Land governance in transition: the case of the Hellenic Cadastre
UNIVERSITY OF TWENTE - FACULTY OF GEO-INFORMATION SCIENCE AND EARTH OBSERVATION (ITC)HELLENIC REPUBLIC– MINISTRY OF THE ENVIRONMENT – HELLENIC CADASTRE
LANDac Annual International Conference 2019Utrecht – July 2019
Evangelia Balla
Supervisor: Professor Dr. Yola Georgiadou, ITC, University of TwenteCo-Supervisor: Assistant Professor Dr. Christine Richter, ITC, University of Twente
Content Outline
Background
The HC and the Crisis
Land Governance in
transition
Q&A
Crossroad: West-East/North -South
Southern East of Europe: Balkan peninsula
Land Uses: mainly agricultural (49,35%) and forest areas (47,33%)
Insularity, long(est in the Med) seashore (~20.000km)
Land Policy: measures favoring land fragmentation and small
landownership 3
BACKGROUND: GREECE
Background: MSc. Surveying Engineer, MSc. Urban & Regional Planner, PMP®, PhD studies NTUA
Lifetime Land and Urban planning/Environment positions in private/public sector
Positions at all levels of hierarchy
heir and inheritor of the family’s land in Central Macedonia-Northern Greece
Countless hours …cultivating, navigating and “mediating” between practice & research about Land
9/13/2019 4
BACKGROUND: MY PERSONAL AFFINITY WITH LAND IN GREECE
academic, professional & career choices, personal bond (due to family origin)
Background: Main Land Registration SystemMinistry of Justice(RMS)
Public Mortgage Offices (33)
Private Mortgage Offices (219)
Private Notary run Mortgage Offices
(140)
DeficienciesPaper & Person based No cadastral map (only topographic plan)Incomplete registration of property rights
(public property rights, or usucaption)No legal certainty No additional information for real propertiesNo sound basis for land policy, environmental
protection, real property taxation etc.
register all kind of deeds, judicial decisions, and lawsuits which create, modify or abolish 'rights in rem' on a property, as well as, all the encumbrances (mortgages, seizures, foreclosures, easements), on a property.
Registration & Mortgages System> mid 19th century
A property transaction takes effect after the registration of a notary deed to the Land Registry (Mortgage Office) (Civil Code)
The Hellenic Cadastre Hellenic Cadastre Programme (HCP) mid 1990’s
“The Biggest of All The Infrastructure Projects Ever In
Greece”
Estimations / Assumptions
Completion date : 2009
Benefits: main goal to reveal and protect public property &
multipurpose digital land information system
~2000 job positions annually
2 laws: 1995 (development), 1998 (operation)
2 organizations: HEMCO (1986) & KTIMATOLOGIO SA (1995)
Register ~40 million property rights
Cadastral mapping 132 million sq.km.
Delineate ~20.000km. seashore
Delineate ~60.000sq.m. forests
Finance: Beneficiaries, Hellenic State, European Structural Fund
The HC and the Crisis
Means
Increase of public revenues (increase of
taxation on real estate)
Privatization program (exploitation of public property)
Business Friendly Greece (legal certainty
on property rights)
Policy targets
Reduction of public deficit
Reduction of public debt
EconomicGrowth
Policy goals
Macroeconomic stability Structuraladjustment
Bailout Loans > Policy conditionality
Hellenic Cadastre
Business friendly
environment (investments)
Accurate data for public
property
Accurate data (&
Revenues) land
taxation
Accurate data for planning
10/4/2019 PhD Proposal Defence: E. Balla 8Each MoU prioritized the completion of the Hellenic Cadastre and set several intermediate goals with associated milestones
See further Spanou et al. ELIAMEP, 2018
Outcomes – Challenges
What has been done? (2009-Nov.2018)
Cadastre: • 6%>7,8%area • 17%>28,7% property rightsForest Maps:• ratified 0,57%> 32,2%118 Interim Cadastral Offices
What should be done? (as of June 2019)
Cadastre: By 2021• 59,7% property rights under survey• 9,1% p.r. to be procured Forest Maps (by 2020): • to complete and ratify 59 % (13,8% under
public consultation and 45,2% under development) Merge LR & Cadastre (by 2020) • 390 LR (MO) Offices and 118 Interim
Cadastral Offices > 17 Cadastral Offices and 75 Branches
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10An (simple) infrastructure project
OR
A State (Institution) Building Policy Reform
Land Governance in transition at a glance
System of Registrations &
Mortgages1856
System of Registrations &
MortgagesStart of the HC
Programme
1995
•System of Registrations & Mortgages
•System of Cadastre (transitional period)
2003 System of Cadastre2021
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-Significant expertise and know how
- Philopatry and philotimo* (honor andpride)
- Challenging goals- Too many changes simultaneously- Reform fatigue-Strong management skills required
-A state of the art HC-Cadastral map –base layer of NSDI-rationalize & minimize landtransaction fees-boost investments- strengthening of tax justice
- Volatile political environment- Low participation in cad.survey- Reveal of informal land tenure issues- Loss of private ownership
SWOT
Strengths Weaknesses
Opportunities Threats
The Hellenic Cadastre (and the Hellenic Crisis) as the Pandora’s Box
• Present or Curse?
Hope
Where you stand depends on where you sit