One hundred and fifty six (156) lots of land will soon be available for Fijians following the upgrade of the Cuvu, Waidamudamu and Ledrusasa settlements.
Minister for Housing and Community Development, Hon. Premila Kumar confirmed this while visiting the Cuvu informal settlement and Housing Authority (HA) of Fiji Natadola site yesterday.
“Part of my visit was to actually see some of the land that HA owns and how we can develop this land to deal with the demand that is there in the market.”
Minister Kumar added that for any development, once it is complete, they can hand it over to the different ministries to do their part to make the development suitable for Fijians to live in.
“Ledrusasa is complete, there is just a bit more of work left, we have conducted a very thorough socio-economic survey, which is completed.”
“We wanted to establish that people who have been given lots in that area are low income earners.”
Minister Kumar added the Ministry has found out that not everyone who lives in informal settlements are poor.
“There are people who rented their homes and are living in informal settlements, thinking that they will get the lots at no cost.”
“The thorough socio-economic survey will look at the income, run checks at the titles office and make sure they are not property owners.”
Minister Kumar said this information would give an idea of how lots of land will be given to families who need them.
Minister Kumar added that for Waidamudamu the works are still in progress and are on the verge of completion.