Antigua and Barbuda - Governmental Land Registry System Development

Stewart Information International Inc. (Stewart), in collaboration with the Organization of American States (OAS), has developed and implemented e- Government technology systems to support the development of real estate markets and provide a standardized land registry and cadastre system for the Government of Antigua and Barbuda. The Island Nation of Antigua and Barbuda was selected by the Organization of American States (OAS) to be the pilot project for the OECS region.

Real estate and mortgage markets, government and municipal infrastructures and many other essential government services cannot exist without legally protected land records and systematic land record keeping. landfolio^® provides all the necessary tools to achieve this secure and comprehensive land system. The Stewart and OAS e-Government technology model consists of integrated modules for land registry and land cadastre (including GIS, surveying and mapping) as well as incorporates the government's existing real property tax system. Stewart focuses on design, construction and implementation of land records and land records maintenance as a primary strategic objective to expand private trade, investment and finance in real estate throughout Antigua and Barbuda. This objective is best achieved by implementing integrated land privatization, parcel mapping, titling and registration, property taxation, property transaction and title guarantee systems, in step-by-step programs focused on affordable and measurable results.

The underlying geographic information system (GIS) infrastructure of the landfolio^® cadastre project consists of large scale and highly accurate digital orthophotos, planimetric maps and parcel maps. All of these layers have been created in a topologically structured environment that enables the Government of Antigua and Barbuda to perform sophisticated database analyses in support of land registry, land development and planning activities. Stewart used new aerial photography and the constellation of geographic positioning system (GPS) satellites to produce all mapping products in conformance with the American Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (ASPRS) and British Ordnance Survey map accuracy standards.

The goals for the implementation of Stewart landfolio^® include: improving municipal management in the areas of land registry, land cadastre and real property tax management; establishing legal, accurate, and transparent land and property records to provide a foundation for foreign investment; providing a Web Portal for access to real estate information within each Eastern Caribbean nation and throughout the region. The Antigua and Barbuda project encompasses an estimated 57,000 land parcels in Antigua and a small number of land parcels in Barbuda. The results of this pilot effort were phased in over a one-year period and include: (1) deployment of an integrated property information management system that has improved accuracy of property ownership and GIS data layers; (2) reduced time to register a land transaction to two days or less; (3) improved customer service and (4) increased revenue from fee collections while decreasing the cost to the citizens of Antigua and Barbuda.