THE National Industrial and Commercial Investments Limited is currently in the initial stages of negotiations with the Ministry of Business to have corporate citizens come on board to occupy mined-out bauxite areas in Linden.According to Chief Executive Officer of NICIL Mr. Horace James the initiative is geared towards having investors occupy the thousands of acres of land previously used by the bauxite company.
He said that those interested would have to submit their business proposals on the nature of the business and how their business ventures would be beneficial to Linden.
“They will have to submit the relevant letters and proposals for businesses they think they can establish on those lands because we have thousands of acres of land in the mining district that can be meaningfully occupied,” James pointed out.
Many Lindeners are however disappointed over the news that the lands will only be used for business purposes as junior Minister of Communities Valarie Patterson had earlier in the year posited that the Ministry would be negotiating with NICIL to have lands transferred under their entity as there is currently an unavailability of low income land in Linden.
The Minister had also pointed out that negotiations would also be carried out with Lands and Survey and Linden Mayor and Town Council to have lands transferred.
Lands and Survey has however identified plots of land in Amelia’s Ward and Wisroc where 600 house lots can be allocated.
During a previous interview with Regional Chairman Renis Morian who bemoaned the situation of the unavailability of lands, he told this publication that businessmen and persons in “high office” were granted hundreds of acres of lands in the mining town by the previous administration. He described this as most disrespectful and arbitrary as these persons were favored over Lindeners who had applied for house lots years before.
“There are too many entities that are owners of vacant lands which can be divided up and issued to these individuals waiting for decades,” Morian argued.
He articulated that Linden was made up of more than 6,000 square kilometres of land and persons should not have trouble securing a plot for the use of a simple home, especially when there were thousands of acres unoccupied by persons in high office.
“These individuals who hail from places as far as Corentyne were easily granted land while Lindeners were faced with a long and tedious process before being even considered for a piece of land. This is discrimination,” he said.
Many Lindeners have lauded Minister Patterson for her continuous efforts in expediting the allocation process. Prior to her tenure, it was quite stagnant. Scores of residents have received their land titles recently after waiting for some time.
