THE NATIONAL Land Agency (NLA) has achieved 'another milestone in the agency's history' with the implementation of the Land Registration System and Parcel Data Management System, two systems that have transformed the once largely manual titling process into an automated one.
The chief executive officer of the NLA, Elizabeth Stair, speaking at the agency's appreciation function for the staff members who contributed to the successful completion of the project, outlined that the new Land Registration and Parcel Data Management System (LRS/PDMS) was a major achievement for the National Land Agency and was a "strategic opportunity to enhance the capacity of NLA's information service."
"It has integrated data regarding land, namely, land titles data, valuation data, and surveys data. This strategy has enabled us to build on the synergy of the combined functions of the core divisions of the agency and improved our efficiency in keeping with our vision to be a proactive and client-focused organisation, committed to providing an easily accessible integrated spatial information service," the CEO said.
COMPLETELY NEW LEVEL
According to the agency head, the launch of the LRS/PDMS applications has taken the NLA's service to a 'completely new level' for their customers in that they can now enjoy the convenience of "easier lodgements, access information regarding their documents more easily, and enjoy faster turn-around times for processing documents once the forms are used."
Mrs. Stair also pointed to the benefits of the new system. Fees are now calculated automatically, as is the assignment of document numbers and volume and folio numbers, and the entries printed on the titles, instead of being typed. In addition, legal notices and requisition letters are generated automatically, so too are draft templates for all transaction types.
Staff members are afforded quicker access to information for customer queries and the cashiers are able to balance their accounts much more easily.
The agency itself is expected to achieve "improved security for all transactions, thus reducing incidences of fraud," Mrs. Stair noted, and the computerisation of some of the NLA's services should also register a reduction in operational costs as less paper will be used.
The Land Registration and Parcel Data Management System project was started in January 2003.
The CEO, in reiterating the agency's continued thrust to "improve efficiency in content and delivery of [our] products and services to customers", outlined that the LRS/PDMS is to be the foundation that the NLA will build on to improve delivery of service.
SILENCED SKEPTICS
"Since our inception three years ago, we have embarked on a number of initiatives to improve service delivery, such as the launch of our website, which provides valuable information for our clients and our on-line service elandjamaica," she said. Garfield Knight, director of business development and technology and chairman of the Steering Committee for the LRS/PDMS project, noted that the NLA staff has effectively silenced the sceptics who thought the project was too ambitious and unattainable. He said that despite 'turbulent times', the agency achieved 'an aggressive world-class project'
"We have accomplished, within the period of 15 months, something that has surpassed our expectations at the beginning of the project. Over this period we have achieved a significant expansion of human capital, making us comparable to the rest of the world because today our expertise along with our business partners has established a state-of-the-art system. State-of-the-art on the latest technology for land registration and GIS world wide," said Mr. Knight.
The organisations that partnered with the NLA in the development and implementation of the Land Registration and Parcel Data Management System were Spatial Innovisions Limited, NovalLIS Technologies, International Land Systems and Fujitsu ICL Caribbean.
