Landowners rights have not been affected by the passing of Bill 17 which was now called Act 22 of 2021, says Economy Minister Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum.

He told budget consultations in Lautoka many people assumed landowner rights would be affected by the implementation of the Act. “A lot of people talked about Bill 17,” he said.

“There’s no Bill 17 anymore, it’s become a law, it’s Act 22 of 2021. It’s already a law.

“The landowner’s rights have not been affected at all. All of the five things that the landowner had to agree to before, they still have to agree to it now.

“The only issue that has changed is the consent with TLTB about the consent to connect to water, electricity and also to the bank.”

The minister said if a lease holder decided to sell the land, they would still have to get the landowner’s consent.

“If tomorrow they want to subdivide the land, you have to get the landowner’s consent.

“That’s still there.

“If tomorrow you want to change the lease to maybe tourism, you have to go to the landowners.

“That is still there. ”

Mr Saiyed-Khaiyum said opposing parties made a big deal of Bill 17 because they could not find any flaw in the 2021/2022 national budget.

“Unfortunately, there has been huge propaganda about it.

“Last year when the budget was delivered, a lot of people liked the budget.

“The Opposition, unfortunately, could not find anything wrong with the budget so they picked on Bill 17.”