Digital land survey scrapped after Tk3.36cr used up

A staggering Tk3.36 crore of the digital land survey project cost, has been used up since 2020 on a car purchase, office supplies, staff salaries and training. Yet, after three and a half years, physical progress remains minimal at a meagre 0.28%, prompting the authorities to consider abandoning the project halfway through.

The dismal performance raises concerns about weaknesses in the planning of the project, which was undertaken without a feasibility study.

On 3 July, the inter-ministerial meeting convened to review the first revised proposal scrapped the project, leaving the work unfinished.

According to sources at the Planning Commission, the lacklustre progress can be attributed to a severe shortage of manpower in the Land Record and Survey Department, the project implementing agency.

The project was undertaken at a cost of Tk1212.55 crore to introduce the Digital Land Surveying System (DLSS), based on a geographic information system (GIS) database, aimed at bringing transparency to land ownership.

Md Sayduzzaman, chief of the agriculture, water resources and rural institutions division at the Planning Commission, told The Business Standard that the project saw less than 1% progress in three and a half years. It happened due to a shortage of manpower in the Land Record and Survey Department.

"There was a proposal to complete the project through a private organisation without conducting a fresh feasibility study. But the project has been cancelled," he said. 

"However, it was suggested that a new project be initiated after conducting a feasibility study."

The project was originally scheduled to be completed by 2025, according to Planning Commission sources. 

However, the implementing agency had proposed extending the deadline to 2027 to complete the rest of the work through the involvement of the private sector in the revised proposal.

According to the Land Record and Survey Department, it has a total of 2,098 settlement officers, sub-assistant settlement officers, surveyors, and draftsmen. 

However, 5,544 positions remain vacant at the department. The implementing agency stated that due to this manpower crisis, the project could not be implemented.

Officials at the Planning Commission mentioned challenges in implementing survey work by hiring private firms and consultants. The uncertainty lies in whether private companies with experience in complex tasks, such as land-related work, will be available.

The Planning Commission officials also said that under the project, the target was to install 260,369 geodetic control pillars in 470 upazilas across 61 districts. There was also a proposal to set up new pillars in 32 upazilas spanning five districts – Barguna, Patuakhali, Gopalganj, Pabna and Sirajganj.

Additionally, a complete digital land survey was supposed to be conducted in 14 upazilas spanning two districts – Patuakhali and Barguna. The proposal included digital surveys in the initial 14 upazilas and an additional 18 upazilas.

According to the Planning Commission, the project cost has not decreased proportionately in comparison to the reduction in project area and activities. The Land Record and Survey Department had proposed a reduction of only Tk17 crore in the cost.

Planning Commission officials said that although a new proposal was made to conduct the survey through private institutions, this project also suggested purchasing survey equipment with new government funds. The commission raised objections to the proposal.

The project proposal mentions that the Land Record and Survey Department has been conducting land records and surveys manually since 1888. 

Two full-scale surveys, namely the Cadastral Survey, or CS (1888–1940), and the State Acquisition Survey, or SA (1956–1963), have been completed nationwide thus far.

At present, the Revisional Survey (RS) has been underway since 1965, and simultaneously, Bangladesh Survey (BS) activities are ongoing. 

Due to the centuries-old manual method of surveying, the preparation of mauza maps and records took decades to reach final publication, making the preservation of important maps and records from these surveys complicated.

As a result, with the aim of modernising and automating land management in the entire country, the digitised mauza map of the RS survey under the project, titled "Mauza and Plot-based National Digital Land Zoning", is being implemented by the land ministry. 

The project was primarily undertaken to provide maps for the project, "Land Management Automation".