Gov’t to crack down on sale of Soesdyke/ Linden Highway leases

The government will soon crack down on the sale of land leases on the Soesdyke/ Linden Highway, President Dr. Irfaan Ali announced on Monday.

The President went to Base Road, Timehri to distribute over 400 land titles on Monday. While there, he urged the residents to keep those titles since the value of the land there is expected to increase significantly in coming years with planned developments nearby.

And he flagged the ongoing practice of selling leases as opposed to using the land for productive purposes.

“We’re also going to take strong measures against those landholders with large plots of land and leases who are doing nothing but they are sitting on it now and profiteering on it because many of them are illegally selling the leases,” the Guyanese Head of State said.

According to the Guyana Lands and Survey Commission (GL&SC), a lease is an absolute grant for a term of years issued over state or government lands. Upon the expiry of the term of the lease, the lands are reverted to the state.

The current standard lease is for a term of fifty years. And the Commission, via its website, notes that each lease has several stipulations and conditions including the right of renewable, the right to sublet, the right to transfer and mortgage.

President Ali, however, noted that there are some concerns about the use of those leases.

As such, he said local laws could be amended to disallow some people from transferring or selling those leases.

He also highlighted that the government hopes to regularise some of the squatting areas along the highway or find alternative places for the more than 2,300 squatters to relocate to.