Effective Thursday, July 13, 2023, the Ministry of Sustainable Development resumed payment for persons who were allocated lands in 2020 and 2021.
The announcement was made by the Honourable Dr. Joyelle Clarke, Minister of Sustainable Development, at the Prime Minister’s Press Conference with Cabinet Ministers held at the NEMA Conference Room on July 13.
“All persons allocated land up to December 2020 can resume payments at the Treasury. All persons who were allocated lands in 2021 are kindly advised to submit their surveyed documents and to confirm their payment status with the Ministry of Sustainable Development before proceeding to the Treasury,” said Dr. Clarke.
Dr. Clarke said that the resumption of payments for persons who were allocated lands in 2022 is yet to be confirmed as the ministry continues to work assiduously to “finalize the major challenges associated with land distribution during that year including double and triple allocations and allocations to lots which do not exist.”
Minister Dr. Clarke said that land allocation will resume in August 2023 “whereby an announcement on the improvements and changes of the process will be made by Prime Minister the Honourable Dr. Terrance Drew.”
Dr. Clarke made mention of the Ministry of Sustainable Development’s land initiative which deals with allocation, normalization and distribution. She noted that the ministry “remains committed to the mandate of the empowerment of citizens through land ownership and its updated land initiative which has sought to document, assess and restructure the process of land allocation and land use in St. Kitts.”
In February 2023, the Ministry of Sustainable Development hosted a two-day Land Fair where representatives of various agencies availed themselves to answer all questions related to the distribution of lands in St. Kitts. Agencies on hand at the fair were the National Housing Corporation (NHC), the Treasury, Lands & Survey, Physical Planning, Urban Planning, Development Control and Planning Board and the Sustainable Land Management Unit.