Only Weeks to Crown Land policy Priority Dicussions says Premier

By Dana Malcolm

Staff Writer

#TurksandCaicos, January 23, 2023 – TCI residents can expect details on how the government will approach delivery of the 146 recommendations agreed to in the Crown Land Review in a matter of weeks, according to Premier Washington Misick who made the announcement during a press conference on January 16th.

“In the next few weeks we will be addressing issues of housing, the land policy that the country has long long been waiting for is now published and we will be starting to deliver incrementally on that.”

Residents are anxious to hear which of the mountain of recommendations will be tackled first, hot button issues to be written into law include beach access.  Recommendations regarding access would give residents more legal power over their beaches to complement cultural use.

Also of interest is the housing policy, recommendations on this topic included an increase in the islander discount, phasing out of Conditional Purchase Leases; prioritization of family homes built in bulk by the government and turnkey ready rather than allotment of multiple plots for residents without proper facilities.

As for informal settlements those were addressed as well with stern recommendations about the handling of residential properties which called for empathy and will allow those holding them a chance to regularize themselves in the eyes of the law.

Also dealt with was the lottery system.  In the Review completed by R Donhue Gardiner, TCI Attorney with experience in land law and policy development in TCI and Dr. Simon Cooper PhD, an expert in Caribbean land law and registration systems the recommendation is the practice of a lottery for land should be ended and two new panels be set up to manage the dissemination of parcels which will now be put up for sale via a points system.

These and other issues were laid out in fine detail in the 300 page document which ended with 146 recommendations; it was published on December 8, 2022.

In the press conference held last week to discuss the implementation of a ‘livable wage’ for the Turks and Caicos, the premier reminded that government will have to amend significant portions of the Crown Land Ordinance and in at least one case, craft a totally new law.

The task will likely take years with residents hoping that the most important issues will come first.