Kamna Kumar 
The Fiji Institute of Surveyors is pushing for digital upgrades to improve work processes and solve industry challenges.
President Jitendra Singh says while surveyors are using advanced tools such as GPS, drones and 3D scanning, the industry still relies on manual paperwork, causing delays in approvals and land management.
Singh says switching to a digital system will reduce mistakes, improve accuracy and make surveying more efficient.
“Most time that’s taken is with the communication between the stakeholders and surveyors. So if we can cut the time down to even half by using emails and doing things digitally, it would just make things very easy. There will be more accountability, and so it’ll make things very, very fast.”
Singh says the shift from old methods to new technologies is important in surveying.
“I worked in different rigs, pipelines. I’ve seen a lot of things, from using a chain to now with drones and GPS and everything.”
The Surveyor General Asakaia Tabua says there are plans to digitize surveying system to streamline the process and speed up land title approvals.
“As you know, it takes almost two years for a survey plan to be approved before anyone can get a registered list or title. So that is something that we have put on the table, and our permanent secretary is really behind it, to move our manual system to digitalization.”
Tabua says the shift to an online system will take about three years and will make the approval process faster by cutting the approval time from almost two years to a shorter period.
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