Land registration in Bahrain : its past, present and future within an integrated GIS environment

• Main Author: Hamza, Manaf Yousuf
• Published: University of East London 2003
• Subjects: 346.04
• Online Access: http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.532535

The research documents the history of land registration in Bahrain since the establishment of Land Registration Directorate in 1924. The land registration system is clearly based on the Islamic Sharia Law, with the influence of the colonial intervention in the establishment of the Directorate. The system could not face the requirements of the society's economical and social requirements after independence in 1971. In 1978 under the newly established Survey Directorate, the cadastral survey started a new era of land information systems. The digital maps produced by the survey Directorate are utilized by all public utilities except Land Registration which depends on a totally manual system and hard copies. The overwhelming benefits of an automated land registration system over its costs are driving force to adopt automation. It is necessary to re-engineer the whole processes within Land Registration Directorate to accommodate the organizational changes, including the development of the human resources. The proposed automation of the land registration system could serve a good example for similar projects in other Arab countries.