Abu Dhabi to Utilize Blockchain for Effective Traceability of Land Records

The capital of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Abu Dhabi, is planning to launch a blockchain-based solution for its land registry. 

According to a recent press release, the country’s Department of Urban Planning and Municipalities (DPM), a government agency in charge of developmental projects, has partnered with Indian IT firm Tech Mahindra Ltd, to improve the security and transparency of the city’s land document records using blockchain technology. 

The blockchain-based land registry solution dubbed SmartHub will provide an efficient day-to-day running of real estate businesses in Abu Dhabi. 

As per the press release, the solution will ensure that data related to landed properties are securely recorded on a blockchain, which will foster easy traceability via blockchain nodes that will be distributed to different entities. It will also be deployed to reduce the processing time for real estate transactions in the region. 

Commenting on the development, Ahmad Abdolsamad AlHammadi, Department of Urban Planning and Municipalities CIO in charge of Abu Dhabi Municipality, said: 

“We believe in proactively embracing new-age technologies and delivering better citizen experiences to the residents of Abu Dhabi. The implementation of next-gen technologies like Blockchain and SmartHub digital services will help to serve a wider segment of citizens, enhancing customer happiness, quality of life, and accessibility of our services.”

Notably, the SmartHub application is said to have other use cases, including bringing buyers and sellers of real estate properties together, to promote the sale and acquisition of these properties in a way that fosters the easy verification of tenancy contracts, among others.

“We are delighted to be a strategic digital and technology partner to the Department of Urban Planning & Municipalities (DPM) in the journey towards enhanced government to citizen experience. The Blockchain program for Land Registry demonstrates the progressive nature of the Abu Dhabi government,” Ram Ramachandran, General Manager and Head of Tech Miranda, was quoted as saying. 

In a similar development, last year, Coinfomania reported that U.S. based retailing giant, Overstock partnered with the Zambian Ministry of land and natural resources to facilitate blockchain and systematic land governance development.