The State Minister for Lands, Sam Mayanja has assured Ugandans abroad that the newly implemented Uganda National Land Information System (UgNLIS) will help provide accessible, accountable, efficient, transparent land administration services.
Speaking during the just concluded Ugandan North American Association (UNAA) Convention, Mayanja said in a bid to transform the land sector in Uganda, government developed the UgNLIS as a computerized system which fully integrates land registration, administration, surveying, mapping, physical planning and property valuation.
“Even before its full completion, the UgNLIS has demonstrated substantial improvements in service delivery, accountability, security, and cost-effectiveness. The UgNLIS has notably reduced backdoor transactions, forgeries, graft, and challenges related to missing land records. Additionally, it has significantly improved public perceptions of corruption within the land sector,” Minister Mayanja said.
The minister told Ugandans in the diaspora that the digitised lands registry has helped government generate approximately $14 million in revenue since its initiation, compared to the total project cost of $65 million, which includes building construction.
According to the minister, digitalising of the lands registry has added onto other government reforms in policies, laws, institutions, procedures and processes related which have strengthened land tenure security for individual ownership and titling.
“This supports the promotion of a free land market, assuming that allocating land to the most efficient users will encourage investment and economic development. Uganda’s progress in modernizing land governance has attracted delegations and organizations from various African countries, including Tanzania, Kenya, Ethiopia, Mali, Ghana,”
“The UgNLIS has played a vital role in reinforcing and enhancing land governance at all levels and complements a range of other government programs in the land sector and beyond.”
He noted that since its inception, the new system has led to a rise in the number of land transactions, decentralization of cadastral and registrations services and secured storage of land records and maps.
“The UgNLIS has helped establish an audit trail for land transactions, enhanced quality and management of records, instant retrieval of land-related information and improved service delivery to stakeholders.”
The system
The minister explained to Ugandans in the diaspora that the new system has a component of data conversion whose primary objective is converting both spatial and non- spatial data into a digital format in order to rehabilitate, convert, and safeguard land records and related information from various government departments.
” This process involves generating the necessary digital data for integration into the UgNLIS to digitally safeguard titles and registration documents, prepare non-geographic documents in a digital format for management using document a management system, establish a layer of topological land parcel polygons within the land information, and connect land parcels with title registers through unique parcel identifiers,” Minister Mayanja said.
He explained that as part of the rollout of the new system, the ministry is introducing UgNLIS across all the 21 Ministry Zonal Offices (MZOS).
This rollout, he said aims to make fast, efficient, and secure land governance services accessible to the public.
“The inputs for this component include the implementation of procured hardware and general software, databases and the training and capacity building of staff under the training and capacity sub-component.”
The minister said because of the growing competition for land for various purposes and the substantial pressure on land resources the new system will help ensure effective land management for the benefit of everyone, including Ugandans in the diaspora.
“Additionally, the opportunities arising in urban, peri- urban, and rural areas, such as infrastructure development, industry, commercial agriculture, mining, and oil and gas production, require timely and accurate land use data to ensure good governance. The UgNLIS will ensure this.”