Housing and Planning Minister Emily Gaynor Dick-Forde has denied that the government of Trinidad and Tobago is taking over prime agricultural lands for housing instead of developing a better land use policy to encourage farmers to grow more food.She was responding to a charge by Jack Warner. The Chaguanas MP said this week the Manning regime is "squarely responsible for high food prices," noting that in spite of "the big pappyshow of a food consultation they have failed to produce a food and land use policy."
Read the story: Stop blaming farmers for food crisis: Warner
According to the minister, "There is, in fact, a look at where housing developments have been allocated, where they're being located and we are comfortable that we are not taking over agricultural land as has been said."
Speaking specifically about the allocation of land for agriculture that Warner had raised, Dick-Forde reiterated the Government's previous statements with regard to its plans for that sector including those for the lands which formerly belonged to Caroni (1975) Ltd.
"I can't give you the percentage but I'm sure more than 50 per cent is actually going to former Caroni workers for agricultural purposes. Some of the lands have been allocated for residential purposes and that is mainly for the former Caroni workers as well," Dick-Forde said.
She said 7,282 two-acre lots, amounting to 20,000 acres of Caroni lands, have been allocated for agricultural use. She added that the figure is based on data from the EMBDC, the State-owned Estate Management and Business Development Company Ltd.
The minister said 22 sites comprising 6,980 lots that are each 5,000 square feet been allocated for residential housing.The two-acre plots have been promised for years but former Caroni workers are still waiting for the farms five years after the closure of Caroni (1975) Limited.
A court judgment made earlier this year ordered the government to complete the distribution by June. But there are conflicting reports on whether the government would meet that target.
Uthara Rao, executive chairman of the EMBDC says there's no way he could meet that target. He estimates that he would deliver 22,500 residential lots on lands formerly owned by Caroni (1975) Ltd. by September this year. But only about one third of that would go to former Caroni workers.
Rao said the government has ordered EMBDC to expand the originally promised 22 sites to 42, with the additional 15,050 lots going to the public. He said the development cost for each plot would be around $110,000. The government plans to subsidize the cost for new owners.
Altogether nearly 7,000 acres of prime agricultural land will be converted to housing settlements.
In developments in Beau Carro and Mc Bean in central Trinidad, for example, hundreds of acres of prime agricultural land are being developed for government housing. The acreage was among Caroni (1975) Limited's most productive cane plantations.
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