Minister for Lands Jone Usamate with a team of surveyors he visited recently in Nagigi, outside Labasa.

The Ministry of Lands is carrying out an exercise to clearly demarcate Schedule A and Schedule B Land from State Land before it is returned to landowners.

Minister for Lands, Jone Usamate was in Labasa recently and visited a team of surveyors carrying out the demarcation exercise at Nagigi, outside Labasa.

Usamate says one of the problems they face in Nagigi is that, for some of the lots, part of it is on Itaukei land and part of it is on state land.

He says at the end of this exercise, they should be able to demarcate which part should be handled by TLTB to collect revenue for the Itaukei Land owners and which part should be state land.

Usamate says there is a major need for this here in Nagigi and there’s also one happening in Labasa Town.

The exercise is also being carried out in areas in Vanua Levu.

Usamate says in the past, Schedule A and Schedule B land were treated as state land, but now with the government policy it stresses the need to revert and define the State and Itaukei land boundaries.

The exercise is nearing completion.