Minister Hyde Defends Land Acquisition Process and Low Price

So, how did Sherene Garbutt’s lease application sit for years while another, filed more than a year later, made it to the minister’s desk? We put that question directly to Minister Cordel Hyde. And what about Garbutt’s request to get those twenty-two acres back? Hyde says legally, she was never entitled to the land in the first place. He also weighed in on the eyebrow-raising valuation, just ten thousand dollars for prime beachfront property.

 

Cordel Hyde, Minister of Natural Resources

“I can’t tell you how is it that particular file never reached to my desk and that happens often.”

 

Paul Lopez

“Could it be that people within the ministry are conspiring by identifying real estate with huge potential that somebody is already in the process of acquiring and passing it on to cronies?”

 

Cordel Hyde

“What I will say is this, when people apply and there are thousands of applications in the system, thousands, how these officers go about determining which one moves up, at this time these files would normally require inspection, sometimes they reach me in a reasonable time, sometimes they don’t. Other times you have area representatives or other people constantly coming to the officer to expedite their process. We have land clinics, applications are expedited there. I can’t tell you what happened in this particular case.”

 

Paul Lopez

“The fact is though that you signed off on a price of ten thousand dollars for twenty two acres in the Malacate Beach area, how do you justify that?”

 

Cordel Hyde

“You must understand that the price government sells land for is different from the market value. If we were to sell land at the market value then ordinary people will never get an opportunity to buy a piece of land. Government sells land at a subsidized rate. Our valuators value at varying prices. I cannot recall exactly what was the value on that, whether it is four hundred or five hundred an acre, often times it is in that range.”

 

Paul Lopez

“So will Mr. Price get a portion of comparable value  in return for what he is bringing back to the government?”

 

Cordel Hyde

“He has not requested such from us. He has indicated that with all this mess he does not want any part of that. So he will return it. We will return whatever he paid of course.”