As part of its ongoing efforts to expedite real estate procedures, the Dubai Land Department will launch the Electronic Document Management System (EDMS) in October.
Over a million files, including documents dating back 160 years, have been scanned and stored in the department's new electronic system. The Dh2.5 million project, which was started in July last year, is near completion, and currently under trial by selected staff at the department.
Mohammed Belqaizi, Head of the Archiving Section, said: "One of the reasons we undertook this project was to prevent old documents from getting lost or damaged in the course of moving them from one section to another."
Another important goal, he explained, was to cut through the red tape and facilitate the access to these files by all department employees.
"Once the new system is fully implemented, department staff will be able to view these files from their office without having to submit tedious requests," he said. "They will be able to retrieve and print out archival information without having to leave their desks."
According to Belqaizi, about 90 per cent of the files have been scanned already, and the project is up and running on a trial basis. Within the coming weeks, the scanned images will be transferred to the new server.
Marwan Ahmad bin Ghalita, Director of Technical Admini-stration, said the department hired a local contractor, Horizon Information System (Hisys), to process the conversion of the paper documents.
Another local firm, Gulf Computers, was hired to handle the software required for retrieval and modifications.
He said the contractors worked closely with department staff to organise the archival files into five sections: owner information (including passport copy and national card copy), land certificate (deeds, mortgages), site plans (both Land Department and Dubai Municipality), letters and memos, and discharge documents.
The project must pass through various stages, such as verification and final approval, before its official launch.
"The new system is expected to be implemented in October. At this point, department employees will be issued 'passports' to access the information. This will prevent any abuse of the system," said bin Ghalita.
Gulf News
