Some tenants are paying peanuts for State land, says Lands Minister Filimoni Vosarogo.
“Some of these leases were issued 99 years ago,” he said, adding some tenants were paying as little as three dollars in rent because reassessments had not been conducted in decades.
“If the reassessment cycles were missed two or three times, quite naturally you’ll still get very small rental payments,” Mr Vosarogo said.
For State lands, he said rentals were meant to be reassessed every five to ten years based on current market rates. However, he said this was not done, leaving the Government with little returns.
“It’s not uncommon to find someone operating a profitable business on prime State land while paying almost nothing.
“When the lease comes to an end, we do a proper reassessment, and often these tenants now have to pay what the land is actually worth.”
Mr Vosarogo said the Government’s review of the State Lands Act, which Cabinet had approved, would help address the issue.
He said fair rentals would ensure State land was managed properly and benefitted everyone.
“These are mostly agricultural and commercial leases, so they need to reflect market value.”
He said new leases would be fairer and reassessed on time.
“We are now upping the rentals based on the market.
“It’s about making sure everyone pays what’s right.”
