Assessment of South Honiara tenders underway as 4,200 applied for just 360 lots of land

Late last year, the Land Board and Ministry of Lands, Housing & Survey advertised around 360 lots at South Honiara as available for tender. South Honiara is the name given to the area around a ridge top reached from either Tuvaruhu, Nine Ridges, Jericho or Kombivatu in Central / East Honiara.

The response from the public was overwhelming. Receipts for around 4,200 tender application forms were paid. Clearly this means the demand for land well and truly exceeds the available supply of lots, and less than one in ten applicants will be successful.

The Land Board and support staff at the Ministry are now in a process of developing criteria to assess the applications and determine who the successful applicants will be.

“I wish to reassure all applicants that a proper process has been adopted in this assessment. Members of the assessment committee have signed conflict of interest declarations, and they are undertaking this task fairly, consistently and without bias,” said Commissioner of Lands Alan McNeil.

“Once the criteria have been finalised and successful applicants chosen, in the interests of transparency the full assessment criteria will be published, along with the names of the successful applicants,” he added.

“In the meantime, please be patient while we carry out the assessment. Please do not try to check on the status of your applications or try to take possession of the land you applied for,” the COL advised applicants in statement on Friday.

It will take a few more weeks before the Land Board has made its decisions.

ENDS///