Over 300 Land Parcels Distributed in St Matthew and Frank’s Eddy

A total of 343 land parcels are being distributed to residents of St Matthew and Frank’s Eddy, including residential lots and agricultural parcels, under a land handover initiative involving the Ministry of Natural Resources and Cayo South Area Representative Julius Espat.

Deputy Prime Minister Cordel Hyde said the land distribution would give residents an opportunity to secure property, ease financial pressures and pass on assets to their children.

“Some people are extra lucky that their parents got land and are able to leave land for their children when they pass on. Those are lucky few. The vast majority of our people don’t have that luxury,” Hyde said.

Espat said the distribution includes 88 residential lots in Frank’s Eddy, where residents had been living on the land without formal documentation, as well as residential lots and agricultural parcels in St Matthew and other areas.

Under the distribution arrangement, 75% of the lots are allocated to residents of the respective villages, while the remaining 25% are intended to assist people from other communities in need.

“We were trying to give young people more access to land, young people that are either married or in a common-law relationship or they have children or they don’t have any land. Those were the ones that we gave the first opportunity to,” Espat said.

Hyde urged recipients to hold on to their property rather than sell it, describing land ownership as a pathway to economic security and generational wealth.

“With this land paper, you are on your way to economic security. With this land paper, you are on your way to less financial stress,” he said.

The distribution forms part of wider development efforts in Cayo South, where Espat said infrastructure improvements were also being pursued across the constituency’s 13 villages.