As part of measures to secure land information from loss and degradation, government has engaged Josanti InfoImaging Limited to convert all documents at the land registration office into digital form.
The project, which is part of the Land Administration Project (LAP) would help the land registry commission and other land agencies to keep records electronically.
With funding from the World Bank, the project involves the intelligent scanning of all the manual land records of the Government of Ghana and Deed Registry at the Lands Commission into an electronic database for easy access by interested parties.
At a programme to announce the commencement of the project, Collins Dauda, the Minister of Lands and Natural Resources said, “It is expected that by the end of the project, manuscripts in the land registry would be digitalized to aid the segregation of records for easy search and location of documents.”
Records at the Land Registry, he said, play an important role for prospective buyers of property.
He advised people “to visit land registries in the country to conduct searches.”
It is expected that the project would aid the decentralization concept of land delivery services under the Land Administration Project.
“It is envisaged that through this project, land delivery services would be brought to the doorsteps of people,” the Minister stressed.
The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Josanti InfoImaging Limited, Joseph Amoh-Anti, told the gathering that land economist, surveyors and players in the land project had a period of 12 months to complete the project.
“We would execute the project in 12 months instead of 15 months, which means that it would be completed by the end of 2010.”
Making a dummy presentation of the digitalization process, Mr Amoh Anti educated the attentive gathering about how bounded materials in the Deed Registry would be intelligently scanned and indexed with all details.
“After scanning a bounded material, we preserve the records in the original state while creating electronic copies that are as close to the previous one that we meet in look and feel for off-site storage,” said the CEO of Josanti InfoImagining.
Through Electronic Records and Document Management Solution (ERDMS) software, individuals, researchers, the judiciary and investors would have access to land records with fewer or no human interventions.
He was optimistic that successful implementation of the project would prevent unauthorized access to protect function rights and access for constant vigilance over user actions.
Benjamin Armah Quaye, Head of Planning Unit, Land Administration Project, who made a presentation on behalf of the Acting Chief Executive Officer of the Lands Commission, Dr. W. Odame Larbi revealed that the project was aimed at the e-land administration in Ghana.
According to him, current land administration depends on deteriorating hard copies of graphical maps, cadastral data and textual records that were stored under sub-standard conditions, leading to delay in the delivery of services.
“Coming on the heels of fire outbreaks at the ministry of Foreign Affairs and other public places, which led to the loss of vital document, we are happy that this project would secure the existing land information.
It would also enhance the transfer of original data to the National Archive,” he added.
