The Egyptian survey authority and the RIO declaration on the environment and development

Distr. LIMITED

ECA/NRD/CART.9/EGYPT.3 October 1996

Original: ENGLISH

Ninth United Nations Regional

Cartographic Conference for Africa Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

11-15 November 1996

THE EGYPTIAN SURVEY AUTHORITY AND THE RIO DECLARATION

ON THE ENVIRONMENT AND DEVELOPMENT

THE EGYPTIAN SURVEY AUT1IOM I N \M) THE RIO DECLARATION ON I III

ENVIRONMENT AND DEVEI OI'Ml \ I

Engineer Mohamed Mosaad H*i .ihim.

Chairman,

Egyptian Survey Authonl*

THE EGYPTIAN SURVEY AUTHORITY AND

THE RIO DECLARATION ON THE ENVIRONMENT AND DEVELOPMENT

Engineer M. Mosaad Ibrahim, Chairman, Egyptian Survey Authority '

Background; At the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development, the nations of the world committed themselves to "cooperate in a spirit of global partnership to conserve, protect and restore the health and integrity of the Earth's ecosystem." In so doing, knowingly or unknowingly, they committed themselves to the eventual development of more comprehensive and more accurate mapping systems then have been heretofore available in even the most technically advanced nations.

By agreeing to see to it that "At the national level, each individual shall have appropriate access to information concerning the environment that is held by public authorities, including hazardous materials and activities in their communities, and the opportunity to participate in the decision-making process..." the participants at the Conference virtually mandated the development of comprehensive geographic information systems, the likes of which are still but a gleam in the eyes of the most ardent proponents of this technology. *

While it is highly likely that the participants at the Rio Conference would be surprised by the foregoing statements, the leaders of the world surveying and mapping community were quick to grasp the implications of the Rio Declaration as evidenced by their approval of Resolution 6, "Role of Surveying, Mapping and Charting in the Implementation of Agenda 21" at the 13th United Nations Regional Cartographic Conference for Asia and the Pacific in May 1994.

To effectively "and conscientiously implement the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development, the leaders of the world will need immense amounts of current and accurate data describing the Earth's ecosystem. They will have to be able to access, manipulate and modify those data rapidly. They will have to be able to collate seemingly unrelated data sets for delivery to and use in ever more sophisticated analytical and predictive computer models, and finally, they will have to justify their decisions to an increasingly skeptical world population in a way that will allow them to quickly and unambiguously make their case for new developmental undertakings and the closing down of ecologically harmful projects.

The Role of National Mapping Agencies: If the massive amounts of data that will be required to manage the Earth's ecostructure are to be available when and where needed and in a form suitable for use in computer models of the environment as well as for the presentation of the output of these

The author wishes to acknowledge the assistance of Dr. Francis L. Hanigan in the preparation of this paper. Dr. Hanigan has been working with the Authority since February 1990, first as the leader of the technical assistance team provided by USAID and currently as one of two organizational development consultants provided by Die Gesellschaft fur Technische Zusammenarbeit.

Principle 7, Agenda Item 9, Adoption of Agreements on Environment and Development, The Rio Declaration on Environment and Development The United Nations Conference on Environment and Development, Rio de Janeiro, 3-14 June 1992.

3 Principle 10,-Agenda Item 9, Adoption of Agreements on Environment and Development, The Rid

4 Final, advanced version of Chapter 40.9, Agenda Hern 21, Information for Decision-Making, dated 15

May 1996 and adopted by the Plenary at The United Nations Conference on Environment and Development, Rio de Janeiro, 3-14 June 1992.

s Resolution 6 "Role of Surveying, Mapping and Charting in the Implementation of Agenda 21." 13th

United Nations Regional Cartographic Conference for Asia and the Pacific, 9-18 May 1994, Beijing, People's Republic of China.

models to a cynical press and a generally ill-informed public, these data will have to be in digital form and must be geographically indexed. That is to say, they will have to be stored in what today we call a geographic information system (GIS).

The more forwarding looking and technologically advanced national mapping agencies have long recognized this fact. Several began the transition from an analog to a digital production environment more than two decades ago. Today, it is probably safe to say that even the most conservative national mapping agencies recognize that the time has come for them to automate. For if they do not, they will not be ready to respond to the call of their national leaders for current, complete and accurate geographically index information when it comes. And, come it will, if not next month or next year, certainly within the next decade.

