‘Land mobile app small investment, huge gains’

Guam Sen. William M. Castro said the land mobile app that he presented last month to several CNMI officials is a small investment with huge gains to be reaped by the Commonwealth government. He developed the app when he was the acting chief technical officer of Guam’s Bureau of Statistics and Plans.

“It is really a small investment when you’re talking about the thousands of people who would gain access to the information provided on the app. The return on investment would be huge since that small investment has the opportunity to generate money,” added the former senior staff of Guam Gov. Eddie B. Calvo.

The former BSP director said the app costs $10,000 to $30,000 to make but could generate a profit of more than $100,000. “Let’s say you want to buy a copy of the certificate of land title, you could order that from this land app once it is finally matured.”

“That would cost you $15.99. Imagine if 10,000 people ordered that kind of information, you’re talking about over $150,000 in revenue. You just earned back your money in less than four years,” he added.

He said that the app is almost like Google Maps but the latter would not tell you who owns the lot and how much it is appraised for. “It is a pretty cheap and very simple app, unlike others. Hopefully, in less than two years it would also be available here in the CNMI.”

Castro said that someone from the CNMI should push for this project really hard in order for it to materialize. “You need to have a champion. An important ingredient for this to succeed is to have a champion.”

He added that the CNMI has champions with Gov. Ralph DLG Torres, Lands and Natural Resources Secretary Richard B. Seman, and Reps. Ivan A. Blanco (R-Saipan), Edwin K. Propst (Ind-Saipan), and Vinson F. Sablan (Ind-Saipan).

“The governor likes the idea and Secretary Seman is another person that wants the project to push through. Secretary Seman is asserting himself locally and you need someone in the government to buy in, not only the money, but buy it in heart and mind to make it work.”

He said it was Seman and Propst who invited him to share the technology while he also showed how the app works to Blanco when the former press secretary visited him in Guam a few months ago.