Dept establishes office for summit secretariat

THE Lands and Physical Planning Department has established an office for the National Land Summit Secretariat, an official says.
Lands secretary Benjamin Samson told The National that the programme management unit had initiated the establishment of an office for the secretariat.
Samson said he would be talking to Department of Personnel Management (DPM) secretary Taies Sansan to create a small structure for the secretariat.
“This is a programme for five years so I want to seek approval from the DPM so I have directed the interim members to work on a small structure to fund that office,” he said.
“The first technical advisory committee meeting was held last Friday.
“We just wanted to get this thing off the ground but the government has not fully supported us. We are just doing what we can.
“We want to look at the resolutions and attend to some of them, especially the review of legislations.”
Meanwhile, Samson said the department had not progressed the special agriculture business lease (SABL) due to lack of funding.
He said the SABL commission of inquiry findings was nullified by the courts so there was a committee established, the customary land advisory committee.
“They are supposed to go to respective SABL sites to establish case by case,” he said.
“The committee has not been able to take any trips, it’s just stagnant at the moment.
“Once we get the approval to review the Land Act, SABL is one of the many things we want to look at.”