E-services essential for diversification of Azerbaijan’s economy, World Bank

Azerbaijan has come a long way in its development for over the past 10 years and now it is in a group of the countries with high average incomes, the head of the World Bank (WB) representation in Azerbaijan Joseph Owen said at a public presentation on 'E-services in the administration and registration of property: To ensure transparency and efficiency'.

"Azerbaijan should continue to diversify the economy and further improve the business environment and the introduction of electronic government services is important in this regard," Owen said. He noted that the involvement of the citizens is also important.

"All state agencies must be involved to create an electronic government," Owen said "It must be taken into account that benefits from the introduction of electronic services will be greater than costs." Chairman of the State Committee for Property Affairs of Azerbaijan Kerem Hasanov said the provision of electronic services will simplify and speed up the registration process, minimise contact between citizens and officials and ensure the effectiveness of auctions.

"All this will increase transparency and efficiency in the management and registration of property, promote the improvement of the business environment and the development of the real estate market," Hasanov said. Owen added that information on more than 700,000 real estate assets has been transferred to the electronic form as part of a joint project with the WB on real estate registration in Azerbaijan.

"Wasted time in the delivery of real estate registration is eliminated and opportunities to increase efficiency are expanded due to the transfer of registration documents into electronic format and the creation of electronic archives." the head of the State Committee said.

He said the project formed a flexible and reliable information system which is necessary to increase the level of services provided in the registration of property rights. The government and the WB signed an agreement on the joint introduction of a unified real estate cadastre in July 2007.

The project consists of four components: property, management and state property registration, base cartography and land cadastre, training and forming project policy and management. The project costs $38.57 million of which $30 million falls as a loan from the WB. The rest will be paid by the Azerbaijani government. Loan resources were allocated for 20 years under a five-year preferential period.