If the worldwide surveying and mapping community is going to be ready to respond to the challenge which the Rio Declaration represents, it must soon do a better job of convincing national leaders of the importance of geographic information products to sustainable development and environmental protection for the production and maintenance of these data are going to be expensive and will take considerable time. It is also going to have to get its collective house in order so that those national mapping agencies that are late to the digital mapping and GIS tables can quickly catch up with their more fortunate colleagues who have had the advantage of an early introduction to these rapidly maturing technologies. National mapping agencies that have already begun this transformation must be prepared to share their successes and, more importantly, their failures with agencies that are just now beginning this transition.

The balance of this paper discuss the sometimes successful, and frequently unsuccessful efforts, of the Egyptian Survey Authority to move from a fully analog production environment to one better suited to the demands of the 21st century. Although this transition began in January 1990 with the receipt of a large Grant from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), it is far from complete. This transition has been far more challenging than ever anticipated, and has frequently placed demands on a staff ill-prepared by previous training and education to handle them. In spite of this, progress has been made, and the modernization process continues with all deliberate speed.

The Egyptian Experience: As the Egyptian Survey Authority (ESA) approaches the 100th anniversary of its founding in 1898, the demand for accurate and current geographic information describing the local environment is growing exponentially. Government agencies throughout the country have discovered the power and potential of GIS technology. Most ministries are either contemplating the development of a GIS or have already begun work on such a system. All are in dire need of geographic data describing the Egyptian landmass—data that the Authority has long been chartered to produce.

In the late 1980s, thanks to Grants from USAID and the Finish and German Governments, ESA began an ambitious plan of technical modernization intended to revitalize its production elements. As this technical modernization progressed, it became painfully obvious that an even more ambitious modernization program—one aimed at every organizational activity within the Authority—would be needed, if the Authority was going to be able to satisfy the demand for the digital geographic information that will one day form the backbone of Egypt's Information Infrastructure.

Another factor propelling the Authority's drive for modernization was the increasing pressure being brought to bear on the Authority to complete the national agricultural cadaster. The Authority's cadastral maps and related "Dqfters" documenting land subdivision and ownership are the very basis for the modern land registration system mandated by the legislature in 1923. Unfortunately, to date (mid-

1996) less than 60 percent of the agricultural land has been incorporated into that system.

Early completion of the cadaster is required to improve Egypt's information infrastructure relative to the nation's most limited resource—agricultural land, to secure property rights and to ensure a less fraudulent, more orderly and more vigorous real estate market. Completion of the cadaster will also make possible more efficient land titling, more equitable real property taxation, more informed land use

planning and more effective and enforceable monitoring of citizen compliance with laws designed to

Strategic Planning: Once the Authority's senior management recognized and accepted the need for a more all encompassing modernization program, ESA embarked upon a planning process intended to produce a comprehensive but flexible plan for modernization. The Authority adopted the well-known

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SWOT (Strengths-Weaknesses-Obstacles-Threats) strategic planning method for this purpose. Work on the strategic plan began in November 1993, and after 19 months of incredibly intense effort, ihe Authority published its first Strategic Plan in June 1995. The following basic principles served as guideposts for the development of the plan.

Accurate and current maps as well as a complete and well maintained national cadaster are essential for sound national development

The potential number of customers for the Authority's products and services is large, growing rapidly and highly diversified.

Map production and service delivery should be decentralized and to the maximum extent practical placed as close to the potential user as possible.

AH activities undertaken by the Authority in implementing the Strategic Plan should have as their objectives:

«* Creating a more businesslike work environment.

■» Improving product quality and service delivery.

oo Improving productivity and minimizing operating costs.

«> Making more efficient use of available resources.

°° Reducing government subsidies.

°o Reducing the cycle lime of all activities.

The finished plan sets forth a,broad, long-term program for organizational and technical modernization.

It specifies the goals and strategies that the Authority will pursue as it moves into the 21st century. It continues the Authority's traditional role in providing surveying, mapping and land information services in support of national development, and positions the Authority to play a key role in the development of the nation's budding information infrastructure. It consist of 32 separate program elements grouped under seven broad headings. Each program element includes:

A Guiding Principle - establishing "why" the element is important to mission accomplishment.

A Goal - indicating "where" the Authority wants to be in the future.

