What is LAVIMS ?
The Land Administration, Valuation and Information Management System (LAVIMS) project
is an initiative by the Government to modernise land administration; the responsibility for LAVIMS being shared between the Ministry for Housing and Lands (MHL) and the Ministry for Finance and Economic Empowerment (MOFEE). LAVIMS is really four subprojects wrapped up in one. The four subprojects are: Cadastre, Deeds, Valuation and Information Management System (IMS)
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Cadastre
The Cadastre indentifies every parcel of land and gives it a unique Parcel Identification Number (PIN). The PIN is then used to link the parcel to information such as the owner, the deed, etc.
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Deeds
The Deeds component is taking all the paper records in the Registrar General's Department and converting them to digital copies. This process not only makes it easier to search for and recover information, but it also makes it more secure, as more than one copy of the information can be held in different locations.
The Deeds component will also continue the reform of deeds management, already started by the Registrar General, to produce a system that can be searched both by the name of the land owner and by the PIN, what is known as a Person and Parcel Based Deeds Registration System. These changes will speed-up the work of the notaries and the Registrar General's Department, making land transactions and searches quicker and more accurate.
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Valuation
The Valuation component will visit every property in the country, except those used for agricultural and public purposes, and will determine its value. This information will be used to develop a new valuation list, which will ensure that all properties are recorded and the value is accurately known.
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Information Management System
The LAVIMS project will create and manage vast amounts of information. This includes detailed aerial photo maps of the whole country; copies of every deed and survey plan relating to the sale and lease of land, going back over 250 years; and, valuation records for every property. Eventually these data will be available to government, the notaries and other users via the internet. The management of these data is very complex, so a dedicated Information Management System (IMS) will be developed.
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The Cadastre is a map showing every parcel of land in Mauritius and linking it to the major land rights held on those parcels (initially freehold and leasehold) along with details of the owners of those rights. In LAVIMS, all important information on a parcel will be held digitally, including the transcription of the Deed and the Land Survey Plan. The cadastre may be searched by location; either through identification of the parcels on a map and then obtaining information on the rights and right owners, or, by querying the TV or TB number or the name of the right owner, after which the PIN of the parcel and its location can be established. In either case, digital copies of the main documents supporting rights, including the Deed Transcript and the Land Survey Plan, may be viewed on line. Initially this service will be available in the Registrar General's Department, but later it will be made available to other departments, and then to the notaries, and eventually probably to the public. However, only the Registrar General's Department will be able to modify the deeds data, and the Survey Department will be solely responsible for maintenance of the cadastral map.
The development of the cadastre with its search capability will improve land transactions, by making the work of the notaries, the Registrar General and the Survey Department easier, quicker and more certain.
DEEDS REGISTRATION (DIGITISATION)
The Deeds system is housed in the Registrar General's Department and over the past few years it has seen significant improvements; however, LAVIMS will provide further improvement. The existing paper records will be converted to digital images and held on a secure database which can be accessed via the web; the original paper documents being archived. The digital documents may be accessed by querying a dedicated database in the IMS in a variety of ways, such as: PIN, Deed Transcript Number, name of right holder, address of property, etc.
VALUATION-The Real Property Survey and Inventory
The last comprehensive review of properties in Mauritius was performed over twenty-five years ago and only recorded properties in the five municipal areas. A fair land administration system requires that all properties should be surveyed and inventoried frequently enough to take account of changes in property markets.
The LAVIMS Real Property Inventory will survey at least 350,000 properties, which will include all residential and commercial properties on the island.
The inventory began in March 2009 and will continue until March 2010.
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INFORMATION MANAGEMENT SYSTEM
The IMF is a computerised system for the management of information relating to land.
Central to the IMS is the cadastre, which will identify every land parcel in Mauritius. Each land parcel will be linked to the deed that created it and any related deeds. It will also be linked to the information collected in the data collection exercise.
The IMF will initially operate in the Registrar General's Department and the Ministry for Housing and Land. It will enable the RG's staff to search for deeds based on the location of the property, the name of the land owner, or the deed number. The IMS will also enable the Valuation Department to find information on properties, which will make assessments quicker and more accurate.
Eventually elements of the IMS will be available to selected users, such as the notaries, over the internet. This will enable them to do searches that now take days, in a matter of minutes. Thus improving the efficiency of land transactions and reducing the time needed.
These improvements to information management will make Mauritius one of the most efficient countries in the region with respect to land transactions.
