(Greece) Delayed land register is never-ending epic

[unhappycamper]

http://www.ekathimerini.com/202622/article/ekathimerini/business/delayed-land-register-is-never-ending-epic



Delayed land register is never-ending epic
19.10.2015 : 10:57
PAUL TAYLOR & LEFTERIS PAPADIMAS

When Greece applied for its first international bailout in 2010, only two countries in Europe lacked a computerized register of land ownership and usage. Albania was the other.

Experts from European Union and International Monetary Fund identified the lack of legal certainty about property rights and land usage as a major barrier to investment, proper taxation and economic development.

Five years on, Greece is on its third EU/IMF bailout. Each of those programs has made a priority of completing a land register, known as a cadastre. Yet it is still less than half done despite spending hundreds of millions of euros with technical assistance from EU partners.

Meanwhile Albania, a far poorer Balkan neighbor that is still a distant candidate for EU membership, has leapfrogged Greece and implemented a digitized land registry and zoning map, even if some holes remain.