Land Administration in Sri Lanka Issues and Challenges Hafiz Zainudeen

Country context Night lights (2002 – 2012)

85% of land is owned and controlled by the government OWNERSHIPCONTROL Total land size = 6.56 million ha The Crown Lands Encroachment Ordinance of 1840 (Transferred all land, unoccupied and uncultivated and unaccountable, previously held by royalty, temples, local communities and individuals to the government) Land Development Ordinance of 1935 Authorized the government to distribute land for cultivation purposes under various irrigation settlement schemes

Overarching land administration challenges

Specific issues for private land administration Two systems concurrently govern the registration of private land  Deed registration system  Paper based and thus vulnerable to alteration and loss  Geographically inaccurate  Land titling system  Addresses shortcomings of deed registration system  Not implemented on a national scale Acquisition of private land (assets) by the state  Inadequate legal safeguards  Negates the security of tenure Restitution of private land for those displaced by the war in the Northern and Eastern province  Slow due to the ineffectiveness of the institutional setup  Has reduced impact of livelihood interventions

Impact of current land administration in Sri Lanka… ΧLimits access to land ΧPrevents effective functioning of land markets ΧDiscourages investment in government owned/controlled land Overarching Challenges Specific Issues Will impact sustained and equitable growth

Success with ICT has been limited in the past… A digital land information system (LIS) managed under a single window facility has not yet been established (existing digital land bases operate in isolation) Weak inter-organizational linkages have prevented the rapid identification of land parcels Transition from a manual system not successful as  Inadequate user training to ensure accuracy and timeliness of data entry  Inadequate phase out period for manual applications  Reorganization of organizational structure, roles and work-flows were not supported by adequate training and change management Budget constraints have prevented roll out of new hardware and software across different agencies

New ICT initiatives by GoSL build on lessons learnt… eLand Hub  To provide (web based) land information to citizens  Digitize deed registries State Land Management Information System (eSLIMS)  To provide a work-flow based simplified user friendly process for land alienation activities and land information on state lands  Better integration among stakeholder organizations National Spatial Data Infrastructure Framework and National Spatial Data Infrastructure Strategy  Create a single authoritative National Map Portal (access to spatially referenced data and facilitate natural resource monitoring, flood mitigation, management of public infrastructures, national projects and disaster preparedness)  Create policy framework and corresponding regulatory framework for the management and sharing of spatial information (between government institutions) digitally  Create uniform spatial data standards across government organizations

Next Steps.. Prioritization of reform steps Identification (or creation) of lead agency Review of legislation and creation of new legal foundation for ICT based land administration ADR for clearing up back log of cases Building on existing ICT initiatives