By L.K. Hewlett
St. Kitts Reporter
With over two thousand applications for land received by the agency handling the Special Land Initiative, the processing of the applications is being impeded by fraud.
Prime Minister Dr. Denzil Douglas informed the media that persons are attempting to purchase government land by fraudulent means. The Special Land Distribution Initiative was launched in August of this year with the stipulation that successful applicants would have six months to pay for the land in its entirety. Another stipulation of the initiative was that only first-time landowners were eligible to apply.
“Applications have been received and letters of acknowledgement have been sent out, but because of certain irregularities that we have picked up, it has taken a little extra time to screen the applications. But I know that we have already processed over two hundred applications and letters have been sent out in this regard to allocate lands in different areas,” PM Douglas said.
He explained that applicants were informed by means of letter from the Ministry of Land and Housing that they should make contact with the Director of Land and Housing for the identification of the lots that have been allocated to them.
“The initiative is working but there has been a bit of delay because of the additional checks we had to put in place. We have seen irregularities such persons who already have land were making application, people changing up their names and addresses, and people applying for land under their maiden names etc.”
The prime minister expressed confidence however, that the agencies involved would be able to properly screen the applications to ensure that the system was not being manipulated.
He estimated that over three hundred applicants would have already received positive responses regarding receiving land.
The special Land Distribution Initiative will see to the sale of 5000 lots of Crown land spread over 25 locations across the country, with the minimum lot size of 4000 sq ft going at $5 per sq ft and the maximum lot size of 9000 sq ft being sold at the $5 for the first 4000 sq ft and $6.5 for the additional square footage.
Taylor’s Village, Buckles, Keys, Cayon, St. Pauls and Shadwell were just some o
