Lessees to be given five-year notification
Lessees of state land on which sugar cane was planted will be written to five years before the expiry of the leases to give them ample time on whether they would like to continue or give it up. This would allow the Ministry of Lands time to advertise the property if the lessee wanted to give it up. Minister for Lands and Mineral Resources Ashneel Sudhakar said the issues raised during the Sugarcane Growers Consultation on National Sugar Industry Policy at the Penang Mill in Rakiraki yesterday were mainly to do with leases not renewed on time.
“The first thing that we will do is to implement some policies (some are already in place) that will be in place in regards to this issue,” Mr Sudhakar said.
“We need to be clear on leases so that there are no issues of arrears, breach of leases and no flaws.
“If someone is planting cane this year, they will not be worried about what will happen next year and this is for those on state land.
“What will do is that five years before the lease expires we will write to the lessee to see what their interest is as to whether they will want to carry on or give it up so that we could advertise it early.”
Meanwhile concerns were raised by some farmers on the attitude of lands department staff and the problems they faced, especially when travelling to Lautoka from Rakiraki and being told to come back the following day. “Farmers are saying they had been calling the lands department and their calls have not been answered so I also will be advertising some numbers and email addresses so that people can immediately advise us on their concerns,” the Minister said.
Mr Sudhakar told the farmers that if they face unnecessary problems from Lands Department staff then they are to contact him.
“A lot problems that you see here, people travel form Rakiraki it costs them around $50 to come to the Lautoka office and then they are told to come the next day,” he said.
“We are going to fix that we will take immediate actions so things can improve from here.
“We will implement some systems to at least improve the communication channel.”