Strategies - "what" the Authority will have to do to achieve the goal.

Each of the individual strategies contributes directly to the overall strategy—transformation of the Authority into an efficient and productive National Mapping Agency prepared to satisfy the country's growing demand for the digital geographic information that will someday be the backbone of Egypt's Information Infrastructure.

Brief summaries of each of the Plan's seven Sections follow:

Raising The Authority's Stature: Section One recognizes the Authority's need, as a specialized technical production agency, for greater organizational autonomy and management flexibility, particularly with regard to personnel management and financial administration. These changes are needed to enable the Authority to perform its production mission more effectively and efficiently.

This Section also identifies the need for a new Mission and Functions Statement and a new name, one more in keeping with the Authority's role as the manufacturer and distributor of digital land information for the Government of Egypt.

• Responding To Customer Demand: Section Two addresses the fact that to succeeded in today's competitive environment, the Authority must become a market-driven rather than a technology- driven organization. It recognizes that the Authority's current approach to product and service

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marketing, pricing and distribution must be completely rethought and reorganized more along the lines of a commercial mapping organization than those of a typical government agency.

Fostering Quality Management: Section Three acknowledges that people are the Authority's most important resource and addresses the need for the implementation of an enlightened Human Resources Development and Management Program. It also acknowledges that its a well trained, highly technical staff must be properly led if the Authority is to succeed and, therefore, calls for the implementation of a comprehensive management development program. Finally, this section addresses quality and production management—areas in which the Authority requires currently significant improvement

• Developing and Managing Technology: Section Four points out that the automation of the Authority's production and service delivery capabilities is a long-range undertaking the realization of which will extend far beyond the period of this Strategic Plan (10 years). It calls for the immediate creation of carefully crafted production programs for the completion of the urban and agricultural cadaster as well as for the publication of a national series of topographic maps. This Section acknowledges the Authority's responsibility for maintaining accurate horizontal, vertical and gravity control networks spanning the nation. Finally, it address the requirement for a significant strengthening of the Authority's printing plant as well as a need to reduce the substantial subsidies on which that plant now depends.

• Organizingfor Excellence: Section Five speaks to changes needed in the organizational structure of the Authority to accommodate the technological modernization program that has already begun. It suggests changes in the composition of the Board of Directors, the formation of an Executive Management Team, the creation of a commercially oriented marketing, map sales and distribution division capable of substantially increasing the Authority's annual revenues from the sale of maps and other digital geographic information as well as a top to bottom modernization of the Authority's support departments—finance, administration, maintenance and information systems.

Safeguarding The Investment: Section Six calls for the creation of innovative programs for halting the loss of skilled personnel to the wealthy nations bordering the Arabian Gulf. It address the need for protecting the Authority's exclusive right to profit from the sale of the products which it manufactures. Finally, it calls for the creation and implementation of effective programs for the continuous upgrading of the technical and administrative skills of its personnel and the maintenance of its facilities and expensive automated production equipment

Building Partnerships For The Public Good: Section Seven acknowledges that the Authority cannot and should not go it alone. It calls for the building of bridges between the Authority and such diverse groups as the international donor community and the Military Survey Department It points out the need for modernizing the way in which land records are now maintained and accepts the Authority's responsibility for helping to develop the nation's still immature commercial surveying and mapping sector.

The strategic planning team recommended that the Authority be renamed The National Authority for Surveying and Land Information and that its legal status be elevated from that of a General Authority to that of a National Authority. The team also recommended the Authority be totally reorganized in accordance with a Reorganization Plan developed during the strategic planning process. Finally it recommended that the following Vision Statement and Mission and Functions Statement be adopted as part of the reorganization process.

Vision Statement

Our dedicated and professional staff is committed to manufacturing high quality geographic information products and delivering professional surveying and mapping services to government and private sector end-users at a reasonable cost and with minimal government subsidy.

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Mission Statement

As a specialized technical Authority, the National Surveying and Land Information Authority produces, maintains and distributes current and accurate geographic data in support of national needs. These data describe the Egyptian landmass, its cultural features and the ownership of the land. They are delivered in the form of surveys,

digital databases, maps, and related products and services.

Geodetic Surveying & Base Mapping Functions

Establish and maintain the national horizontal, vertical and gravity networks, compute the national geodetic datum and disseminate data pertaining to these networks.

