More than 4,000 residential and agricultural leases remain outstanding from Caroni 1975 Ltd, Leader of Government Business in the House Terrence Deyalsingh said on Friday.

He told Parliament that that 3,818 residential leases and 577 agricultural leases were still to be issued.

Responding to a question from Couva South MP Rudranath Indarsingh, Deyalsingh said 8,855 former employees of Caroni 1975 Ltd were entitled to a residential service lot as part of the VSEP package offered.

'To date, 5,037 beneficiaries have been allocated to various estates and are at different stages of receiving their leases. From this figure, 4,764 leases have been executed, however 44 of these leases are at Caroni awaiting collection. Two hundred and seventy three beneficiaries have not yet completed the process of Caroni or are awaiting letters of administration. The number of people who remain outstanding for residential leases is 3,818.

'With respect to agricultural leases, a total of 7,246 people were entitled to these parcels of land. Of these, 127 people reached an agreement with the state and were compensated for their land. The majority of the remaining 7,119 agricultural leases have been completed and the number of agricultural leases outstanding is 577.'

Asked if the people for whom the leases were outstanding had been notified, Deyalsingh said he was sure the authorities were working on it.

Deyalsingh, the Health Minister, stood in for the substantive House leader Camille Robinson-Regis who was not in the chamber but took part in the sitting virtually. Robinson-Regis is the Housing and Urban Development Minister following last month's Cabinet reshuffle which saw her exchange portfolios with Pennelope Beckles who is now the Planning and Development Minister.

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