Land Reclamation

Overview and workflow

When to use this module: when you own (or manage) raw land and spend money to develop it — drilling wells, building roads, laying irrigation and power networks — and you want to know exactly what each piece of land cost you before selling or using it. Spending here is not an immediate expense on the income statement; it is an investment capitalized to an asset until the project is finished.

1. Register the plot in Land Plots: code, name, area in feddan, ownership and location.
2. Open a reclamation project on the plot from Reclamation Projects and set its estimated budget.
3. Record every expense as it happens in Project Costs — each cost posts an automatic journal entry instantly.
4. Monitor the "Costs" and "Budget remaining" columns in the project list to compare actual vs. planned.
5. Close the project when finished (lock button); it then stops accepting new costs.

Reclamation projects

Route: Land › Reclamation Projects — /land/projects

Purpose: the project is the cost container: it is opened on a specific plot with an estimated budget, and every recorded cost accumulates on it until it is closed. It automatically receives a serial document number in the form LPRJ-00001 and the fiscal year matching its start date.

"New project" fields

Standard action buttons: Save (returns to the list), Save & New (clears description, budget and notes for the next project), Back.

Project list columns

Closing a project

1. Open the project list and locate the row (the lock icon appears only for Open projects).
2. Click the lock icon in the actions column.
3. The status changes to "Closed" and the end date is set to today automatically.

Common errors and situations

FAQ

Q: Can I open more than one project on the same plot?
A: Yes; for example one project per reclamation phase. Each project has its own number, budget and costs.

Q: I closed a project by mistake — how do I reopen it?
A: There is no reopen action on the screen. Contact your system administrator; in practice the usual remedy is to open a new project for the remaining work.

Q: Can I change the budget after creating a project?
A: The current screen offers no project editing after saving, so review the budget carefully before saving.

Project costs

Route: Land › Project Costs — /land/costs

Purpose: record every expense against its project as it happens. The document receives an automatic number in the form LCST-00001, and its journal entry is posted the moment you save — there is no separate posting step — adding the amount directly to the project's total costs.

"New project cost" fields

Cost types

Accounting effect (capitalization)

Every saved cost generates a balanced two-line automatic entry:

Common error messages

FAQ

Q: Why doesn't the expense appear on the income statement?
A: By design — the expense is capitalized to the "projects in progress" asset on the balance sheet, and only becomes a cost on the income statement when the land is later sold or put to use.

Q: Can I pay a supplier on credit instead of a cash box?
A: The current screen supports cash payment from a cash box only. For credit purchases use the Purchasing module, then handle the capitalization with a manual journal entry.

Q: I recorded a wrong amount — what now?
A: Costs cannot be edited or deleted. Record a reversing adjustment entry in the Accounting module and notify your system administrator to correct the project's cost total.

Q: Is the cost deducted from the budget automatically?
A: Yes; the "Costs" and "Budget remaining" columns in the project list update as soon as each cost is saved.

Land plots

Route: Land › Land Plots — /land/plots

Purpose: the master registry of land plots — their fixed data: code, Arabic and English names, area in feddan, ownership, GPS coordinates and location. A plot is the prerequisite for opening a reclamation project, so register it before any project. Plots resulting from subdividing a large piece of land for sale are registered here too.

Add / edit plot fields

The edit screen also shows a record notes panel for dated notes on the plot (visits, inspections, documents).

List actions

Common errors and situations

FAQ

Q: Which feddan is used in the area field?
A: The Egyptian feddan (≈ 4,200 m²). What matters is consistency: use the same unit on all plots so cost-per-feddan comparisons are valid.

Q: I subdivided a large piece of land into small sale plots — where do I register them?
A: Add each resulting plot as its own record here with its area, coordinates and deed number in the "Ownership" field, and keep the parent plot inactive.

Q: Why doesn't my plot appear when creating a project?
A: Because it is inactive. Open it for editing and tick the "Active" checkbox.

Complete worked example: from raw land to selling plots

A company bought a raw 50-feddan piece of land named "North Farm" and wants to reclaim it and then sell it as small plots.

Step 1 — register the plot and open the project

1. In Land Plots: new plot "North Farm", area 50 feddan, with ownership and coordinates.
2. In Reclamation Projects: new project on the plot, start date 2026-01-05, description "North Farm reclamation", budget 500,000. It receives number LPRJ-00001.

Step 2 — record costs over the months

The project list now shows: budget 500,000 — costs 480,000 — budget remaining 20,000.

The entry for cost LCST-00004, for example (posted automatically on save):

After the eight costs, the "projects in progress" balance for this project is 480,000 (an asset on the balance sheet).

Step 3 — close the project and allocate cost to sale plots

Reclamation is complete; click the lock button on LPRJ-00001 (status → Closed). The land was then subdivided into 10 sale plots registered as new records in Land Plots. Allocation by area:

Cost per feddan = 480,000 ÷ 50 = 9,600

Step 4 — sell two plots and compute the profit