Starting from July 3, all services for the cadaster will be conducted online through the e-Albania governmental portal.

Prime Minister Edi Rama stated that digitization will put an end to interventions in this institution.

“On July 3, the Cadaster will no longer be accessible to the public or anyone else. From Monday, July 3, none of you can do anything at the Cadaster. From Monday, July 3, the Cadaster will be a digital machinery. From Monday, July 3, you can no longer choose ‘whom you serve’ in the Cadaster. You cannot choose anymore,” said Prime Minister Edi Rama during a press conference this Friday.

The head of the government requested that citizens not visit the offices as they will not receive service.

“Just as people do not go to the State Bank because no one waits for them, no one will wait for them at the State Cadaster either. The Cadaster is a window through e-Albania. That’s it!”

Considering them at fault, Rama urged the deputies, mayors, and ministers not to intervene.

“I kindly ask you not to intervene for anyone anymore, saying, ‘this person brought us so many votes, this person gave us victory, this person gave us triumph, without this person, we couldn’t win, and he is a factor.’ But there are two other factors that need help as well, because it does not work.”

According to Rama, this new approach will lead to the departure of employees.

“Some employees there, whom I am pleased to say, have started to seek to leave because they no longer have any opportunity to do anything else except their work in front of a computer. They cannot deviate in any direction according to their desire.”

For the Cadaster employees, Prime Minister Rama promised a significant increase in salaries.

Meanwhile, the Director of the National Agency of ICT Mirlinda Karçanaj presented the seven essential changes that have taken place for the reformation of the Cadaster.

“Firstly, we have significantly improved the technology and enhanced the 74 electronic services of the Cadaster on the e-Albania portal. The ‘first-in, first-out’ queue has been fully implemented. I say fully because it had been implemented before, but the queue for citizens applying on e-Albania was different from the queue for notaries in another system, which means that priority was given to notaries. Citizens didn’t apply themselves because they knew that if they went to the notary, their request would be processed faster. Now it’s the same queue.

Secondly, we have eliminated the abuse by Cadaster officials who endlessly delayed the processing of applications under the pretext of performing document verification. The document verification was completely outside the system; no one understood what was happening. One document was requested, then another, and another, and then they continued with the applications based on their own interests. Now everything is traceable in the system, and citizens are not asked for unnecessary documents or irrelevant things.

Thirdly, we have implemented the expedited service, the ‘fast-track’. Those who have an issue with the Cadaster pay for the service and receive it in record time. But what’s important here is that the money doesn’t go into the pockets of fixers or corrupt officials; it goes into the budget and is reused for modernization, for improving work processes, and for changing the infrastructure, which is entirely new and has truly accelerated work processes.

Fourthly, the system has finally been unified. There used to be the old system, the new system, multiple systems in the Cadaster. Now there is one unified, integrated, multifunctional system. Unauthorized interventions in the property registry are impossible.

Fifthly, and everyone can witness this, there are no longer paper documents in the Cadaster. This change, which is a simplification, but primarily a matter of security, demonstrates that the institution has adapted to digital work processes, increasing transparency and efficiency. Now we are at a stage where anyone applies through e-Albania and then receives a document with an electronic stamp and electronic signature.

Sixthly, and we are truly proud of this, property data transactions, the most important bank, are now stored on blockchain technology. This technology allows us to have a permanent register. For every change made to this register, the citizen is notified in real-time through e-Albania, and there is no longer any need for follow-up. Soon we will also apply blockchain technology to digital archives, which are expanding every day. Blockchain technology has provided the stamp of security and reliability to the issue of property in Albania.

Seventhly, the majority of the National Agency of ICT’s work processes have now been re-engineered, and the system has been adjusted accordingly. There will no longer be zone chiefs who handle applications separately; it will be a zone chief system. The system divides tasks based on the flow and type of application, determining the order in which applications are processed,” explained Karçanaj.