of the Surveyor General should have central control of the land database
since they are the custodian of basic information relating to land required by other entities or
organizations.
A problem in developing countries that has also been highlighted is the difficulty in securing
funds for such projects as a computerised cadastre since the decision makers with access to
the funds may be difficult to convince of the need or may not prioritise in projects where the
do not forecast immediate benefits. In my opinion, the digital cadastre is no longer a function
of the benefits to be derived from it but it is now almost like a requirement in any country,
state or jurisdiction in line of efforts from the International Federation of Surveyors and
Cadastre 2014. African communities should learn to appreciate the use of modern
technology. There is indeed need to put value in technology in both the public and private
sector as a tool for improving efficiency and production.- R. Simbi (Senior Town Planner-
Mutare). It was also a shared sentiment to put to an end the culture of maintaining old ways
and methods. The only visible attempts towards a land information system are water and
electricity billing system with which the input of an account number results in output of the
parcel number, street address as well as the rates arrears, if any.
At Metropolitan level the digital cadastre is particularly useful for zoning. Town planners
have described zoning to be the basis of town planning were they have described an urban
TS 7G - Integration Approaches in Land Administration 13/16
Edward Kurwakumire
The Cadastre as a tool for Land Management-Economic Reform?
11. CONCLUSION
Land is undoubtedly the most important resource in any state, county or jurisdiction hence
the need to manage it in a sustainable manner. Most economies in third world countries are
based on the land that is agro-based and mining thus making land a tool for economic
activity. Cadastral reform is essential to clearly define the problems with prevalent cadastral
Many countries such as Australia, Finland, France and Sweden have had their experiences on
the cadastre and third world countries should make it a point to adopt their successes as a
measure towards reform. This will minimise costs incurred through pioneering projects.
Several authors have also written about eEurope and the answer to the question as to why
there cannot be eAfrica will still remain a mystery? The world has shrunk into a global
village and Africa is one community in that village. Africas participation in that global
village is in my opinion only through the acknowledgement of technology as the primary
drive to reform even though user requirements usually come first.
Finally, through the advent of satellite technology and the internet in particular, the world has
been shrunk into a global village and as such, should hope for such unification in terms of
cadastral systems, which can only be achieved through digital cadastral systems.
REFERENCES
1. Bevin (1999), Cadastre 2014 Reforms in New Zealand, New Zealand Institute of
Surveyors and FIG Commission VII Conference and AGM
2. Edward Kurwakumire (2005), The use of a digital cadastre to improve land
management at City of Mutare, Dissertation in the Bsc Honours Degree in Surveying
and Geomatics at Midlands State University, Zimbabwe
3. Enemark and Sevatdal (1999), Cadastres, Land information Systems and Planning,
UN-FIG Conference on Land tenure and Cadastral Infrastructures for sustainable
development
4. Ezigbalike and Benwell (1994), Cadastral Reform, www.fig.net.cadastre2014
5. FIG (1995), Statement on the Cadastre, International Federation of Surveyors, FIG
Bureau, Canberra, Australia
6. Intergovernmental Committee on Surveying and Mapping (ICSM) discussion paper,
April 1999
7. McCormac J. C (1991), Surveying Fundamentals, 2nd Edition, Prentice Hall-USA
8. Kaufmann et.al (1998), Cadastre 2014, A Vision for A Future Cadastral System, 2nd
Edition, International Federation of Surveyors- Denmark
9. Land Lines: April 2004, Volume 16, Number2- Accessed from Lincoln Institute of
Land Policy-Latin American Cadastres: Successes and remaining problems
CONTACT
Edward Kurwakumire
Midlands State University
Department of Surveying and Geomatics
P Bag 9055
Gweru, Zimbabwe
Ph +26323245306
Fax +26354260233
ekurwa2006@yahoo.com
www.msu.ac.zw