Below please find an article from the local press regarding the opening of the Cadastre Office.

USAID, Ministry of Lands, Mines & Energy Open Mining Cadastre Office in Liberia

Monrovia, Liberia - 28 April 2010 - As the problem with land tenure and land title administration continues to pose a menace for the post-conflict government, the Liberian president, Mrs. Ellen Johnson Sirleaf has mandated the Minister of Lands, Mines & Energy to initiate the process of establishing a Land Cadastre, modeled on the Mining Cadastre commissioned at the offices of the Ministry of Lands, Mines & Energy (MLME) on Wednesday.

Delivering the keynote address on behalf of the Liberian president at the dedication of the Mining Cadastre Office which hosts the Mining Cadastre Information Management System (MCIMS) at the ministry's premises, Lands, Mines & Energy Minister Dr. Eugene Shannon quoted the president as saying that this Executive Order is to be executed within the next 12 months.

U.S. Ambassador Linda Thomas Greenfield opens Cadastre office.

"I am convinced that the many problems which arise from our land tenure system and land title administration will greatly diminish once we provide a modern land cadastre system possessing the capabilities of the mining cadastre facility commissioned today," President Johnson Sirleaf emphasized.

The Mining Cadastre Office, constructed with joint funding from the Ministry of Lands, Mines & Energy and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) hosts the MCIMS. It is expected to enhance transparency, boost investor confidence, and increase mining revenue.

The automated system makes license granting and management processes more efficient and transparent by streamlining licensing processes, avoids ownership conflicts by clarifying boundaries, and increases mining revenue by tracking payments and enabling effective monitoring of exploration and mining contracts.

Staff from within the MLME have been identified to lead the MCIMS Department and are currently undergoing training to become system operators, application registrars, Geographic Information Systems specialists, and system administrators.

In addition to this training, MLME staff is being trained in modern surveying techniques to ensure the registration of accurate geographic data into the system.

In her statement, President Johnson Sirleaf noted that to entrench democratic governance, her government has been working with a number of cooperating donor partners through the Governance & Economic Management Assistance Programme (GEMAP), a program directed at achieving transparency, accountability and access to accurate information in the management of Liberia's economic resources. The Mining Cadastre Office, according to her, is an outcome of this cooperation.

Up until the dedication of the facility, the processing of mineral sector licenses has been manual, time-consuming and inefficient. "With no means of proving whether or not the officials are following the laid down procedure of "first come, first served" for processing license applications, it was difficult to detect and eliminate corrupt practices," the Liberian leader stressed noting further that in large measure, the computerized mining cadastre provides an answer to this challenge.

She noted also that before the dedication of Mining Cadastre Office, the ascertainment of license areas held by different license holders was problematic because overlaps were not easily detectable. This, President Johnson Sirleaf said was a major source of conflicts among license holders. The new facility will eliminate the incidence of overlapping grants of licenses.

The Liberian president indicated that her government has taken important steps through the introduction of a Mineral Policy centered on the goal of 'mining for development' and the creation of an open and competitive legal framework for the minerals sector. "With the commissioning of the MCIMS facility we have a tool that will greatly facilitate the implementation of Government plans for the minerals sector," she noted.

Earlier, the US Ambassador to Liberia Linda Thomas-Greenfield disclosed that the new system will enhance transparency, boost investor confidence, and increase mining revenue. "By building appropriate systems, Liberia has created a more welcome and stable investment environment for the international mining sector," Ambassador Thomas-Greenfield stressed adding that international businesses will be assured and encouraged in doing business where there is accountability and transparency.

The US envoy to Liberia reiterated that assisting Liberia to secure its revenue base remains a high priority of the US Government as her Government's assistance to the MLME has focused on building the Ministry's capacity to assess the potential value of the nation's mineral assets. "We strongly believe that the availability of accurate, up-to-date information on mineral assets is instrumental in realizing the true investment potential of the sector and in attracting potential investors," she furthered.

She noted that as the mining sector is extremely important to Liberia's economic growth, since 2006 the US Government through USAID has provided substantial technical assistance to the MLME when it assigned the first of several long-term, imbedded international level experts.

Ambassador Thomas-Greenfield thanked the MLME and the contractor, International Business Initiatives (IBI) for their efforts in making the project a success and for the partnership and cooperation enjoyed implementing the GEMAP activity at the ministry.

The system became fully operational in December 2009, and further capacity building and systems monitoring will take place throughout 2010.

Source Front Page Africa http://www.frontpageafrica.com/newsmanager/anmviewer.asp?a=10831&z=2.

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