6 September 2010
Spatial Dimension recently participated in a Stakeholder Workshop in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia where the successes of Ethiopia's new Mining Cadastre System were celebrated.

In the keynote address to the Workshop, the Minister of Mines and Energy, H.E. Mr. Alemayehu Tegenu, celebrated the many achievements of this important project, funded by the Ministry of Mines and Energy with assistance from the World Bank.

In his speech the Minister highlighted various successes including:

• The establishment a transparent and first-come first-served Mining Cadastre System
• Effective compliance monitoring of all license holders Standardised business processes throughout Federal and State Agencies
• Reduction in processing time for new applications from weeks to minutes
• Leveraging internet based technologies to provide real-time access from 11 Mines and Energy Bureaus of the National Regional States to the Mining Cadastre System installed in Addis Ababa
• An intensive knowledge transfer and capacity building program, both locally and abroad.

"The Ethiopian Mining Cadastre Project again shows that Spatial Dimension is able to deliver successful and sustainable solutions to a diverse client base using our FlexiCadastre mineral rights management solution.

In the Government space we are working with more and more Ministries who are embarking on legislative reviews with a plan to implement transparent cadastral processes while at the same time ensuring maximum benefit flows to the country and local communities.

In the Corporate space we have recently had many significant wins, especially within global organisations needing to standardise their business processes for managing both the risk and compliance around strategic land assets", said Bill Feast, Managing Director of Spatial Dimension.

The full text of the Honourable Minister's speech to the Stakeholder Workshop is provided below.

Keynote Address delivered by the Minister of Mines and Energy, Ethiopia at a Workshop to Celebrate the Successes of the Implementation of a New Mining Cadastre System in Ethiopia

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia- 18 August 2010

Honorable Guests

Dear Participants Ladies and Gentlemen

It is my great pleasure and honor to open the workshop on the implementation of cadastre data management system. The aim of this workshop is to introduce the computerized and modern mining cadastre data management system implemented at both the Federal Ministry of Mines and Energy and the eleven Mines and Energy Bureaus of the National Regional States including the Addis Ababa and Dire Dawa City Administrations.

The Ministry of Mines and Energy with the assistance of the World Bank under Energy Access Project- Mineral component has been executing the project. The mineral cadastre data management system is a tool used to manage mineral titles.

The implementation of the system will; Establish a transparent and efficient licensing and license administration of mineral operations in Ethiopia Easy identification and location of unoccupied areas in a very short time will be possible without further communication with a third party The licensing authorities can easily check for license overlap It would be more easier and efficient to keep track of all actions performed on the license, current status of the license, create and schedule the next action that should be taken The procedures and handling of license data will be harmonized First come first served principle will be more practical

This modern and efficient system is running live since May 2010 at the ministry and regional mines and energy bureaus that have got the required ETC infrastructure - Broadband internet connection. To date the nine national regional mines and energy bureaus/Agencies are already connected with the system. The Benshangul Gumuz and Gambella bureaus aren't yet connected due to the unavailability of the required broadband infrastructure. We are working with the Ethiopian Telecommunications Corporation on the possibilities of connecting these bureaus.

The mineral exploration activities carried out so far have revealed that Ethiopia is endowed with rich mineral resources and favorable geological setup to host different mineral deposits. The mineral operations being undertaken at present are encouraging. The mineral industry is contributing towards industrial development, income generation, foreign currency earnings and savings, and creates employment opportunity for the citizens.

Prior to 1991, most of the mineral operations were restricted to the government institutions tapering the involvement of private investment to the operation of few types of minerals like construction materials. The mining legislations enacted with the coming in effect of the market oriented economic policy were competent in attracting private capital to the mining sector. Since then, the investment in the sector is growing from time to time. The licenses issued at both the federal and regional bureaus have grown significantly. This situation had required the development of competent regulating authorities in all aspects to satisfy the interest of our customers and maintain the growing private capital in the sector.

To embark on further development of the mineral sector, the Ministry of Mines and Energy has realized the importance of identifying the gaps in the sector and proposed comprehensive systematic sector study. To this end a project proposal prepared by the Ministry was accepted by the government and a mineral sector strengthening component under the Energy Access Project financed by the World Bank has become effective.

The Main objective of the mineral sector strengthening component is to encourage private sector investment in the mining sector through creating enabling investment environment in the mining sector, and enhancing government capacity to adequately administer the sector in order to bring sustainable development in our mining industry.

To realize the objective of the component, three major sub components including training, procurement of equipment and consultancy services were identified. The major part of the mineral component is allocated for the procurement of consultancy service under four sub components, i.e.; Mineral Policy, Legal and Institutional Framework Study Geological Survey and Investment Promotion Study Industrial Minerals and Artisnal Mining Study and, Cadastre Data Management System Study.

