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BASSETERRE, St. Kitts, December 18, 2024 (SKNIS) – With a growing demand for residential land acquisition, the Ministry of Sustainable Development is strongly urging aspiring landowners to consider applying for properties in rural St. Kitts as part of a strategic move to develop these communities, while at the same time decentralising the densely populated urban area.

Minister of Sustainable Development, the Honourable Dr. Joyelle Clarke, said the ministry remains resolute in ensuring that land distribution and management practices are sustainable and can work to meet the country’s development needs, while still preserving the integrity and visibility of natural resources. Her comments were made at the National Assembly during the second day of the Budget Debate.

“St. Kitts and Nevis, in our transition to a sustainable island state, must shift from traditional building practices to methods that can be sustained and enhanced over time. So we implore you to embrace rural living and vertical communities. We have to build upward instead of outward, maximise space efficiency, reduce urban sprawl and shift our focus to the rural communities,” Dr. Clarke said.

Minister Clarke said this shift would in turn lead to the development and full transformation of the rural part of the country with the addition of key infrastructure necessary for daily life and living.

“We appreciate that a move to rural living requires that our government provides drivable roads, reliable infrastructure (utilities and telecoms) and we understand that no one wants to be in a community that doesn’t have a corner shop, an ATM or a supermarket, and that’s why we are working with our partners to encourage decentralised development in the rural areas,” the minister said, while emphasising that lands in the rural communities are traditionally sold at lower prices.

Minister Clarke said her ministry welcomes the partnership of the business community to make use of commercial and industrial zones already located in the rural areas.

“There are the same amount of commercial and industrial zones in the countryside that are here in Basseterre,” Dr. Clarke explained, as she made a final plea to citizens and residents to “develop and grow rural communities.”