DBAS working hard to assist the
Territorial Registrar’s Office with records
The Development Bank of American Samoa is doing what it can to help the Territorial Registrar’s Office (TRO) with automating its records.
To do that, a link from the Geographic Information System (GIS) database at DBAS with property records at the Territorial Registrar’s Office needs to be established.
Earlier this year in February, DBAS received $170,000 from the Department of Interior for the implementation of a GIS for American Samoa.
At the time, DBAS president Utu Abe Malae explained that the grant fund helps pay for a 24-month GIS project that will allow the bank to check the surveys of existing real estate used as collateral for loans, as well as for new loan applications.
“There were just too many errors in the land surveys resulting in some absurd situations, not to mention the waste of money customers spent on such spurious land surveys,” Utu said, adding that an absurd situation is a survey that locates a home in a streambed, the road, or in the ocean.
“This will continue to be a great service to our community,” he added. “Imagine having a high level of confidence in all the surveys that are registered at TRO!”
Utu said earlier this year that the GIS project will develop into a much larger project in a year’s time, “as our people come to realize the absolute waste of money, time, and heartache of unnecessary litigation or worse, that resulted from spurious surveys.”
With that said, DBAS is on the ball, contributing computers and software applications, not to mention extensive staff hours to create a database for TRO and train the staff in maintaining and improving the database.
Ultimately, the goal is to complete the records with accurate information and precision with regards to land parcel boundaries as noted in the GIS database at DBAS.
The new computerized database will serve as a very reliable source of information and will help avoid potentially costly and unnecessary court cases.
DBAS staff assisted TRO management in converting the first of its nine database libraries, “Native Land Titles” into a Microsoft Access database, in addition to training its staff in modifying records.
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