Produce, maintain and distribute a national atlas, and small, medium and large scale basemaps depicting the physical and cultural features of the Egyptian landmass.

Provide base geographic data in a digital format describing the physical and cultural features of the Egyptian landmass to all government ministries and agencies for use in their geographic information systems.

Land Information Functions

Produce and distribute cadastral maps and related land records describing the ownership of the agricultural and urban lands within Egypt

Maintain the national cadaster and its related maps and records in support of the Real Estate Department, Ministry of Justice and the Real Estate Tax Department, Ministry of Finance.

Plan, manage and carry out all aspects of land valuation and expropriation projects for the

government.

Other Functions

Organize and chair the National Committee for the Implementation of GIS technology within the

government.

Serve as .he surveying, mapping and GI* consultant to all government ministries and agencies.

Serve as the. primary surveying, mapping and GIS contractor to all .government ministries and agencies.

• Conduct periodic crop inventories for tnc government.

• Publish and distribute the annual Islamic almanac and calendar.

• Publish and distribute the National Atlas and any other geographic information product for which there is sufficient national demand.

Strategic Plan Implementation; In March 1996 the Authority's Board of Directors approved implementation of the Strategic Plan. Since then all of the legal documentation required to implement the strategies in Section One of the plan have been prepared, approved by the Minister of Public Works and Water Resources to whom ESA reports and forwarded to the legislative council for review and approval. At the current time (June 1996), it is anticipated that the Authority's new name and changed legal status will be approved by year's end^ if not before. Once that has been done, the Authority's Reorganization Plan will be submitted to the Central Authority for Administration (CAOA) for review and approval.

Organizational Development: As previously indicated ESA undertook the strategic planning process when it realized that the technical assistance efforts underwritten by USAID and the Finnish and German Governments were not as effective as it was hoped that they might have been and that the likelihood of institutionalizing many of the changes being introduced by the technical assistance teams

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was slight because the staff had not been properly prepared for the massive infusion of technology that the USAID and German Government programs involved. The strategic planning process pointed out, quite clearly, the need for an extended organizational development program, one that would reach deep into the organization and begin the process of opening minds and hearts to change through the development of a cadre of change agents—both official and unofficial.

With the support of the German Government the Authority has recently begun an organizational development program intended to develop the change agents that will be needed to carry out its Reorganization Plan and to successfully implement the many ambitious and occasionally revolutionary strategies called for in the Strategic Plan.

One of the innovations within our Reorganization Plan is the establishment of a Modernization Program Office (MPO). This office will be responsible for the coordination of all activities and projects intended to modernize the Authority. In anticipation of approval of our Reorganization Plan, we have already activated the MPO and staffed it with some of the best young talent in the Authority. As its first assignment, it is working closely with our organizational development (OD) consultants to grow the many change agents that we shall need to make our "Vision Statement" a reality.

The schematic at Figure 1 depicts the working of our organizational development process. Its essence is the development of change agents through the formation of small project teams. Each team is responsible for the implementation of one of the close to 200 strategic tasks listed in the Strategic Plan. We select project managers as much or more for their enthusiasm and potential for development as for their technical knowledge. Our project managers work closely with our OD consultants and the., staff of the MPO who are responsible for training the project managers in Action Planning, project implementation and follow through and assisting them when their lack of seniority or inexperience causes them to bog down.

The process is admittedly slow, but already shows potential. In three months we have launched four modernization projects and completed the initial planning for about six more. We have initially chosen relatively simple projects to give our project managers a taste of success right from the start. As they gain experience they will be assigned more difficult projects and the most promising members of their project teams will be assigned projects of their own. In this way we hope to seed the organization with apostles for change while developing our younger staff and advancing the Authority towards its goal of full modernization.

Technical Modernization: As already indicated, in late 1980's the Authority began an ambitious and comprehensive program of technical modernization. This program was undertaken with the support of USAID and the German Government. In both cases the focus of each project was the modernization of ESA's technical capabilities and production procedures. Neither project contained a formal organizational development activity, something which the Authority's senior management and its American and German consultants soon realized was an oversight that had to be corrected, if the efforts at technical modernization were to stick following the departure of the American and German technical assistance teams.

