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Officials from Fiji’s Lands and Mineral Resources have begun identifying parcels of land that can be put into a Land Bank expected to be operational in a few weeks.
Permanent secretary for Lands Lieutenant-Colonel Neumi Leweni said the ministry and the Solicitor-General’s Office were now finalising the details of the regulations that would bring the Land Use Decree into effect.
Leweni made the comments as staff of the Land Use Unit visited the northern division last week to inspect land that could be deposited into the land bank.
“Developing regulations is one of the first tasks the Land Use Unit was tasked to do in collaboration with the Solicitor General’s office. The visit to the northern division is the beginning of an exercise that will need to be undertaken in other parts of the country,” he said.
“The regulations will clearly spell out the policies and guidelines for the land bank. This includes how land can be designated by the Prime Minister before it is deposited into the land bank.”
Leweni said government had an overarching responsibility to strike the right balance between the needs of landowners and the tenants or investors.
“It is our responsibility to safeguard both landowners and tenants/investors alike,” he said.
On the visit to the northern last week, Leweni said that the team led by director Land Use Unit Laisa Raratabu visited the Vunilagi Estate, which was once a thriving copra estate since the 1920s.
Staff from the unit identified at least 600 acres of idle land on Vunilagi Estate and a recommendation will now be made to the Prime Minister to deposit these idle lands into the land bank, Leweni said.
The team also visited two buy-back schemes in the Savusavu and Matakunea areas at the bottom of Natewa Bay. Land from both these schemes could also be deposited in the land bank.
Source: Ministry of Information
