Land Registry and Cadastre Project

BACKGROUND

Turkey has a long history o f protection o f property rights. More than 95% of land in Turkey is mapped and registered. Nevertheless, significant improvements are needed to fully modernize the Turkish Land and Registration Agency (TKGM) and bring it to European standards. Many of the Cadastre and Land Registry offices rely on manual systems, with old documents, some of them dating back to the Ottoman times. The most challenging aspect is that cadastral maps continue to be in a paper format, vary in accuracy and consistency, and are not linked to the national network. This makes it difficult to support e-government applications as cadastre maps serve as a base mapping for many government applications. Furthermore, in many localities maps are out of date and do not correspond with the ground locations and areas, differing sometimes by up to 10 meters. Property valuation for taxation is less developed in Turkey than in similar economies. There is no property valuation law in Turkey which would assign institutional responsibilities or provide the framework for property valuation guidelines and grievances procedures. Land administration agencies commonly have responsibility for mass valuation of real estate and maintenance of the appropriate databases. The government has enacted several regulations to improve property valuation for accounting purposes as well as property appraisal to support mortgage lending. However, there are no similar initiatives to ensure that broader property valuation function develops in line with international standards.

The Government of Turkey decided to modernize the cadastre in order to realize the economic and social benefits of up-to-date information for future development. The e-government initiative, of which the cadastre and registration is a central part, is one of key government priorities. The transition from the paper-based to the computer based land registry and cadastre aims to improve customer services, support e-government initiatives, and make information available to other government and private users. The digital cadastre information provides the base maps and related information for many e-government functions such as municipal services, emergency management, land use planning and development control, postal services, real estate monitoring, utilities management and property taxation. The success of the Turkish transition to a uniform digital environment will require significant efforts to deal with data renovation and updating, building the IT and communications infrastructure in the TKGM central and field offices, and significant human resources development program to upgrade the skills of TKGM staff to operate effectively in the new environment.

PROJECT OBJECTIVE

The objective of the Project is to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of the land registry and cadastre services.

PROJECT DESCRIPTION

Part A: Cadastre and Land Registry Renovation and Updating:

1. Updating and modernization of the real property cadastre and registry information and systems into an accurate, consistent with site specific requirements, legally valid and maintained digital cadastre system to be a basis for spatial information systems.
2. Development of new rectified orthophoto maps, production of vector maps and digital data in selected areas.
3. Provision of technical assistance for cadastre renovation supervision, quality control and establishment of spatial data infrastructure.

Part B: Improved Service Delivery

1. Implementation of the integrated (land registry and cadastre) version of TAKBIS.
2. Design of model office layouts for Cadastre Offices in selected regions to improve service delivery utilizing both integrated workflows and the integrated version of TAKBIS; renovation or construction of selected Cadastre Offices and provision of furniture and equipment; and carrying out policy studies to improve efficiency of the registration system, tenure security and promote development of efficient land and property markets.
3. Establishment and operation of a TAKBIS information dissemination service including an up-to-date web-based version of the cadastre, a web-based registration and cadastre transaction status report and cadastre layer supply and update service for Geographic Information System (GIS) users.

Part C: Human Resources and Institutional Development

1. Provision of technical assistance to TKGM to develop a human resources strategy to support the effective functioning of the organization in the e-government environment.
2. Provision of technical assistance to TKGM to develop strategic and business plans.
3. Provision of training to TKGM staff and establishment of regional training centers of TKGM.

Part D: Property Valuation

1. Development of policy and institutional options for property valuation function in the Republic of Turkey consistent with the European practices.
2. Development of guidelines and piloting of mass property valuation for local property taxation in two selected municipalities.
3. Provision of training for the development of core capacities for property valuation within TKGM and other central government agencies and in the municipal governments, carrying out seminars and workshops, and postgraduate training of selected individuals from government and stakeholder agencies and selected universities.

Part E: Project Management

Provision of support to TKGM for Project management, including conducting customer’s surveys.

IMPLEMENTING AND MONITORING

The General Director of the TKGM has the ultimate responsibility for the project. The Deputy General Director for Technical Affairs is the project coordinator. The project coordination team is responsible for procurement; financial management; planning and budgeting; and monitoring and evaluation. Actual detailed implementation of the project is the responsibility of the various departments within TKGM. The Director of the Department will have ultimate responsibility of the component. A small committee (called Working Group) is established for each component to ensure proper coordination among the various departments. At the regional level, the head of the regional office will be responsible for the implementation of the activities in their region including supervision of work and verification of payments. The payment will be made in the central TKGM after being endorsed by the Director who is responsible for a given region.

Monitoring and evaluation includes two areas: (i) regular performance monitoring of project outputs which will monitor number of properties renovated and other aspects of the projects; and (ii) two rounds of customer surveys/social assessment (first assessment just before the mid-term review and the second by the end of the project) to monitor customer satisfaction and compliance with service standards as well as issues related to cadastre renovations and their impact on people. The Project Coordination Team is responsible for regular reporting to the senior management of the TKGM. Output and outcome indicators are monitored on a semiannual basis, and reported to the senior management of the TKGM and the World Bank supervision team.

BENEFITS

The expected project benefits are: (a) higher value and enhanced TKGM services to users, (b) savings to users for avoiding duplication of efforts involving the production of similar material, and, (c) savings to the society from reduced litigation involving cadastre.

PROJECT STATUS

The two main components supported under the project, namely the renovation and updating of cadastre and land registry and improved cadastral service delivery, are progressing well. Training activities, currently financed through TKGM’s own funds, are contributing towards institutional building within TKGM itself. Similarly, TKGM is using its own financing to achieve some of its broader e-government objectives.

The component supporting the piloting of Property Valuation has not advanced. While TKGM has taken the lead in developing a policy dialogue with all stakeholders, with the aim of developing a more comprehensive policy framework for property valuation, progress in authorizing TKGM to start the work has been very slow. Disbursements have reached $8.7 million as of June 30, 2010. About, $50 million of available funds have been committed in signed contracts for cadastre, orthophoto and design of the model offices.

RESULTS ON THE GROUND

At this stage, about 4 renovation contracts are almost completed and data being assembled. Several other contracts have been signed. The next mission will visit regional cadastral offices to assess the progress of work. Before the mid-term, monitoring indicators and social surveys will assess the impact on the ground.