In retrospect the strategic planning process should probably have been undertaken before the technical modernization program began for while eager and willing to learn, the vast majority of the Authority*s staff was just not ready for the giant personal and organizational leap required to benefit fully from the technical assistance being provided. As a result, the sustainability of the many of the advances introduced and implemented by the technical assistance teams are at risk today. Our current organizational development program is somewhat of an attempt to lock the bam door before all of the horses have fled.

On the other hand, it was the almost three years of technical assistance preceding the strategic planning process that made that ambitious undertaking possible and as successful as it was. By November 1993, when the strategic planning process began, the ESA staff was comfortable enough with the members of the technical assistance (earn to share its concerns and ideas for the future with them, and sufficiently familiar with digital mapping and GIS technologies to understand their application to ESA's mission.

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Chairman ExecutiveManagementCommittee(EMC) Modernization ProgramOffice(MPO)

ESA'sFuture •Designsandplansprojects •Implementsprojects •Monitorsprojects I.Administrative Support ActionOfficers, ProjectManagers& ProjectTeams Change Agents PreparesActionPlans ImplementsActionPlans Office oftheChairman (OofC)

Setspriorities Reviewsproposals Authorizesprojects Administrative Support

ProgramPlanning, Management& ReviewOffice (PPM&R)O Office Management Board&EMC Services International Cooperation Public Relations

ESA'sPresent •Designsandplansprojects Implementsprojects Monitorsprojects LineSectorsand Activities

Existing Operating Elements TrainingProgramDevelopmentOffice(TPDO)-Assessestrainingneeds •Developstrainingprograms ■Monitorsprogrameffectiveness Figure1-ESA'sOrganizationalDevelopmentProcess

A somewhat unanticipated benefit of the strategic planning process was the great impact that it had on the ESA staff assigned to the technical modernization effort Once into the process, as a group the staff became far more receptive to the technical innovations being introduced by the technical assistance teams. In many cases individuals worked more diligently to master the new technology. This reaction probably occurred because the strategic planning process significantly raised the staffs level of the consciousness as to the technical innovations that were taking place elsewhere in Egypt and to the opportunities and threats that these innovations held for the Authority and themselves.

IMS-S&M: The scope of the technical modernization undertaken under the USAID umbrella has been

well documented elsewhere *,7, "and need not be repeated here in any detail. Sufficient to the purposes

The primary goals of the Survey and Mapping (S&M) Component of the Irrigation Management Systems Project (IMS-S&M) were the improvement of the technical capabilities within the Egyptian Survey Authority (ESA) and the production of accurate topographic and cadastral maps. To accomplish these goals, the project was divided into three distinct, but continuous and overlapping phases—each with its own objective.

Phase I - Modernization of the Authority's Production Facilities and Equipment. This phase treated largely the renovation and equipping of ESA's production plant in Giza, the setting up and outfitting of project cadastral offices in Beheira and Isma'ilyia Governorates and a main project office at the authority's headquarters building in Orman. Much, if not most, of the first two years of the project were devoted to this phase. Thereafter, equipment was purchased as bottlenecks appeared in the production processes or as new technology appeared on the market that could simplify the work process or speed up production. By any standard of measure this phase of the project was an unqualified success.

ESA's Geodetic Department is equipped with GPS receivers and is using them to develop a new national geodetic network. The Aerial Survey Department has used it new digital orthophoto system to complete a 1:10,000 scale digital orthophoto series covering "Green Egypt," and its new digital mapping system (16 photogrammetric and 12 cartographic work stations, all operating on a local area network) to produce digital planimetric and topographic maps at scales of 1:1,000, l;2,500 and 1:5,000. Cadastral survey crews are equipped with total stations, and all cadastral surveys are now being tied to control points established with GPS receivers and located in the new national geodetic network.

Cadastral maps are produced digitally as are the "Dafters" which can be digitally linked to the cadastral maps and document land ownership.

Phase II - Training of the Authority's Personnel. Although this phase began soon after the arrival of the technical assistance team, intensive training for large numbers of personnel could not and did not begin until after the acquisition of new equipment Once sufficient equipment was on hand for any one activity, on-the-job training (O3T). began in earnest and continued virtually unabated until the departure of the TA team members assigned to that activity. By any standard of measure, this phase of the project was enormously successful—even though there is still much work to be done in this area. With few exceptions, the young engineers and technicians assigned to the new equipment applied themselves diligently and successfully to the task of learning how to operate that new equipment Unfortunately, many of the Authority's first line managers and supervisors did not display such diligence. As a result many have still not mastered the technology and are clearly not ready to assume the supervisory responsibilities thrust upon them with the departure of the technical assistance team. It is his group that suffered most from the absence of an organizational development component in IMS-S&M.

