NAIROBI, April 17 (Xinhua) -- Kenya to use satellite technology in order to map and survey the entire landmass of the country, officials said on Wednesday.
Farida Karoney, cabinet secretary in the ministry of lands and physical planning, told a forum in Nairobi that currently less than 40 percent of the country has been mapped and surveyed.
"We hope to complete the mapping process by end of 2020 so that we can give land owners security of tenure through land titles," Karoney said during the Ease of Doing Business Stakeholders Forum.
Karoney said that the mapping process is being undertaken by a multi-agency team drawn from all relevant government departments.
She noted that Kenya is keen to reduce the time its takes to conduct land transactions through use of technology, adding that the entire land registry will soon be digitized through the Land management information system.
Karoney said that the robust information system will also ensure that it will not be susceptible to cybercrime, noting that digitized land records will also eliminate fraud in land transactions.
She observed that once the land records are automated, registration of property will take 12 days down from 73 working days currently.
The government officials noted that speed of land transactions is one of the parameters used in the World Bank's Ease of Doing Business Index.
She revealed that Kenya is keen to improve its ranking in the Ease of Doing Business Index so that it enhances the country's attractiveness to foreign and domestic investors.
