Surveying and Mapping

Recent major property formalization projects have had total estimated costs ranging from US$20 million to more than US$250 million with loans ranging from US$2 million (to support feasibility studies) up to approximately US$100 million. In general these costs have been required for: • institution strengthening: 10–15 per cent • mapping: 20–5 per cent • adjudication and surveying: 30–50 per cent • registration: 20–5 per cent. This chapter reviews aspects of the adjudication, surveying and mapping of property, processes that are used to identify and record the land to which ownership rights are attached. There are essentially four basic processes involved: • Adjudication and the definition of the boundaries of the parcel. • Legal delineation and monumentation of property boundaries. • Preparation of descriptions of the properties, usually in map form. These processes are essential components in the initial formalization of property and in the subsequent use and transfer of formal property rights. They provide much of the information necessary for the overall planning and coordination of land titling projects, for assessing evidence in support of the initial registration of title, for the actual delimitation and registration of boundaries. 'They also form the basis for the subsequent re-establishment of boundaries in the case of uncertainty, dispute, or subdivision. Cadastral surveying is the term generally used to describe the gathering and recording of data about land parcels, even where the records do not form part of an official cadastre. When properties are initially registered, government officials have traditionally undertaken the processes of cadastral surveying and land title adjudication. The costs are then paid for by the state or through aid programmes. More recently, private sector surveyors have carried out some of the work on contract in an attempt to reduce actual costs and to accelerate the pace of projects. The surveys of changes to the boundaries that take place after the initial survey (through consolidation, subdivision, amendment, etc.) may be undertaken by the public sector but are more often carried out by private licensed surveyors.