Government project will increase land ownership for squatters

by Linda Straker

• Land Regularisation Project budgeted at EC$1 million, will be for 2 years in first instance
• 3 groups of land occupiers targeted
• Tax roll shows over 87,000 parcels of land owned

The Government of Grenada has embarked on a programme that will result in the State having legal ownership to less land, and hundreds of illegal occupiers of Crown or State land will receive legal title to the land.

“The programme will be for about 2 years in the first instance,” said Gemma Bain-Thomas, Administrative Executive, Ministry of Agriculture and Lands, Forestry and Marine Resources during a news conference on Friday, 3 May.

Budgeted at EC$1 million for the State, she explained that the approach by Government is to first focus on the group of land occupiers who received a Cabinet Conclusion showing the cost of the land, completed the payment, not yet received title deeds. The second group will be those who received a Cabinet Conclusion but did not make or complete any payment. The final focus group will be those classified as squatters or illegal occupiers.

“Given the amount of people identified when we go on the ground, we might discover other people and that might cause the programme to go into a third year,” said Bain-Thomas who pointed out that the programme is aimed at creating a pathway to legal ownership for squatters.

She disclosed that the cost of the land will vary for each targeted group. Those who have a Cabinet Conclusion will pay the original cost on that document, while those without Cabinet Conclusion or any other legal document from the State, will pay what the Cabinet decides.

Phillip Alexander, Technical Specialist Land Administration, Ministry of Agriculture and Lands, Forestry and Marine Resources said that Government currently owes 10% of the country’s land. “It’s the policy of Government to encourage ownership of land title in Grenada and that is what this programme is all about…a large part of that 10% is in the form of forest reserve and we do have several, including Grand Etang and the dry forest in other parts of the country.”

He expressed the view that the Land Regularisation Project will create growth and economic empowerment.

“You do have other large holdings like the state farms which also form a significant part of that 10%. So, you have a limited amount of that 10% that is available for other uses, those other uses are probably where we will be best able to help,” said Alexander. As he listed the previous governments programmes that encouraged legal land ownership, he disclosed that the records have shown that, “For a relatively small country, today we have on our tax roll over 87,000 parcels of land, and we must give credit to the people who have gone before us.”