92785 January 31, 2007



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Land reform was one of the earliest reforms launched by Armenia and was a crucial step in
moving from a collective Soviet system to a market-based private-sector driven economy.
Databases of property information and a registration system were created in the early 1990s but
as Armenia progressed in its transition, the country needed a more reliable and transparent
system for registering property.




Building on existing databases and a pilot USAID project, IDA’s Title Registration Project sought
to:
- Establish a network of Information and Registration Centers throughout the country and
institute surveying and cadastral mapping.
- Create a transparent, parcel-based, easily accessible registration system for immovable
property.
- Provide a chronological record of property owners and their rights and obligations.




Property rights are now secure, the property market efficiency has increased, and women
and the poor now receive legal protections regarding their ownership rights to real estate
assets.


Highlights:
- Registered mortgages have grown rapidly: from 38 percent in 2002 to 48 percent in 2003.
- Tax equity has significantly improved—nearly all properties are now recorded and
municipalities and rural communities can begin to levy property taxes.
- 47 fully-functioning Information and Registration Centers (IRC) throughout the country
registering land parcels and buildings. Well-trained IRC staff work according to high service
standards. Information is provided to clients within one day.
- Time to register a real estate transaction has dropped from 14 days to 1 day. This compares
favorably to any system in the world.
- Almost all 2.5 million privately-owned land parcels and buildings in Armenia surveyed.
- Growth in the rural areas was able to keep pace with overall country economic growth, and
significantly reduce rural poverty.
- Total project cost: US$10.6 million -- of which IDA provided US$8.0 million.
- IDA drew on its experience in land privatization in other countries.
- Helped scale up a working model (developed by the government under a USAID-funded pilot
project).
- Project backed small-scale privatization and the establishment of secure property rights, also
supported under IDA's first and second policy loans for Armenia.
- Complemented by other IDA rural interventions including: irrigation; rural credit; and small scale
infrastructure supported under the Armenian Social Investment Fund.




- Good example of donor coordination. Sweden financed the upgrading of the geodetic network
as well as technical assistance in title registration. USAID provided most of the early technical
assistance in registration. Switzerland financed aerial photography, mapping, and associated
technical assistance and training.
- Donor contributions were folded into the project’s planning, enabling IDA to focus on quality,
including a number of new activities designed to improve service efficiency, transparency, client
responsiveness, and the purchase of satellite imagery.
- IDA capitalized upon other donors’ funding: its survey activities focused on urban areas, while
the EC addressed rural areas.
- A Japan Population and Human Resources Development Grant helped prepare the project and
build initial capacity within State Cadastre Administration.




User fees collected by the State Committee on the Real Property Cadastre cover the cost of the
registration centers’ operations and maintenance. The system's financial viability is expected to
further improve as the volume of transactions continues to increase, while staff costs are
expected to decline now that the initial systematic registration effort is completed. Administrative
and technical capacity throughout the entire system is high. Successful efforts made in recent
years to develop a client-oriented, reliable and high-quality service bode well for continually
growing user acceptance.




Title Registration Project (1998-2004)
Project documents | Text-only factsheet