The Local Government Ministry has developed leases for the informal settlers

The Local Government Ministry has developed twenty-five leases so far to cater for the informal settlers.

Minister, Parveen Bala, says this will provide fair rent and premium and will also benefit the land owning units.

“My Ministry of Local Government and the Itaukei; Land Trust Board entered into and MOU for the issuance of development lease to enable TLTB and my ministry to meet one of the national objective to the government which is to provide affordable houses and land lords to those who do not have access to residential land and proper lease.”

Bala says the development has benefitted more than 17 thousand families.

He adds Towns and City Councils should also be ready to provide services to informal settlements in their municipality.

The twenty-five leases were developed in the Western, Central and Northern Divisions.

Credit: FBC News, Sainiani Boila, 1st March, 2018.

Land claims made by landowners to be investigated

The iTaukei Land Trust Board (TLTB) Reserves Commissioner Mosese Ratubalavu will be investigating cases of some land claims made by landowners.

TLTB had advertised the claims in yesterday’s Fiji Sun where it stated: “The iTaukei Reserves Commission wishes to inform the public on the details of the itaukei land that will be investigated during the formal inquiries from the 7th to the 27th of March, within the six provinces namely Lomaiviti, Nadroga, Ra, Tailevu, Rewa and Macuata.”

Altogether TLTB had advertised five (5) lots in Lomaiviti, one (1) in Nadroga, four (4) in Tailevu, two (2) in Rewa and six (6) in Macuata.

When contacted yesterday for a comment on this investigation, Fiji Sun was told he was on an official visit to the province of Serua.

The Roko Tui Macuata, Vilai Basalusalu, said the investigation by the Reserve Commission, when completed, would confirm landownership of land in dispute.

He said the investigation would provide a fair judgement to both parties.

Natogadravu district chief Semi Matalau said he fully supported the investigation as the outcome would be final and could not be debated by the losing party.

He said there were also some land in his district that TLTB Reserve should decide on the ownership.

The Natogadravu chief said he acknowledged the work of the Reserve Commissioner because it would stop land dispute.

Most of the lands involved were iTaukei land, schedule A and schedule B, freehold and extinct clan.

Credit: FijiSun, Maika Bolatiki, 22nd February, 2018.

Landowners also need to benefit from the usage of the land – Ratu Tagicakibau

Nausori chief, the Komai Nausori Ratu Lepani Tagicakibau says their lawyer is currently drafting a Memorandum of Understanding for the use of their two acre land at the back of the new Nausori market.

The Nausori Town Council developed the land and was charging people a fee for car parking.

However, some people claiming to be landowners entered the car park last week and demanded the people to pay them as they said they were the rightful owners of the land.

When questioned, Tagicakibau stated that these people were not the landowners however he says the land belongs to mataqali Nailagobokola and they also need to benefit from the usage of the land.

Nausori Town Council’s CEO Akhtar Ali says he is aware of the issue which has been sorted.

He says the landowners are preparing a MOU.

Credit: FijiVillage, Dhanjay Deo , 26th February, 2018.

Increase in lot sales

WITH great interest shown in the Natadola Land Estate from local investors, the developers of the property are confident that more lots will be sold by mid next year.

The developers, Natadola Bay Resort Ltd, yesterday confirmed that they had reduced the land price to $350,000 (VEP) per lot which had led to an increase in interest from local buyers with 11 lots being sold.

Meanwhile the estate’s sales team also confirmed that a model home was being constructed on the site to provide interested buyers with a virtual feel of the estate.

The developers hope that the model home would encourage more investors to purchase lots.

NBRL said all buyers of the sold lots were now working on their structural plans according to the building guidelines established by the developer and it is expected that all plans would be submitted for vetting prior to any construction.

The guideline is to ensure that each home is compliant with the Fiji standards and also structurally intact to withstand cyclones.

The developer said buyers could have a choice and benefit from land purchase, build a luxury home and even lease it out to nearby resorts or business houses for weekend, holiday homes or executive residents.

Investors will also enjoy a rent-free offering as they will not be paying lease rental for 99 years.

