Castro’s mobile app to make land transactions faster

Land transactions in the CNMI would soon become faster once a land mobile application is set up here in the Commonwealth. Guam senator-elect William Mendiola Castro developed the Guam Land Mobile App, which allows you to digitally view the data of a property.

Castro, who made the app while Guam’s Office of Technology’s chief information officer, made a brief presentation last Tuesday at the Governor’s Office’s conference room. Discussions are ongoing on how the CNMI could adopt the app.

Rep. Vinson E. Sablan (Ind-Saipan) said the CNMI government would function more efficiently once the app becomes operational here. “It gives us the opportunity to have the information quickly and the opportunity for our government to function more efficiently and effectively.”

“It is really amazing how this app works. Aside from helping in e-commerce, it also promotes public safety.”

He added that the CNMI should also keep up with the changing world. “The world is changing. A lot of people are getting rid of paper and are using more handheld devices.”

“Our islands too are changing, so is the lands and the population. This type of technology would help us navigate these changes. I would be happy to have a technology like this in the CNMI, making it possible for our people to access information right away.”

Press secretary and representative-elect Ivan A. Blanco echoed Sablan, adding that the app is very user friendly. “You just download it on your phone and you could get the information right away if you want to know who owns a particular property.”

The app is particularly important to developers and others involved in land dealings. “The app can also give you the land value range, the size, lot number, environmental impacts—like if it’s in a flood zone—topography if it is sloppy, and check if it is in a protected area for endangered species,” said Blanco.

Blanco met with Castro two years ago when the latter was still the Bureau of Statistics and Plans director. Blanco said the app made him immediately think about what it could do for the CNMI. “So I asked him if he could come over and help us do it and he said yes.”

“Later on, we started talking about the memorandum of understanding about getting some programs between the CNMI and Guam, and improving our relationship. One of the things that came up is this mobile app.”

Setting up the app would take more than a year with the cost of $10,000 to $30,000. “We’re going to do this in the CNMI. It is just a matter of digitizing our land maps first. Then we can upload it to this program, as soon as we gathered all information from the [departments of Lands and Natural Resources and Public Lands.”

DLNR Secretary Richard B. Seman also welcomed the idea. “Allowing our people to digitally view land and environmental data is in line with [Gov. Ralph DLG] Torres’ progressive agenda to improve government services for our citizens.”