The design of re-engineering framework for land information management in Jamaica

Description

Jamaica is the third largest island in the Caribbean basin with an area of approximately 4411 square miles (2.7 million acres) supporting a population currently estimated at approximately 2.4 million (expected to reach 3 million by the year 2000). This, along with industrial and commercial expansion, has resulted in an intense competition for land, urban sprawl, urban blight, crime, scattered development, inefficient use of space, and the inadequate provision of housing and community [Government of Jamaica, 1994b]. The need for the implementation of land related policies to solve these problems is evident. Timely, up-to-date, accurate, complete and comprehensive land information is needed to support these policies. To obtain this information, the Government of Jamaica (GOJ) depends on its departments and agencies that manage land information. Over the years however, GOJ has periodically experienced great difficulty in obtaining the information it needs from these organizations. The Jamaican public has also had the same difficulty in obtaining necessary land information. GOJ is aware of the problems and has implemented a number of projects and programs to address them. Also, looking into the future of its land information management (LIM), GOJ has formulated some LIM objectives that it has targeted for realization by the year 2000. To date objectives remain as statements, i.e. GOJ has declared the direction in which it wants to go, but not how it is going to get there. This thesis is designed to give GOJ a framework within which to achieve its LIM objectives: the design of a model to re-engineer LIM in Jamaica. The model is based on the concept that GOJ’s land information system (LIS), which is comprised of the human and technical resources, and the organizing procedures of all its LIM organizations, must be made efficient in order for GOJ to achieve its stated LIM objectives.