203 applicants qualify for land allocations through point system |01 July 2020
Minister Charlette
Following the introduction of the Land Point System (LPS) the ministry responsible for land has announced that to date, 203 applicants have successfully completed the first phase of the exercise and are eligible to be allocated a property from the land bank.
An additional 105 applicants have also registered for the first phase of the exercise which forms part of the state land allocation policy that governs the allocation of residential plots of state land to first time land owners for the construction of a house.
The system is part of the Ministry of Habitat, Lands, Infrastructure, and Land Transport (MHILT) Land and Housing Comprehensive Plan of 2017.
Minister responsible for the MHILT Pamela Charlette gave the statistics on Friday during a press conference to give an update on the Registration for eligibility to purchase residential land under the LPS, Land Bank projects and allocations and the new revisions to the approved Sales of State Land and Land Bank Policy.
Also present at the press conference were Attorney General Frank Ally who talked on the legal aspects of the LPS and allocations, principal secretary for Infrastructure Yves Choppy who gave updates on completed and ongoing projects and principal secretary for Lands Fanette Albert who explained the criteria adopted to determine points and the requirements for registration under the LPS.
The LPS was put in place with the aim of ensuring greater transparency in land allocation, providing an impartial mechanism for allocation of residential plots for the construction of a house, guaranteeing better service delivery and efficiency by ensuring that only citizens who can sustain a house development are those who will be assisted based on well researched and agreed sets of criteria and also encourage and promoting active participation of applicants themselves towards a saving and responsible culture.
To qualify to enrol on the LPS, applicants need to be a citizen of Seychelles, 18 years old and above, domicile in Seychelles continuous for a period of three years, hold a registered land bank application with the MHILT for a minimum of three years, have been or currently in ownership of or have any interest/share in any immovable property, not have been assisted through housing, housing loan or land from Government of Seychelles, in a stable employment and/or can provide proof of a steady flow of income for the last six months.
They must also have a single or combined monthly income of not less than R15,000 or can otherwise show personal savings, provide proof of financial ability to raise a minimum capital sum of R800,000, including personal savings, to pay for the land and construct a house should also be ready to declare his/her partner/spouse.
As for criteria adopted to determine points under the LPS, it includes the status of an applicant (whether single or married) the age, the number of economic dependents, monthly income, history (land ownership), financial ability (capacity to raise funds) and the number of years on land waiting list
The maximum points awarded are 100.
It is also very important to highlight that the agreed set ‘threshold’ for qualifiers for a plot of land is dependent on the availability of plots for allocation at any point in time.
The MHILT reserves the right to review the set of criteria and qualifying ‘threshold’ for the LPS as and when necessary.
Roland Duval
Photos: Thomas Meriton
