The two land developers that were given development lease to develop land in Sakoca, Nasinu failed to complete the subdivision which resulted in many Fijians losing substantial amounts of money.
Minister for Local Government and Housing Premila Kumar revealed this in Parliament while responding to a question by Opposition member of Parliament Lenora Qereqeretabua on why formal leases for residents have not been provided despite earlier promises.
Ms Kumar said the development lease was later terminated and the Government decided to step in and take over the responsibility to develop Sakoca.
She said in consultation with TLTB, the ministry acquired the development lease for Sakoca on July, 2017 for 10 years.
“It is also important to note at this point that the ministry acquired the development lease for only one part of Sakoca covering approximately 17 acres of land and not the other part of Sakoca,” she said.
“So, we can say Sakoca is in two parts and the reason why we did not acquire the other part of Sakoca is simply because we need 60 per cent of landowners to agree.”
Ms Kumar said the informal settlement upgrade projects went through several stages such as planning, preliminary design, construction and finally issuance of 99-year leases.
She said Wood & Jepsen Consultants was appointed as the consultant for the project in January, 2018 to design scheme and engineering plans and to manage the capital works.
Ms Kumar said she was pleased to inform the House that Sakoca had been identified as one of the four projects where capital works would commence during this financial year.
