 |
|
|
|
| |
|
| |
|
|
 |
| USAID Information:
External Links:
|
|
|
|
|
Real Estate Reform Enables Egyptians to Own Homes
FrontLines - November 2009
|
A teller prepares for the
grand opening of the property
registration office in the
Mokattam district of Cairo.
|
CAIRO, Egypt—A new real estate office in one of Cairo’s poorest slums is enabling more residents to buy homes and protect
their property rights.
In Mokattam, a district that is home to tens of thousands of zabaleen, or garbage collectors,
the state-of-the-art office is processing property registration quicker and more accurately than ever before. Given the district’s
high number of planned and already existing residential developments and the high concentration of lower-income residents, USAID and the government of Egypt selected Mokattam to be the flagship registry
office.
Through a USAID project, international land registration
experts created a fully-automated, operational model registry office in Mokattam. The registry streamlined file and document management and uses electronic signatures on paper documents. Specific documents
require manual signatures, such as final deeds, but are also scanned into the registry database
for record keeping.
A decade ago, 90 percent of urban real estate and land was not formally registered in Egypt. On average, 93 days were required to register a simple transfer of property, and registration
costs were equivalent to 7 percent of the property’s value.
The first major step in modernizing
mortgage finance infrastructure
in Egypt was to create an electronic records system. This made records dramatically easier for prospective buyers and mortgage lenders to search and determine the right owner.
Egyptian Financial Services (EFS) re-engineered its business process to decrease registration time and then began training their staff. EFS established a Training Development Center and developed a five-week training
program. With USAID support,
about 140 staff members were trained in the core curriculum,
customer service, and information
technology.
“The training was excellent,”
said Mona Masry, a senior technical investigator in the real estate publicity department. ”It’s fantastic to have all information available on one screen and not have to search through stacks of paper records. It makes our work quicker and easier, and this will mean better services for the public.”
The technical assistance has created a demand-driven property
registration environment in Mokattam. Also, the incidence of errors has been significantly reduced, while protection of property records and ownership information has increased markedly.
The World Bank’s Doing Business 2008 report, comparing regulation of 178 countries’ economies
between April 2006 and June 2007, named Egypt the top economic reformer in the region and the world, highlighting property
registration as a key factor.
According to the report, simplification of administrative procedures for property registration
ensured Egypt’s spot among the top 10 reformers around the world. The average number of days to register property in Egypt dropped from 193 in 2007 to 74 in 2008.
★
FrontLines is published
by the Bureau for Legislative and Public Affairs
U.S. Agency for International Development
To have FrontLines delivered
to you via postal mail, please subscribe.
Material should be submitted
by mail to Editor, FrontLines, USAID,
RRB, Suite 6.10, Washington, DC 20523-6100;
by FAX to 202-216-3035; or by e-mail to frontlines@usaid.gov
To view PDF files, download
the Adobe
Acrobat Reader.
Back to Top ^
|
