Thailand land dept to apply IT to graft

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Thailand land dept to apply IT to graft 
Bangkok Post: 4 Nov 2009
www.bangkokpost.com/business/economics/26818/land-offices-apply-it-to-graft


Land offices apply IT to graft

The Lands Department hopes to cut corruption with a new IT system that should also facilitate land transactions and reduce errors, said director-general Anuwat Maytheewibulwut.

He said bribery would be more difficult when the IT system is applied in land offices nationwide. "Today, corruption is done by individuals. With the new IT system, we will have multiple layers of scrutiny," he said.

Mr Anuwat said the department was serious about corruption when notified. So far this year, seven Bangkok land officers have been relocated to other land offices. "When we receive a tip, we check it out and take action immediately," he said.

The department signed a contract yesterday with the IT system provider Samart Comtech Co to develop the first phase of an IT system for 739.99 million baht.

This phase will develop a land database, expand the land IT centre and install computer systems at 25 land offices in four provinces - Bangkok, Ubon Ratchathani, Nong Khai and Songkhla - where there are 2.4 million title deeds. The project will start at two offices for the northern provinces this year.

"To cover 400 offices nationwide, the required investment will be around 12 billion baht for the 10-year plan. The pilot project was implemented last year," he said, adding that the World Bank offered initial approval to a loan, likely lower than the estimated investment.

Mr Anuwat said land registrations, transactions and surveys would be more efficient. Land selling and buying will take only an hour while redemptions will take only 15 minutes.

Calculating fees and other expenses from land transactions will also be more transparent as the system will allow the public to tally their expenses via a website. Electronic payment will add convenience and cut risks from carrying cash.

Data to be published online include appraisal prices, digital maps to find the exact location of a title deed, and the rightful owner of each title deed.

The public can pre-book times for land registration and schedule cross-office transactions, which currently take about one or two weeks when buyers and sellers use services from different offices.

Under its 10-year plan, the department will have complaint centres in major provinces.

Land transactions increase by 5-10% every year, but 180 officials retired this year and 200 took early retirement.

Transactions have been stable since 2007 due to the downturn. The department handles about 5.5 million transactions each year, one-quarter using cross-office services.

It has to prepare the image data and digital map for 31 million plots, expected to rise to 33 million when it completes its 10-year plan.

There is also a 4.5-billion-baht budget from the Thai Khem Kaeng programme to develop a land information centre.
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Writer: Kanana Katharangsiporn