Farmers in Kenya can now easily search, buy, lease and sell a piece of land on a real-time basis. It’s after the launch of the ardhisasa, a national land information management system (NLIMS). The paperless system aim is to enhance efficiency and reduce transaction time and “facilitation fees” to middlemen in land transactions.
A pilot system for the Nairobi City County was launched in March 2021. On its first day of going life, it had 6,000 new users registering on the website. The nationwide system will be rolled out in different phases. By 2021 it will be available for 20 counties. The ardhisasa system will be available in all counties by 2022.
How to access ardhisasa system
As a user, you can access the ardhisasa services by registering for an account on the website’s home page. The system accepts registration using your your ID number or registration number, phone number and an email address. Once you key in your password, as a security feature it will send a onetime password (OTP) for verification to your listed addresses.
The ardhisasa will accept registration from individual landowners. professionals like government officers, lawyers and land transfer experts who facilitate land conveyance and companies.
The system is user friendly, easy and straightforward. you can easily navigate on its service tabs for land transaction and other services. For you to have smooth transactions without any time wastage, have all land documents readily at hand, scanned and uploaded on your computer. Where a real-time response is not readily available, the system gives you the expected time for which a response for the transaction will be available.
How Ardhisasa works
Wondering how does the ardhisasa NLMIS website work and the services you can use? After registration, you can login to access over ten (10) land related online services on the homegrown system that was built by young Kenyans for over three years. These services are grouped into two; the ones offered by the national land commission, and those services offered by the Ministry of Lands and Physical Planning. These are further expounded below.
The last service of the modern website is a real-time customer care service available for 24 hours for the first 24 days. You can chat or make a call with the systems customer care executives. You can contact them via email Safaricom, Telkom and Airtel numbers listed on the website. These will guide you to navigate on the system or handle any complaints or challenges you experience using ardhisasa. For any questions about the system, you can visit the system’s FAQs page.
Ardhisasa online services
- land registration: Access land registration services that prove land ownership certification like titles or leases. In the same services tab, you can request for a replacement of titles, perform a search of the property and/ or transfer your property to other owners.
- Land Administration: In this package, you can use its sub-services such as subdivision of land, extension and/or renewal of the lease contract terms, change of user, lease preparation services and consent services.
- Physical planning: The third service you can access on the NLMIS is physical planning. Under this tab, you can prepare development parts, approve some parts of the development plans and get a certificate of compliance.
- Survey and mapping: The fourth service that ardhisasa users can access on the government website are land mapping and survey services. It allows for land parcels subdivision and amalgamation. You can also seek for new grants or an extension of land lease. Other services on the tab are searching for a sectional property, change of land from agriculture to industrial or commercial use and between and requests for a re-survey.
- Valuation tab: As a user in the land system, you can access your asset valuation, estate administration and arbitration online. Besides, it allows for government land leasing and purchase.
- Adjudication and settlement: In case your piece had past litigation matters, you can access the formal judgment on a disputed and its settlement agreements online. These will be available on the adjudication and settlement.
- National Land Commission: If you are looking for land allocation services. You will access this on the National Land commission (NLC) services tab.
How will NLIMS affect land transactions?
Ardhisasa is set to eliminate manual applications and need for middlemen and cartels in land transactions. If you are settling for any government fees, the system will be able to accept them electronically. It can accept and log requests for routine land transactions from Citizens, stakeholders and interested parties to interact with land information held and processes undertaken by state.
For all the services you can access on the ardhisasa website, you can lodge and track your transactions’ progress without having to visit lands’ offices. These services include the Official title searches that last for up to a month on manual searches. Other online services are the transfer of property and payment of annual land revenues. One should also be able to purchase a survey plan online.
Benenfits of ardhisasa
During its launch, President Uhuru Kenyatta said the electronic land transfer will enhance ease of doing business, protect landowners from exploitation by cartels, middlemen and fraudsters. In an interview, the Lands Cabinet Secretary, Faridah Karoney, said that at least 6,000 users were registered on day one. She also said the system’s security and administrative features are topnotch having been developed and tested with ongoing tests and updates in order to tighten any loopholes. In addition, Ms. Karoney said the Ministry of Lands will perform civic and user education campaigns on radios and other multimedia platforms.
Its benefits go beyond land to other real estate like housing. It is expected to improve the turnaround time for compensation of acquired land for public projects like road construction. Lending and loan approvals for applications against property with lenders and administration of mortgages. Besides, it will speed up the approval of development applications and the registration of new housing units.
Read NexT: Tips for buying productive farming land in Kenya
Ardhisasa system is a joint land reform project by the Ministry of Land and Physical Planning (MoLPP), the National Land Commission (NLC), county governments and other stakeholders.