6 Mona El-Kady and Francis L. Hanigan, Preparing the Egyptian Survey Authorityfor the 21st Century,

7 Mona El-Kady and Francis L, Hanigan, Modernizing Egypt's Land Information System, URISA

Annual Meeting, August 1993, Atlanta, GA, USA.

8 M. Mosaad Ibrahim and Frances L, Hanigan, Digital Mapping for National Development in Egypt,

Annual ASPRS/ACSM Meeting, February 1995, Charlotte, NC, USA.

9 Irrigation Management Systems, Surveying and Mapping Component. Final Report, November 1995,

Cairo, Egypt.

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Phase III - Production. Although much usefully production work was and is still being accomplished, this phase of the project was not as successful as it might have been. The reasons are many and complex as can be understood from the following representative list of obstacles to production that the project team encountered.

Lengthy negotiations with both US AID and the Egyptian Air Force for the acquisition of aerial photograph.

• Extended and outdated security regulations which delayed the release of completed aerial photography to ESA, slowed the sheet completion process by insisting on a comprehensive security review of final negatives before printing, and, prohibited the export of GPS data to the United States Defense Mapping Agency for more accurate processing, after more than nine months of study and discussion with ihe Military Survey Department.

The general unavailability of vehicles and equipment for use on the project other than that which was supplied by USAID, and the need to repair or recondition that which ESA was able to provide.

The unavailability of experienced technical staff to work on almost every phase of the project.

Few, if any, of the project activities could ever be allotted sufficient staff to accomplish all of the production that ESA had requested.

A severe shortage of middle managers and first line supervisors with sufficient educational background, technical experience and the time or inclination to simultaneously master the new technology and direct the production effort.

An unnecessarily extended and frequently inconclusive process for reviewing and approving product specifications.

A counter-productive tendency of the quality assurance staff to seek perfection in product specifications while accepting far less than was specified during the actual quality control process.

Measured by the numerical outputs given in the original TA Contract or any of its amended versions, the topographic mapping phase of the project was only marginally successful. However, given the lack of experienced supervisors and managers, the difficulty of obtaining sufficient personnel to man, on multiple shifts, all of the equipment purchased and the relatively low educational level of much of the Authority's production staff, this phase of the project was remarkably successful.

On the other hand, the crop and soil mapping and the land ownership records production activities were very successful. Both of these activities have continued to meet or exceeded their production schedules even after the departure of their TA counterparts. The project cadastral offices met the majority of their monthly production objectives during the last two years of the project, and the cadastral sector has shown itself capable of implementing the methods and techniques introduced by the project's cadastral surveying and mapping technical assistance staff by implementing these techniques in Assiut and Sohag Govemorates, with minimal assistance from the technical assistance team. In the coming fiscal year, the IMS-S&M cadastral procedures be introduced into Kafr-ash Shaykh without any technical assistance whatsoever.

German Government Support: The German Government has been providing ESA with technical assistance through Die Gesellschaft fur Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ) since February 1989. While the current program is only funded through December 1997, negotiations have already begun for its extension until August 1998.

The Egyptian-German Cadastral Project (EGCP), as it is known within ESA, has as its focus the establishment of a multipurpose cadastral system in a pilot area of 100 square kilometers in Aswan Govemorate. Its main priorities have been the decentralization of cadastral responsibilities from the national to the govemorate level, the development of procedures for the continuous updating of cadastral maps and records and the introduction of innovative applications of digital surveying technology to the Cadastral Sector. For example, field tests in May 1996 of a GPS-based cadastral surveying system indicate that within several years, if not sooner, ESA should be able to triple or even quadruple its annual cadastral surveying output using this application of GPS technology.

In keeping with the philosophy of the multipurpose cadaster, the EGCP has also been working with ESA to convince potential users digital cadastral data of the value of sharing data and for the purpose of helping ESA obtain their support for the implementation of a nationwide multipurpose cadaster. The project has also paid significant attention to developing the organizational and managerial skills of the cadastral staff in Aswan Governorate, to improving existing procedures for communicating with landowners and to strengthening ESA's current procedures for work planning and reporting.