An important feature of the estate, according to NBRL, is that it will be a gated community with 24-hour security which is expected to ensure the safety, security and privacy of the homeowners which is paramount to NBRL.

The developer believes that the gated community would also enable homeowners to live freely within their own homes compared with the standard community.

Credit: FijiTimes, Monika Singh, 24th February, 2018.

Immediate eviction of close to 30 families residing in Veikoba, Nasinu by the Suva High Court

Close to 30 families residing in Veikoba, Nasinu for over 30 years have been ordered by the Suva High Court to vacate the land by or before the 14th of next month.

The i‑Taukei Land Trust Board had filed a writ in court seeking immediate eviction of Jimaima Ledua and others from the land in Veikoba settlement to allow the land for development purposes for the benefits of the landowning unit members of Mataqali Naulukaroa of Kalabu Village.

In its submissions, TLTB had stated that Jimaima Ledua and others have not proved the rights to possession of the land adding that it appears they were only dealing with one member of the landowning unit.

In his judgment, Justice David Alfred has also ordered that Jimaima Ledua and others have to pay TLTB $1,000 for costs.

Justice Alfred says Jimaima Ledua and others claim for declarations to a legal right and to an equitable right to remain on the land has failed.

He says there is no evidence that either the Mataqali as a whole or the TLTB had ever asked Jimaima Ledua and others to come onto the land and build thereon.

Justice Alfred has stated that he is satisfied and finds that   TLTB’s plan to develop the land through the Housing Authority of Fiji is for the benefit of the iTaukei landowners, the Mataqali Naulukaroa and has thus complied with the mandatory requirement.

Credit: Fijivillage,  Dhanjay Deo, 20th February, 2018.

The groundbreaking ceremony for the Koronisalusalu Subdivision in Tavua

The groundbreaking ceremony for the Koronisalusalu Subdivision Development in Tavua was held today ensuring more Fijians will be able to access affordable housing.

This will consist of 119 residential lots.

This project will cost the government over $4 million and will assist the growing demand for housing in the Koronisalusalu area.

The project will be completed in the next 10 months.

While officiating at the event, Minister for Local Government, Housing and Infrastructure Parveen Bala also says in the last two months 113 residential lots were sold to low income earning customers in Tacirua.

He says 370 offer letters for residential lots in Matavolivoli, Nadi is being sent out.

Bala adds the Housing Authority of Fiji’s interest rates are the lowest in the market.

Credit: Fijivillage, Faria Begum , 22nd February, 2018.

 

Lagilagi Housing awaits NFA and OHS approval before tenancy

The People’s Community Network is awaiting the approval from the National Fire Authority and the Occupation Health and Safety officers before the Lagilagi Housing second phase is given to its successful tenants.

PCN National Director, Semiti Qalowasa says after receiving complaints on the delays, he says the safety of it is paramount as everything needs to be successfully completed on the 72 units.

“36 units will be available soon, suppose to be last week but now because of the advice from NFA, we will be taking another two weeks for them to complete that OHS compliance inspections so after that then we will name the 36 families.”

Qalowasa says 200 applications are being received by PCN and only successful applications will be given first opportunity.

The total cost of the Lagilagi Housing’s second phases is $16 million.

Credit: FBC News, Sainiani Boila, 22nd February, 2018.

Itaukei Land

Have the iTaukei lost some of their indigenous rights or any of their land under the 2013 Constitution?

The answer is NO. That is the truth of the matter.

If we go into iTaukei villages throughout the country it’s business as usual. No landowning unit in iTaukei villages has lost one centimeter of land through land grab or dubious land deals. If it had happened, we would have heard and seen mass protests from the iTaukei in the last four years.

The only noise we hear is coming from politicians who travel around with their warped views and baseless perceptions that the iTaukei are losing their rights and their land.

It is designed to create doubts and fear in the minds of the iTaukei because land and their rights are inextricably linked to their identity and  future survival as a race.

This is the old style politics that we saw in the run-up to the 2014 General Election.

