Land, houses register for July launch

The first database register from the Land Administration, Valuation and Information Management System (LAVIMS) will be ready by July this year.

LAVIMS will also prepare a property valuation system for residential and commercial properties and a parcel-based Deeds Registration System.

The whole project is integrated and supported by an appropriate information management system.

LAVIMS has two main objectives:

* To establish an efficient and cost-effective land administration and online information register

* To set up a general valuation roll of some 350,000 residential properties, privately or Stateowned.

The introduction of a National Residential Property Tax in the 2006-2007 Budget required that the Land Administration and Management Systems (LAMS) project took on board the component of a general valuation roll, which is meant to be used as a tool for the imposition of a fairer tax regime.

Consequently, LAMS became LAVIMS. Infoterra Ltd has been appointed to deliver the new LAVIMS system. The project will provide automation of paper deeds and the development of an index map and a parcel-based deeds registration system.

It will also cater for the delivery of a computer-assisted mass appraisal valuation system, consisting of more than 350,000 residential and commercial properties, for which data will be collected from historic, remotely-held data as well as in-field observation.

There will be a powerful web-based information management system to allow efficient interaction, retrieval and analysis of the data by all potential stakeholders of the system.

According to the Ministry of Housing and Lands, the system’s objectives are to generate a complete register of all private and State lands throughout the country.

“There will be a system to identify every land parcel on the island of Mauritius and register and identify all plans and diagrams within the office of the ministry’s Chief Surveyor,” explained a source. In this way the Chief Surveyor’s capacity will be improved to eventually provide information to stakeholders online.

There is at present no national database of market values of properties and the compilation of a National Valuation List will provide a comprehensive accurate and updated database of property ownership and values.

Among the properties that are required to be valued are those that could be subject to a valuebased National Residential Property Tax assessment, and/or a local government rate, assuming that all land on the island was subject to local government rating.

By Sanjana Bhagmal-Cadervaloo