In the coming year, the project team will be looking at ways to get the private sector more deeply involved in the cadastral surveying and mapping process and preparing a report on innovative ways to accelerate cadastral surveying and mapping with the urban areas of Egypt. During the period of the proposed extension, the project will be providing technical assistance in organizational development for the purpose of helping ESA implement its Strategic Plan.

Like the IMS-S&M project, the EGCP has suffered from ESA's shortage of experienced and well educated survey engineers and technicians. It has therefore had to mount an extensive training program for the ESA staff assigned to the EGCP project team. The EGCP has also suffered from its relative isolation from ESA headquarters. (The Kom Ombo District of Aswan District where the project team is located is more than 700 kilometers from Cairo.) This relative isolation has complicated the staffing of the project team and worked against its integration into the ESA mainstream. Hindsight suggests that projects of this type should be located close to corporate headquarters so that their technical achievements can be more widely observed and more quickly disseminated throughout the organization.

Finnish Government Support: The Finnish Government has been providing ESA with technical assistance for the production of 1:50,000 and 1:250,000 scale mapping of the Eastern Desert since 1987. During this 10 year period, hundreds of 1:50,000 scale maps have been produced and published, and scores of photogrammetric compilers and cartographic draftsmen have been trained. This project also introduced the use of GPS survey techniques for photogrammetric control to ESA's Geodetic Department

The Importance of Technical Assistance: Thanks to the boost provided by USAID and German Government, the Egyptian Survey Authority is moving as quickly as it dare to get ready for tomorrow's digital world. ESA shall soon reorganize from top to bottom so as to be able to respond to an environment in which its customers expect maps to be delivered on a disk as well as in a map tube.

Even now, ESA is striving to change the mind set of its personnel from one focused on the technical and aesthetic characteristics of its maps to one focused on the needs of its customers. With the help of its organizational development consultants, ESA is seeking to change its very culture from that of an old line, bureaucracy to that of a streamlined, cost effective production and service delivery agency.

ESA recognizes that it must increase its annual revenues substantially and reduce its government subsidy significantly. To this end its proposed organizational structure calls for the formation of a Marketing Department dedicated to identifying customer needs and developing new products to meet and anticipate those needs. The Reorganization Plan also calls for a modernized map sales and distribution activity to ensure that ESA's products are available when and where needed. Responsibility for new cadastral mapping activities is being transferred from the national level to the Authority's offices in each governorate. This change will provide better cadastral service to both the general public and other government agencies closer to home.

ESA is seeking to take the leading role in the development of GIS technology within the government sector and has called for the formation of a National GIS Council to be chaired by ESA. The Authority is also pushing for the development of a single set of spatial data exchange standards for use by all government agencies, and is prepared to take the lead in that effort

The long and intense strategic planning process through which ESA has passed has resulted in a solid blueprint for modernization. That blueprint is far more complex than anyone in ESA had ever envisioned at the outset of the process. ESA's work with its organizational development consultants is showing the Authority just how difficult it will be to make the many changes called for in the Strategic Plan.

Approval of ESA's request for "national" status will provide it with a new identity—The National Authority for Surveying and Land Information, and with the financial and administrative tools needed to bring about the many changes called for in the Strategic Plan. The transformation of ESA into a

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modern national mapping agency will take time, patience and hard work. Forty or more years of neglect and atrophy are not easily set aside, but ESA's management team is committed to change for it recognizes that if ES A does not modernize quickly, its very existence may be at stake.

To be successful ES A will need help in the form of technical assistance from the developed nations of the world. The Strategic Plan identifies 26 areas where the Authority could benefit from outside technical assistance and acknowledges that rapid modernization is not likely without outside help. The acquisition of additional technical assistance is so essential to ESA's near term development that the Reorganization Plan provides for the setting up of a department devoted exclusively to the seeking of technical assistance and reporting directly to the chairman, (see Figure 1.)

The Strategic Plan, itself, suggests that complete modernization of the Authority will take 20 to 25 years—or the lime needed to raise, educate and train a new generation of Egyptian surveyors and cartographers. ESA's senior management can see that the road to modernization will be long and fraught with obstacles. It can also see that if the Egyptian Survey Authority is to provide the citizens and leaders of the Egyptian nation with the data they will need to live up to the expectations of the Rio Declaration, ESA must embark upon this road immediately and traverse it to its end—no matter how long and how costly that journey may be.

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