The Inter-American Development Bank today approved a $2.5 million loan to Belize to assist the government establish a more dynamic and efficient land market by improving country-wide access to land management services, their quality and efficiency.
The resources will finance the expansion of a parcel-based land information system and the improvement of urban land information as well as support the provision of modern land management services.
This project will complete the shift from manual processing of land transactions and record keeping to streamlined, automated procedures through a parcel-based information system to be established in the Ministry of Natural Resources and the Environment.
The new system will improve transparency and reduce potential error, fraud and loss of title documents. It will provide access to reports and records, creating additional revenue due to improve services and increase transactions.
In addition, the on-line public access will reduce transaction costs for property owners, lease holders, banks, law firms and other users, avoiding unnecessary visits to check status or search records.
The project will add 50,000 urban parcels to the digital cadastre, increasing the total to 158,000 parcels, which will represent 70% of all land parcels in the country.
The IDB loan is for a 25-year term, with a 3.5-year grace period, at a LIBOR-based. Local counterpart funds total $229,000.