Analyzing the Effects of Institutional Merger: Case of Cadastral Information Registration and Landholding Right Providing Institutions in Ethiopia

Strong national institutional arrangements in the geospatial information management are essential for successful implementation of sustainable land administration system. However, it is not only the existence of institutions but also their effectiveness that leads to the intended goals and reaching of objectives. There are international calls to merge highly related land administration institutions, yet Ethiopia executes two related land administration tasks (landholding right provision and cadastral registration) by two different institutions, the Urban Land Development and Management Bureau, and the Urban Land Adjudication and Information Registration Agency. Thus, the objective of this article is to analyze the effect of merging cadastral information registration and urban landholding right providing institutions lead to effective and strong national land institution. To achieve this, we had a qualitative approach analysis based on desk review and case study research methods. We conducted semi-structured interviews with the directors of the two institutions, and a group discussion with professional experts from both institutions. The findings of this study show that institutional merger between the two institutions believed to unravel the challenges of failing to achieve institutional goals. Although these institutions design strategic plans every year, the level of achievement or operational performance is low. The major cause for this problem is the poor coordination between the institutions. In view of this issue, we recommend merging the two institutions in one since it: reduces the effects of data duplication; provides one-window services; reduces operational costs; fills communication gaps among the staff; reduces time of operation; improves customer service; increases efficiency within processes; and provides a more efficient operation of land markets.