Opening Remarks by Associate Professor Ho Peng Kee,
Senior Minister of State for Law and Home Affairs
at the public launch of LandQuery and StreetMap@Singapore
on 22 November 2006
Good morning colleagues from public agencies, partners of INLIS, media friends, ladies and gentlemen.
Introduction
1 How many of you sometimes wonder whether a particular piece of land is State-owned or privately owned? This question could arise when we have some comments or feedback on the condition of a particular piece of land. I have been told that, on average, SLA receives about 85 such calls per month on the ownership of land.
2 Such enquiries on the ownership of land, whether publicly or privately owned could be raised to resolve municipal issues such as mosquitoes-breeding, overgrown or fallen trees, illegal parking, noise pollution, rubbish dumping, etc. Other enquires may be related to applying for permit to hold an event, or to start a business on that piece of land. There may also be an interest in buying a remnant State land adjoining to the caller's property. Other public agencies, such as ministries and statutory boards, also receive such enquiries.
3 Currently, there is no single online source for land ownership information. If you need such information, your only recourse is to approach the Singapore Land Authority.
LandQuery and StreetMap@Singapore
4 Today, we are plugging this gap. This morning, I am happy to join launch two free public web services. The first is a public search system to find out the status of land ownership, i.e. whether it is State-owned or privately owned. Called LandQuery, the service lets the user obtain information on land ownership. If the land is State-owned, information on the name of the public agency responsible for the land, or its managing agent and the contact numbers will be provided. If the land is privately owned, the user can obtain more detailed public information at a small fee. With the information from LandQuery, the general public can direct enquiries and feedback to the responsible public agencies either online or by phone. This is a significant improvement in terms of responsiveness, convenience and accountability.
5 In this day and age of connectivity and digital economy, buzzwords such as responsible citizenry, citizenry reporting and community participation are becoming realities in shaping public governance. Using LandQuery, public agencies will be armed with an excellent tool to ascertain land ownership and achieve closer inter-agency coordination, and be more responsive to public feedback or request. With the information from LandQuery, the public can contact the responsible public agency or its managing agent directly and conveniently.
6 The second free web service which I am happy to announce is the StreetMap@Singapore. This is a basic online street maps for free use by the general public for personal and non-commercial purpose. In a sense, the 2 new services are inter-connected in that LandQuery users can use these street maps as user-friendly interface to help users to locate the land they are interested in.
INLIS Progression
7 These two free web services, LandQuery and StreetMap@Singapore are hosted by INLIS, which stands for Integrated Land Information Service. This is an integrated , one-stop shop front for land-related information.
8 INLIS was launched in 1998 by DPM, Professor S. Jayakumar, with 6 services. In 2001, we enhanced INLIS with 13 additional services, making a total of 19 services available that year. Since then, SLA has continued to make more land data widely and easily accessible to the public. By today, there will be 28 services, signifying the good progress made by SLA within the last 5 years in its move toward becoming a leading land and property information provider. Five years on, on SLA 's 5th anniversary this year, the number of electronic transactions conducted via INLIS has increased significantly in tandem with the growth of the Internet. The number of INLIS transactions hit a record last year to more than 132,000. This is a huge increase from the modest 3,900 transactions when it first began.
9 INLIS is really a gateway to land information services across our public agencies. Our intention is that it becomes a one-stop portal for industry, professionals, businesses and the general public to obtain land-related information, thus making it easier for Singaporeans to find and use quality land information about Singapore.
10 SLA is currently working hard towards integrating more services into INLIS by working in close partnership with other public agencies. Some transition time will be needed to bring onboard more types of information, with common data standards and quality. I agree with an evolutionary approach for the INLIS portal to grow progressively in tandem with demand and technological advancement. Now that INLIS has established an excellent footing and acceptance by members of the public, I look forward to more enhancements in the future. Let me wish SLA all the best in their effort.
11 Thank you.
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