Abstract:
Governments have power to compulsorily acquire land
or other interest in land for a public purpose subject to prompt
payment of the compensation to the affected persons. The process of
land acquisition involves several government departments which
have different mandates depending with the purpose of the
acquisition. In several instances departments involved have been seen
to be disjointed hence causing gaps and unfinished work in the whole
process. In a number of occasions the government has acquired land
yet delayed occupation of the same, the case study in this research
being an example. This has resulted to encroachment of the already
acquired land either knowingly or unknowingly by the same people
who were compensated or new entrants who have purchased land
after the compensation has been done, sometimes unaware of the
state of the land. There has been failures in updating of documents
and maps with the acquired data hence causing great losses where
developments have been demolished especially where land has
already been acquired for road construction. Ownership documents,
the title deeds, have failed to have the acquired acreage deducted and
the maps/plans with the National Mapping Agency fail to be updated.
This paper looks at how best to use GIS in the process of land
acquisition, bringing together all the information in all the
departments involved for a one-stop-shop. In this research, the
Registry Index Maps (RIMs) from the Ministry of Lands, Survey
Department, and the road layout from the Roads Department were
overlaid and parcels identified which are yet to surrender the acquired
acreage. With GIS a list of all affected parcels together with the
relevant attributes can be extracted and forwarded to the relevant
departments as seen necessary. This will enhance transparency in
operations where there are overlapping mandates and highlight gaps
in the whole acquisition process.
