Three thousand squatters will receive 199-year deeds of lease for the property they occupy. Jairam Seemungal, Minister of Lands and Marine Resources, said this while speaking to squatters at a community meeting at the Preysal Community Centre yesterday. Seemungal said leases will be granted by year’s end. He said squatters will have to pay as much as $50,000 for the lands they occupy. Some lands, he said, may well have a retail value of $500,000.
Seemungal said financial agencies will provide loans to the squatters to build. Squatters with a household income below $3,000 a month will also qualify for a house foundation grant worth $30,000, he said. Seemungal said all squatters will be checked to ensure they did not own property elsewhere.