The resurfacing of the Laisenia Qarase video, shot in 2014, which was highly critical  of the Constitution and FijiFirst party policies relating to iTaukei rights and land, is indicative of the desperate bid by some Opposition politicians to discredit Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama and his Government.

If people have forgotten, the 2013 Constitution Preamble says “we the people of Fiji recognise the indigenous people or the iTaukei, their ownership of iTaukei lands, their unqiue culture, customs, traditions and language. The Constitution protects iTaukei land saying “the ownership of all iTaukei land shall remain with the customary owners of that land and iTaukei land shall not be permanently alienated, whether by sale, grant, transfer or exchange, except to the State in accordance with section 27.

Any iTaukei land acquired by the State for a public purpose after the

commencement of this Constitution under section 27 or under any written law shall revert to the customary owners if the land is no longer required by the State.”

Some argue that it does not contain the entrenchment provisions present in the old Constitution to protect the sale of iTaukei land.

The Senate in the old Constitution was required to pass any land law change voted by the House of Representatives before it can be enacted.

It required a percentage vote of the then Great Council of Chiefs nominees in the Senate.

Even with that provision, under the Government of SDL Prime Minister Laisenia Qarase, the Senate was bypassed and parcels of iTaukei land in Momi and Denarau were converted to freehold land and permanently alienated from the landowning units, it was revealed during a parliamentary debate last year by the Attorney-General, Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum.

It showed there was no constitutional provision in the 1970, 1990 and 1997 Constitutions that iTaukei land can never be permanently alienated.

But in the 2013 Constitution this safeguard against alienation is there. When the issue was raised  in Parliament SODELPA president and MP Ratu Naiqama Lalabalavu stood up on a point of order saying the Cabinet decision on the conversion of the land was confidential.

  Yet some Opposition politicians are resorting to the old style politics of misinformation and fake news to appeal to the base instincts of the iTaukei.

Some are deliberately spreading lies that the iTaukei will lose their land, their rights and eventually their identity.

The scrapping of the Great Council of Chiefs is again being used as an example that iTaukei institutions were being targeted.

It is common knowledge that the GCC was the creation of the British colonialists to suppress iTaukei dissent. The forum was used to enable the chiefs to keep the ordinary iTaukei from rising up against the British. While it became a permanent institution for the iTaukei, it was a political hotbed for politics in post-Independence Fiji. The ordinary iTaukei do not miss it much. Only the politicians do and we know why.

Credit: FijiSun, Nemani Delaibatiki, 17th February, 2018.

 

Real Estate agents operating without a valid license

A high number of real estate agents are operating without a valid license, resulting into illegitimate sales of properties.

The Real Estate Licensing Board says agents who operate without a license are unlawfully conducting operations.

Acting chief executive and registrar of Real Estate Licensing Board Virisila Tuimanu is urging the public to be vigilant when engaging with agents.

Tuimanu says it’s important for Fijians to do their due diligence to avoid being cheated.

“We have had problems when people three months later, one week later or two months later, then they realize the approvals have expired. The big question is in between the period that your license has expired, what is the validity of the transaction that has been taking place.”

Tuimanu says Real estate companies need to play their part in ensuring their agents are licensed.

The agents have been reminded to renew their contracts two months prior to the expiry to avoid problems.

Credit: FBC News, Kathrin Krishna, 20th February, 2018.

REALB proposed to improve the current legislation

The Real Estate Licensing Board is proposing a review and amendment of the current 2006 legislation under which they operate.

Board Chair Abdul Hassan says that over the year’s real estate companies have realized the need to improve the laws, to make it more efficient and transparent.

Hassan says among their areas of concern are the operations of real estate agents, their code of conduct and the creation of a new fund to protect the interest of buyers and sellers in the sector.

“The matter has gone to Solicitor General’s office to vet the documents and eventually it will be submitted to cabinet and will become a formal regulation.”

Hassan says currently there are 200 Real Estate Agents and almost 100 Real Estate companies registered in Fiji.

Credit: FBC News, Kathrin Krishna, 20th February, 2018.