The Cabo Verde Land Management Information and Transaction System (LMITS). Integrating Spatial and Alphanumeric Information on Land and Property, to Improve Access and Reliability and to Strengthen Transparency

Carlos Varela & Sonia Schofield

In the last 5 years Cape Verde has undertaken an ambitious intervention on the clarifications on the boundaries and property rights given that, the country has been faced so far with no conclusive source of information about land property. At least 2 different land records systems each contain partial information about only a limited share of the country?s land parcels. Additional records systems hold information about state-owned land. No source contains complete map-based information indicating actual location of a parcel of land over which a right is claimed. Confusion over ownership and boundaries has resulted in unauthorized and informal land sales and the delay or cancellation of public as well as private investment projects and limits the ability of small firms and households to create value and increase incomes through investment in their property. The land rights registration process is time-consuming and costly for all land users, hampering domestic and foreign investment and economic growth. The Land sector is therefore considered a key constraint to the country?s economic growth. In this context, with MCC funding under the second Compact (2012-2017) signed between the US Government?s Millennium Chellenge Corporation and the Government of Cabo Verde, the Land Management for Investment Project was conceived and currently under implementation by the MCA-Cabo Verde II. This project has a strong and critical legal, procedural and institutional reform component, includes the development of an integrated land management information and transaction system and is conducting rights and boundaries clarification in four islands of high tourism potential. Project activities are ultimately intended to improve Cabo Verde?s investment climate, and it is expected that the country will be provided with sufficient tools to achieve a robust and self-sustaining land administration system, managed by various institutions in the single and central information database.

Document type:The Cabo Verde Land Management Information and Transaction System (LMITS). Integrating Spatial and Alphanumeric Information on Land and Property, to Improve Access and Reliability and to Strengthen Transparency (821 kB - pdf)