ALMOST 20 families squatting on State lands have been given land tenancy agreements.
The 19 agreements were distributed by Minister of Housing and Urban Development Pennelope Beckles and Minister in the Ministry Adrian Leonce at a distribution ceremony in Wallerfield last week.
The recipients got their agreements under the Land Settlement Agency’s Tenancy Programme, the first of its kind since the programme was launched in June 2020.
In a press release from the Housing Ministry on Tuesday, the ministry stated that the Tenancy Programme allowed the ministry through the LSA, to offer Tenancy Agreements, in the first instance, to eligible occupants of State lands not covered by the State Land (Regularisation of Tenure) Act No. 25 of 1998.
Upon fulfilling the terms and conditions of their Agreements, the LSA will then grant the tenants a 30-year statutory lease. Once the lands are fully paid off, the LSA will then issue a 199-year Deed of Lease. Under the Tenancy Programme, the State will also be able to recover from the tenants, the costs associated with the infrastructural development of the areas.
Beckles and Leonce also turned the sod at two sites to mark the start of infrastructural development works within the communities of Bois Bande Site C in Sangre Grande, and Sahadeen Trace, Vega de Oropouche.
These two areas are among those earmarked for squatter regularisation.
The ministry stated, “When completed Sahadeen Trace is expected to yield approximately 127 fully developed residential lots, while Bois Bande Site C is expected to yield 151. The development works which include road works, drainage and water main installations will be financed through an Inter-American Development Bank loan arrangement.”
