Blockchain National Land Titling Programme

By Brenda Zulu 

So yesterday i was one of the people that submitted property ownership information to Medici Land Governance (MLG)  a company that has partnered with the Ministry of Lands  to build a National  Land Titling Program (NLTP). Submission of property ownership is done at the site of the property. 

MLG enumerators have been going house-to-house to complete applications and collect signatures for official documentation and land titling. MLG collect data using an application that includes pre-vectorized high resolution property images, community verification, and machine learning to support simplified and expanded land titling, regularise unplanned settlements and preventing displacements and also reduce  inequalities of access to land ownership due to income differences. 

For 50 years the property I submitted only had a land record which  shows struggles of the low levels of participation in land registry systems. This low participation is a major barrier to financial inclusion and  economic development, for property owners in Zambia. Without formal ownership, individuals struggle to obtain access to credit and public services, while governments are limited in their ability to collect taxes, enforce property rights, and plan for economic expansion and innovation. 

So data captured were my identity details, pictures of my NRC, picture of the house, GIS Coordinates, a live photograph, a digital signature and my mobile number. Using Blockchain technology I expect MLG to create a secure property system  and improve  utility payments using a mobile application. Land records stored on the blockchain make land ownership transparent, secure, verifiable, and recognizable by local and global economies.

Meanwhile, the main objective of the NLTP according to Ministry of Lands  is to carry out a systematic registration of all property in the country in order to provide security of tenure to property owners.

The National Land Titling Programme is aimed at ensuring that all landowners are issued with Certificates of Title.