Punjab Govt. seeks World Bank Loan for Land Mapping Project

According to sources, the land mapping project is for accessing the land records and for housing programs in the province. The proposed project aims to achieve the provision of a cadastral map (a map that shows the boundaries and ownership of land within a specified area) linked to digital land records, access to land for housing and a unified modern land information system.

For the land mapping, geodetic control points will be placed in the ground to support the production of data collection for surveying and mapping projects, base maps will be generated and used for the plotting or presentation of specialized data of different type.

These geospatial (data that is directly linked to specific geographical locations) products could then be made accessible to a larger community for a variety of decisions which could contribute to the National Spatial Data Infrastructure (NSDI) initiative in Pakistan, according to project details. 

Through this project, revenue maps will also be scanned and made available in digital form. Another major reason given for seeking the World Bank loan for this particular project is that both federal and Punjab governments say they will not be able to achieve the goal of “Naya Pakistan Housing Programme” of constructing nearly 2.6 million low-cost housing units in Punjab if the province’s urban land record challenges are not resolved.

Under the “Punjab Growth Strategy 2023”, the provincial government plans to increase the average number of housing units to 640,000 annually over the next five years.