Background The insecurity of land tenure, rural and urban, is one of the most critical constraints to increased investment. It is also a source of social instability and a disincentive to sustainable land use. Insecurity from overlapping titles, violent disputes, and illegal occupation of lands arises largely as a result of poorly enforced land rights through weak and uncoordinated land administration institutions. Even titled lands suffer from irregularities, such as overlapping claims. Only about 30 percent of the estimated 2.2 million land parcels in Honduras are registered in the property registry.  The historical land claims of indigenous and Afro-Honduran communities further complicate the land rights issue, and are still to be adequately addressed. Close to half a million Hondurans (about 8 percent of the population) are defined as Indigenous or Afro-Honduran. Public Disclosure Authorized Program Objective   The Government of Honduras is implementing a long-term and far-reaching legal, institutional, and technological program (PATH) to formalize property rights for the vast majority of Hondurans, facilitate access to land by the poor, reduce transaction costs, and encourage the emergence of dynamic land-based asset markets.
 The Bank is supporting PATH implementation through an Adaptable Program Loan (APL). The proposed Program Objective is to strengthen property rights in Honduras through modernization of the legal framework, institutional strengthening and development of a fully integrated and decentralized National System for Property Administration (SINAP). It is currently envisaged that the APL will have four phases over 16 years. The first phase has been under implementation since 2004, and a second phase is currently under preparation.  Phase I  The first phase of the Program, expected to close in October 2009, will cost approximately US$ 38.9 million (including financing from IDA of SDR16.9 million, US$ 25.0 million equivalent, as well as from the Nordic Development Fund (EUR6.0 million) and government funds). The first phase's development objective is to achieve an integrated and decentralized land administration system (composed of public and private entities) that provides users in the project area with accurate information on urban and rural land parcels and effective land administration services (purchase, mortgages, cadastral and registry certifications, etc.) in a timely and cost-effective manner.   Thus far, the Program has achieved important results. The promulgation of the 2004 Property Law represents a landmark development laying out a comprehensive legal framework for strengthening land administration in the country. The Property Law created the Property Institute to oversee cadastre administration and real estate registry in an integrated manner, and allowed the development of a computerized National System for Property Administration (SINAP), including an integrated registry module (SURE). Implementation of SURE has facilitated the shift to a parcel-based property registry (folio real) bringing together cadastral information (exact geographical description of a parcel) and legal information (certainty of legitimate owner). These efforts have resulted in more efficient, effective and transparent land administration services in project areas, through improved cadastral mapping, land titling, registration of land transactions, and record management.
 Approximately 275,000 families have benefited from Program activities so far. At the same time, the limits of 25 municipalities have been demarcated, the land of 20 Miskito communities has been delimited, and the core zones of 6 protected areas have been demarcated. Of particular note, 57 percent of parcels incorporated into SINAP have women as the primary owner. Good progress has also been made regarding land administration services: operational costs of transactions (in the modernized registries) are 100 percent self financed through user fees, the number of days to required to register land has been quartered, the level of satisfaction with SINAP is almost 70 percent and accuracy of registry data is almost 90 percent. For additional information visit: |
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