Attorney General Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum has stressed during the budget consultations held in Nadi that under the new iTaukei Land Trust Amendment Act, a person leasing a piece of iTaukei land does not need the consent of the iTaukei Land Trust Board to connect to water and electricity or get a mortgage.
Sayed-Khaiyum says there is a lot of misinformation circulating about the iTaukei Land Trust Act but according to him the rights of the landowners have not been affected at all under this Act.
Sayed-Khaiyum says there are 5 components that the landowners have to agree to before someone can get a proper lease and these components have not changed under the iTaukei Land Trust Act or what people commonly refer to as Bill 17.
He says 60% of the landowners need to agree for the land to be leased out, they will also have to agree on how long will the land be leased, the landowners will need to agree to the assessment conducted by TLTB about the premium payment and they also have to agree how much is paid on a yearly basis for the lease.
Sayed-Khaiyum says what has changed is that the person that is leasing the land does not need the consent of TLTB to connect to water, electricity or get a mortgage.
Sayed-Khaiyum says they have done the same thing for state land.
The Minister says before, people needed to get consent from the Director for Lands to connect to water, electricity or get a mortgage.
Sayed-Khaiyum says all other systems are still in place.
Opposition Members of Parliament had earlier raised concerns with regards to the amendment being done to the iTaukei Land Trust Act, saying that the Government and the iTaukei Land Trust Board has not consulted the iTaukei landowners.
They had said that it is arrogant and disrespectful for Government not to accept the fact that they need to consult widely as any changes to iTaukei land needed consultation with the iTaukei people.
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