By Sam Pratt
The Freetown City Council’s citywide property geo-mapping has started after a successful pilot in three wards earlier this year. The geo-mapping initiative, which is funded by DFID, started as a pledge during Mayor Aki-Sawyerr’s Fo Wi Komyuniti, Fo Wi Progress, Fo Wi Fritong campaign. It was launched by the Mayor in the presence of Councillors and staff of FCC, and our partners DFID, IGC, ICTD and WARC.
The property geo-mapping exercise will require FCC’s enumerators to go into the compounds (but not buildings) of all properties to collect data on the physical attributes of the property, the access to public services, and the owner of the property. GPS coordinates and photographs will also be taken.
The geo-mapping exercise serves three purposes for FCC:
1. It will help us develop a comprehensive database of all properties in Freetown so everyone is liable to pay taxes
2. It will help us calculate property tax more fairly
3. It will help us distribute demand notices more efficiently
Capturing information for all properties in the city is crucial to FCC’s #Transform Freetown Revenue Mobilization efforts and will improve our ability to deliver services to residents. (Less than 30% of all properties in the city were previously captured in the FCC property tax database).
The Council is kindly asking residents to allow enumerators into compounds to collect the necessary data and to pay their taxes.
