GIS brings transparency to land administration in Da Lat
Le Van Hoang sighed with relief. Finally, after an arduous journey seeking justice, he could build a house on his land. After leaving the army in early 1990, Hoanh inherited a small plot of land on Tu Duc Road in Ward 11 of Da Lat City. Later, in early 1999, Hoanh decided to build a house on this land where his mother had lived for a long time prior to the unification of south and north Vietnam. He thought the procedures to obtain permission of construction might be simple.

He was wrong. The ward official refused to accept his application after considering the project Hoang had proposed. “Your land is on a hill which has soil that should be used for planting trees, so you are not allowed to build your house,” he was told coldly. In spite of returning to visit the ward officials dozens of times, he still came back with nothing.

During one of these trips he accidentally visited the Da Lat Resource and Environment Office, 10 kilometers from his house. Unexpectedly, the answer to his problem was solved after just a few seconds. After some mouse clicks by a land survey official, Hoanh could see his plot of land on the computer screen. It was colored purple, meaning that he was allowed to build a house on it.

Hoanh did not realize he was benefiting from the application of geographical information systems, or GIS, the most modern model of land management in Vietnam.

Now Hoang is living in his large new house and is very pleased. His children have better living and educational conditions. “Without the GIS system, perhaps my family would still be staying in the old thatched house,” he mused.

In 2003, the leaders of Lam Dong Province decided to establish the Geographical Information Integration and Land Use Right Registration Center (Da Lat GIS Center). Supported by the Ministry of Home Affairs, the GIS system was deployed in the center. The system utilizes hardware, software and spatial data with the aim of digitizing all the information about land, houses, planning, infrastructure, etc., in Da Lat. This database is helping to make administrative procedures related to land use, home construction, infrastructure development, etc. much more transparent.

Mr. Le Trinh, the vice-chairman of Da Lat People’s Committee said, “This GIS system helps to manage urban areas very effectively. It minimizes officials asking people for money; in contrast, people are able to know whether or not their files are solved.”

Since it was put into effect nearly three years ago, the GIS system has drawn a lot of attention and interest from other provinces. Many groups of leaders from neighboring provinces have come to visit and learn about the model. However, the Da Lat municipal leaders are not yet satisfied. They want to deploy this system in communes and villages to replace paper maps that have become outdated.