Tkatchenko eyes taskforce to deal with settlement issues

National

The Department of Lands and Physical Planning is working with the National Capital District Commission to establish a taskforce for its settlement-to-suburb project, Minister Justin Tkatchenko says.
Tkatchenko told The National that the taskforce would address settlements that were on State land.
“This is where the new taskforce for turning settlements into suburbs comes into place,” the minister said.
“We will assess the State land that a lot of the settlers are on–whether the State land needs to be utilised for other purposes or to allow for proper resettlement.
“It will be on a case-by-case basis. We are not going to do a blanket approval where all settlement people are entitled to the land they live on.
“It will be looking at each settlement and looking at how we can properly secure the land title for our people.
“Some areas may be difficult to allow the settlements to stay because of the future development of the city.
“We will have to eventually move some of our people.”