It was a joyous occasion for the Yavusa (Clan) Waidau of Navolau Village in Ovalau after Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama handed over their freehold land titles.
Bainimarama says Yavusa Waidau is one of the four successful landowning units in Fiji to receive full freehold title under the "Free-Hold Buy-Back" scheme that Government instituted many years ago.
He says this land was previously owned by the government during the colonial era.
The Prime Minister says many of them remembered when they decided to seek Government assistance to buy the two freehold titles totalling 473 acres of land and it shows the serious commitment for their future and the future of their children.
He adds because they had a good plan and they worked hard to execute that plan, the title of the land has been given to them 11 years early instead of waiting for 30 years.
Bainimarama highlighted that Yavusa Waidau will be an inspiration to other communities who want to take full possession of their freehold land titles, and to all Fijians who have big ambitions and are willing to work hard and work intelligently to achieve them.
The land is currently being utilised by landowning units for subsistence and yaqona farming and is also a proposed site for the REDD-plus program in support of Government's “30 Million trees in 15 years” initiative.
