WHILE awareness sessions on the negative impacts of vakavanua leases are ongoing, the iTaukei Land Trust Board (TLTB) is discouraging informal or the vakavanua settlements.
The reasons are twofold: firstly it deprives the landowners of what they can possibly earn from the utilization of their land and secondly it creates a lot of health risks for squatters.
To mitigate these impacts, TLTB had been assisting the Government and non-government organizations to allocate land for new subdivisions or by regularising existing squatter settlements.
So far around 43 leases had been issued to the Government for squatter upgrading purposes which constitute more than $3.8 million in premium for the landowners.
Informal settlements often create sub-standard and illegal developments which will cause more harm than good for the landowning units, the environment, and the socio-economic status of the country. These unplanned developments are catalysts for heightened disaster impacts which directly affect our socio-economic well-being and the aesthetics and functionality of the local area, thus directly impacting the value of the real estate and its comparative advantage.
Resettlement and upgrading projects require partnership and collaboration in order to make it work. It involves the Government, through the Ministry of Housing and Community Development together with TLTB whose role is to assist in making land available for those regularisation projects to eventuate.
Some of the many examples of our work with NGO’s include the Koroipita Model Town in Lautoka with the New Zealand Charitable Trust; the infrastructure upgrading was done through the Revitalizing Informal Settlements and Environments (RISE) through Live & Learn and the Asian Development Bank; and the Fiji Resilient Informal Settlements (FRIS) projects.
Providing formal titles to squatters satisfies Chapter 2 Section 35 – Rights to Housing and Sanitation under the 2013 Constitution of Fiji.
The responsibilities of TLTB and other stakeholders in formalizing vakavanua or squatter settlements fulfill our mission statements in our Strategic Corporate Plan 2021-2023 and that is to:
- Promote economic, environmental, socially, and culturally sustainable land-use practices and uphold sustainable development goals and other international conventions;
- Ensure that iTaukei landowners receive a fair market value for their land and resources.
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Additionally, TLTB’s master land use plans align directly to the Government’s 5-20 National Development Plans, the Green Growth Framework, and the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.
The Urban Policy Action Plan specifies seven main thematic areas which require TLTB’s commitment given the organization’s statutory role as the administrator of 91% of Fiji’s total landmass.
TLTB is also a member of a committee under the National Housing Policy to implement projects with the aim of providing decent and affordable housing in Fiji.