CDA, Survey of Pakistan to digitise capital’s land records

Both sign three-year-long agreement for the survey of ICT land

ISLAMABAD: To digitise land record system of the federal capital, an agreement has been signed between its top civic authority and the Survey of Pakistan (SoP).

The Capital Development Authority (CDA) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to cooperate on the survey and mapping jobs planned by the authority for the development of the Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT).

Under the agreement, experts of Survey of Pakistan (SoP) will conduct a complete survey of the area within the remits of ICT and prepare a Cadastral Map for CDA. The civic authority will use this map to develop the area falling within the limits of the city and as per its mandate of planning and developing Islamabad.

While the SoP has been providing services to CDA in surveying and mapping the city since 1960, a comprehensive map of the capital had not been developed, particularly on demarcating the boundary between Islamabad and Rawalpindi. That only happened in recent years during a court case on the Margalla Hills National Park (MHNP).

The salient feature of the MoU suggest that all survey and mapping jobs of the CDA, consisting of, but not limited to, demarcation and digitization of CDA’s land, cadastral mapping of Islamabad, demarcation of intersecting points (IPs) of sectors on the ground, and topographic survey before development of any sector and scheme, L-sections and cross-sections of roads, demarcation of boundary, calculation of built-up area in acquired sectors for awarding compensation to locals by CDA, provision, repair and maintenance of survey equipment, will all be referred and assigned to SoP.

The SoP will provide satellite imagery or Light Detection and Ranging (LIDAR) data where required by CDA after consultation from SoP. Digital data will be provided to CDA in WGS-84 and UTM projection.

Moreover, the provision of the cadastral map will not only help the authority to upgrade the land management system of the federal capital but will also facilitate the CDA map out the land which it has already acquired and properties it may acquire in the future. It will also speed up the usually lengthy procedures, thereby vastly improving service delivery.

The MoU between CDA and Survey of Pakistan will also help the CDA in acquiring land to develop new sectors in Islamabad, as well as the correct determination of built-up properties (BuP) to award compensation.

Moreover, the MoU will digitise the land records in Islamabad. Thereafter, the CDA will have a complete database about the size of land, the nature of the land, approved nature of use, and who their owners are. The CDA hopes this will make it easy in dealing with land disputes and other issues such as changing of land revenue record, submission of counterfeited or forged documents, and frauds cases.

The data collected will also help and facilitate the planning and development of Islamabad in various mega projects.

CDA will also provide all the required and necessary support to the experts and surveyors of SoP for the completion of the survey. In this regard, CDA will also extend logistic support as well as its offices during field surveys.

SoP will arrange Training of CDA Staff on survey instruments such as total station, Global Positioning System (GPS) and Geographical Information System (GIS) at Survey Training Institute (STI) in Islamabad though for a fee.

The MoU is initially for three years, while it could be further extended upon the mutual consent of both parties.

Earlier, the Islamabad Development Working Party (IDWP) had approved a project to develop a new land revenue records management system in the federal capital. The IDWP, which had met after a gap of five years had reviewed four projects worth Rs1.25 billion and approved three of them for Rs1.19 billion.

This included the land records system.

During the meeting, ICT Administration Chief Commissioner and CDA Chairman Aamer Ali Ahmed had suggested that a year was too long a period to complete a project so crucial for the city. He had subsequently directed to complete the project within six months and had suggested that help can be taken from the Punjab Land Revenue Authority, the National Database Regulatory Authority (NADRA) as well as from the National Information Technology Board (NITB).

Published in The Express Tribune, January 13^th, 2020.