Long-awaiting Zeelugt families to get land titles in three months

Some 87 families living in the community of Zeelugt on the East Bank of Essequibo (EBE) in Region Three (Essequibo Islands- West Demerara) should be able to receive land titles in three months after more than two decades of waiting.

On Friday, a team including Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs Anil Nandlall, SC and Minister of Housing and Water Collin Croal met with the Zeelugt residents.

According to a press release from the Attorney General’s chambers, the residents scheduled to receive their land titles were either employees of the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo) or their descendants who had been allotted house lots as far back as 1997.

GuySuCo had issued a block of land to the Sugar Industry Labour Welfare Fund but land titles were not distributed. The Attorney General, in a report from the Department of Public Information (DPI), explained that this fund was established several decades ago to help sugar workers move from the logies in the plantation to villages.

The fund has continued since then to assist in getting sugar workers homesteads from lands given by GuySuCo. Another block, Nandlall said too, was issued in 2001, but similarly, the matter did not culminate in the granting of title.

Seeking to ensure that residents can wholly benefit from the fund, Nandlall assured the residents that the process will be completed within three months. By the end of that time, the residents should finally receive their titles. This process should be completed in January.

A similar process was recently concluded at Non Pariel on the East Coast of Demerara (ECD). There, Certificates of Title were granted to over 50 families. Similar processes, the press release noted, are ongoing at No. 46 village in Corentyne, and Cotton Tree and No. 3 villages on the West Coast Berbice.