Cabinet approves pricing formula for the Land for the Landless Programme

Cabinet has agreed on a pricing formula for persons accessing land through Government’s Land for the Landless Programme.

Five hundred persons were recipients of the Programme through a random lottery draw recently.  

The Minister of Housing, Land and Marine Affairs, Dr. Roodal Moonilal, said the land will be leased for a period not exceeding 199 years and the rates will be calculated as a percentage difference between the market price and infrastructure cost.

“So the cost of the land for successful beneficiaries of the Land for the Landless Programme will be 20% of the market value, plus $12 infrastructure cost per square foot, assuming that it will be 5,000 square feet as a lot of land.”

With regards to squatter regularisation, Minister Moonilal said the cost will be 20% of the market value plus $5 infrastructure cost per square foot.

Using the formula under the Land for the Landless Programme, Minister Moonilal estimated that a lot of land with a market value of $150,000 will cost $78,000 while under the Squatter Regularisation Programme, the same lot of land will cost $50,000.

Minister Moonilal described the formula as “extremely modest” and one that seeks to provide for needy citizens in the country.

“As we have said repeatedly, land is not free. We need to recover part of the cost incurred by the State for the development of residential land and we believe that this formula can in fact recoup monies used by the State for infrastructure development.”

C-News