With just weeks remaining for the new land bank system under the Land Use Decree to be operational, the Lands Ministry confirmed that more people are interested in registering their piece of land under the scheme.
Permanent Secretary for Lands, Lt Colonel Neumi Leweni said staff of the Land Use Unit embarked on a visit to the North last week to inspect land that could be deposited into the land bank.
He said during the Northern division visit, they identified at least 600 acres of idle land on Vunilagi Estate, which was a thriving copra estate since the 1920's.
Lt Colonel Leweni said they will soon recommend to the Prime Minister to deposit the idle land into the land bank.
Lt Colonel Leweni revealed that land under two buyback schemes in the Savusavu and Matakunea areas may also be deposited in the land bank.
He said this was in relation to an earlier scheme where landowners were supposed to pay money back to the government for the land.
However this has not been successful so the government will assist the landowners by leasing the land out and assisting the landowners to use the lease money to repay the government.
Meanwhile he also said investors have already started looking at the land lots that are on offer.
According to the Land Use Decree, the new system is to provide 99 year leases for the sustainable and progressive development of the agricultural and commercial sector, and all land available are leased with the purpose of providing a livelihood for all parties concerned.
Story by: Vijay Narayan
More people interested in land bank registration
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