Lands Commissioner Defends Dodo Creek Land Sale
By Sharon Nanau
Lands Commissioner Alan McNeil defended the sale of the Dodo Creek land, clarifying that the sale followed proper procedures and refuting claims of undervaluation and improper handling of the land sale.
The sale of the former Agricultural Research Centre at Dodo Creek to the Solomon’s Agriculture and Livestock Development Limited got a heated argument during Parliament’s 2025 Appropriation Bill 2024 Committee of supply stage.
Opposition Leader Mathew Wale criticized the way the land is sold as ‘gross undervaluation’ and raised concern over the loss of the land, which he said could have been used for future agricultural research.
In an interview with SIBC news Land’s Commissioner Mcneil said the land board has approached government to ensure there is no need by government to use the land before it was put on tender notice.
“We were given two application for that land out of the blue by proposed tourism operators and they wanted to build a hotel at that site, I was a bit surprised we had this as we haven’t advertised the land for sale and there was no indication from our ministry that the land was going to be available, I put it to the land board and they said let’s find out if government needs that land before we entertain any private interests over the land. We put the request through then the secretary to cabinet and the then Permanent Secretary of the Productive sector in charge of various ministries and we went to all ministries and nobody expressed any interest in developing that land for any government purposes specifically Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock as they said no we don’t want to develop that land and we already have another land of interest where we going to be leasing from the Catholic Church.”
Regarding the sale terms Mr McNeil explained following the land being placed on tender, a subcommittee was set up to look at the applications received and report back to the main land board.
Solomons Agriculture and Livestock Development Limited was awarded the land by the land board as the highest bidder and fulfilling the land board requirements.
Mr Mcneil said the Dodo Creek Land Sale initial offer was reduced from SBD3 million dollars to SBD2 million dollars with SBD300,00 dollars per year annual land rent, this saw the land lease also reduced from 75 years to 50 years.
“The developer asked for the premium reduction thus the land board agreed to the 1 million reductions, but it also included the reduction of 25 years from the initial 75-year land lease.”
Addressing the idea of reclaiming the land Mr Mcneil said it would be a challenging and costly process for the government.
“The land was granted through a legitimate decision by the Land Board, and there would need to be a very good reason for the government to take it back.
I’m aware the developer has already spent quite a bit of money already on the land, so you need to add that to the sale price. Forfeiture you can only do that if there are certain conditions on the grant that it haven’t being meet, it’s a brand-new grant not enough time has expired yet before you can even begin to forfeit based on non-development of the land so it’s not a straightforward process. The process it followed is strictly in accordance with the land entitles act, strictly in accordance with the powers of the land board, I’m there as a secretary of the board.”
Mr Mcneil said the Land Board’s decisions, including minutes of meetings, are published on the Ministry of Lands’ website in accordance with legal requirements.
Annual reports on land allocations are tabled in Parliament, where the Dodo Creek land sale was included in the report for the year it occurred.
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