GEORGE TOWN: The Natural Resources and Environment Ministry has decided to hand over the e-Tanah electronic land administration system to the Penang Land and Mines Office, Minister Datuk Seri Douglas Uggah Embas said on Thursday, Oct 13.

He said the handover will be carried out in stages and the process is expected to take six months starting from early next year.

"When the Barisan Nasional (BN) government implemented the (e-Tanah) project, we wanted to help the state land administration fully utilise ICT to improve its services to the public," he told reporters after a meeting with officers from the State Land and Mines Office, here.

He said the e-Tanah project was implemented in Penang in October 2005 and began operating in all the land offices and land and mines offices throughout the state two years later.

"Most divisions in the land and mines office are using the system and only several others need to be upgraded with the same," he added.

He said that since the implementation of the system, transactions recorded between January and September 2011 doubled to 250,000 compared to the previous year, reflecting the public's trust in the services offered by the system as a study revealed.

"The e-Tanah system has created a more conducive and customer-friendly environment, cut waiting time, improved service quality as well as provided greater confidence in the transactions," he said.

Earlier, Uggah stated that the cabinet approved the Environmental Performance Index (EPI), which will be developed with the cooperation of Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) under the 10th Malaysia Plan (2011-2015).

He said he hoped that Malaysia's EPI, which is a benchmark for environmental management in each state, could be carried out in 2012. – Bernama

SOURCE: The Edge Property