Almost all of the studies are completed and the outputs of the studies are being utilized by the Ministry of Mines and Energy, the Geological Survey of Ethiopia and the Mines and Energy Bureaus in the National Regional States.

The subcomponent, which is to be presented to this workshop is the cadastre data management system and was divided into a design and Implementation phases. The design phase was done by the consulting team of the British Geological Survey and was completed in 2006. With the completion of the design phase, the Ministry has entered into contract agreement with a consortium of the Swedish Geological (Hifab AB) and the South African Spatial Dimension for the execution of the second phase.

The consulting firms have implemented several mining cadastre data management systems for private companies and governments institutions in the mineral sector and are well known and successful in this field internationally. The project has encouraged the participation of local consultants and firms aimed at building local capacity. In line with our strategy of building the local capacity, Ethiopian firms and consultants were able to work with the international consultants.

The total investment on the project is about 22 million birr out of which about 15million is from the World Bank component and 7 million from government treasury in the form of matching fund. All software, hardware and network required for the system are fulfilled for all the 12 offices that issue and administer license country wide. 30 personnel from the ministry and the regional mines and energy offices (2 persons from each regional office) believed to be work on the operation of system are trained by the consultant for more than 40 days in Ethiopia. 6 personnel from the ministry and the regional offices have got further short term training in South Africa, head office of Spatial Dimension. The system can be also seen as the IT enabler for the Business Process Reengineering study under full implementation by the Ministry of Mines and Energy.

According to the contract agreement, it was anticipated to complete the implementation in nine months time. However due to several challenges, the implementation phase is completed in February 2010 one year after the original time frame. The main challenge was in getting the broadband connections to the regional offices. Despite the challenges we are able to complete the implementation phase and to run the system live since May 2010.

Currently the consultant is on a follow up and support work in accordance to the contract agreement. Since June 1, 2010 about 17 licenses are granted employing the new system. It will take 30 minutes at an average to complete the validation process required to check whether an area applied for is occupied or not. The system has enabled us to fully avoid the requirement of writing letter to regional mines and energy bureaus to get information whether the area under question has been licensed or not. Prior to the full implementation of the system, the process of exchanging the information through letter used to take a month at the minimum.

This work has required the participation of several organizations among which the Ethiopian Telecommunication Authority (ETC) and Ethiopian Mapping Authority (EMA) are the major ones. The Ethiopian Telecommunication Authority has been involved in the provision of the broadband internet connection and had provided the required connection to the 9 regional offices despite the challenges in the infrastructure. The Ethiopian Mapping Authority has assisted in providing topographic maps required for the project. At this juncture, I am very grateful for the higher officials and staffs of the organizations for their unreserved facilitation to the request made by the ministry and the consultant at different times during the execution of the project.

It is also my hope that such kind of cooperation will continue in a more strengthened way. I am also like to appreciate the technical and financial assistance we are getting from the World Bank and grateful to the World Bank country office and Washington head office that are always ready to advice and assist the ministry. I would like to thank the consultants for their unreserved effort to happen true the implementation of the system despite the several challenges encountered in the course of implementing the system. It is also my hope that we will be working together for mutual interest even after the completion of the current assignment.

The details of the Energy Access Project- Mineral Component and the functionalities of the mineral cadastre data management system will be presented in more detail by the project implementation unit and the consultant.

Finally, I would like to request all the participants to actively take part in discussions, and share opinions. Now, I declare that the workshop is officially opened.

Thank You Very Much

H.E. Mr. Alemayehu Tegenu
Minister of Mines and Energy

About FlexiCadastre
FlexiCadastre uses a business rule and workflow-centric approach to facilitate the efficient administration of mineral rights and contracts in multiple global jurisdictions. Using a web portal for data management and reporting, advanced task management, configurable business logic, best of breed GIS technologies and innovative concepts, FlexiCadastre is a world leader in mineral rights management solutions. Corporate FlexiCadastre clients include Anglo Coal, Anglo Exploration, Anglo Platinum, AngloGold Ashanti, Barrick Gold, Goldcorp, Rio Tinto, Teck and Vale. Government FlexiCadastre clients include the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Greenland, Liberia, Mozambique, Senegal, Tanzania and Zambia.

About Spatial Dimension
Spatial Dimension is a multi-disciplinary software development and consulting company with a broad base of skills and experience in the development of innovative and cost effective spatially enabled solutions. Their flagship product, FlexiCadastre, is the international software of choice for both Government Agencies and Mineral Resource Companies wanting to implement integrated mineral rights management solutions. Spatial Dimension is an MS Group business and an ESRI Business Partner. See www.spatialdimension.com and www.msgroup.net.