By KHRISNA VIRGIL

Deputy Chief Reporter

kvirgil@tribunemedia.net

PRIME Minister Dr Hubert Minnis has committed to awarding the Bahamas Christian Council Crown land to build a “proper” headquarters following a meeting with the organisation last week, Press Secretary Anthony Newbold announced yesterday.

He could not reveal the size of the land to be given to the group of clergymen or a timeline when this would be done. However, Mr Newbold said the BCC would have to do some things before getting back to the government with more specifics to their request for land.

He told the press yesterday: “(The) prime minister is constantly meeting with various groupings. I know he met with Citibank yesterday.

“He met with the Bahamas Christian Council last week. The prime minister committed to providing some land for the Christian Council so that they could build the proper headquarters.

“(The) prime minister says it’s a group for which he has the highest respect and admiration. He respects them as the earthly representatives of God. He’s not going to judge them as some people do. He has no problems working with them.

“I know the ministers have been in the news recently. He says he won’t judge them. He will leave that to God.

“The Christian Council, they probably have to do some things themselves before they come back to the government and say ‘this is the amount of land we need or this is where we would like to have the land if possible.’

“And the prime minister again has said he is committed to working with them hand in hand,” Mr Newbold explained when he was asked about a timeline for this transaction.

Mr Newbold said the only way the BCC will be given the go ahead for the Crown land was for them to provide assurances the land will be used for its headquarters and no other purpose.

“It’s the only way. The prime minister again speaking about land and he said it, ‘if I find that there is some land that was allocated for a certain purpose and is not being used for that I am going to take it back and put it in the land bank for the Bahamian people.’”

He added the prime minister is a “church man” so it was not a stretch for him to consider the BCC’s request.

In June, the prime minister pledged to take back Crown land from people who are using it for purposes outside the “original intent,” particularly those hoarding it for future investment.

After touring the Department of Lands and Surveys, Dr Minnis said: “People will not be receiving the people’s land just to sit on it, believing that they can use it as investment later, just hoarding the land for speculation.

“That won’t happen, so those who got land and are not utilising it and doing what they are supposed to, I will take it and put it in the bank of the people so it can be given fairly,” Dr Minnis said previously.

The leasing and granting of Crown land has been a notoriously non-transparent process.

Dr Minnis vowed that as the minister responsible for Crown land he will ensure both transparency and “that land is placed in the hands of the people and used for what it is supposed to.”