00:00Following the 15-0 win in favor of the Tobago People's Party,
00:05Minister of Land and Legal Affairs Saddam Hussein says the people of Tobago are in for more wins.
00:12We're going in Tobago, and I think everybody saw what happened in Tobago yesterday.
00:19So, Tobago has a very serious issue with landholding.
00:23We have already met with the Chief Secretary on this particular matter,
00:29and the Minister of Land and Legal Affairs will be working assiduously hard
00:33to treat with those land tenure issues in our sister island of Tobago.
00:40And I also want to take this opportunity, as we're on the topic of Tobago,
00:44to congratulate the new Chief Secretary of Tobago,
00:49the Honourable Farley Augustine, and the members of the Tobago House of Assembly
00:53for that resounding victory at the polls.
00:58The Minister was speaking at a Certificate of Comfort Distribution ceremony in Barataria,
01:04which saw 100 people get land tenure documents,
01:08a fraction of the total number to be distributed by the end of this month.
01:12And next week, I am happy to announce that the Ministry of Land and Legal Affairs
01:19will be rolling into the constituency of Cuba South,
01:22where we are earmarked, or we have the intention,
01:26to distribute 300 more residential leases
01:30to the ex-carni workers at the exchange to site in Cuba.
01:34So by the end of January, over 800 citizens would have had some sort of legal document
01:45in their possession from the Ministry of Land and Legal Affairs
01:48for ownership of a piece of land that they can call their home.
01:54The Minister says government has been able to expedite the process
01:57by consolidating all the land-related services under one roof.
02:01When you add the 200 leases given out in Picton,
02:06plus the other 100 leases from the current distribution,
02:09we have about 300 residential leases that were distributed.
02:14Average, those lands fully approved,
02:18the value, the market value for one lot is about $500,000.
02:23So when you do the math,
02:26the value of lands that this ministry was able to give out
02:29was about $150 million worth of lands
02:34to the citizens of Trinidad and Tobago.
02:37Meantime, the LSA says,
02:39while certificates of comfort do provide a measure of protection,
02:43the ultimate goal is to provide permanency.
02:46We don't want to be having any more certificate of comfort ceremonies
02:50if we don't have to,
02:52but we do unfortunately,
02:53and we want to move everybody towards a Dwee's.
02:57Step three, of course, is the Dwee's,
03:01and this is the ultimate goal,
03:03a 199-year title
03:06that gives you full ownership
03:08and all rights and protections that come with it.
03:12Renasa Cutting, TV6 News.
