A company has threatened to sue an under-construction solar farm in central Trinidad for allegedly encroaching on a parcel of land it has an interest in.
Morvant Building and Construction Company Limited made the threat in a pre-action protocol letter sent by its lawyer, Peter Taylor, to the Brechin Castle Solar Farm, yesterday.
The legal correspondence was also sent to the chairman of the National Gas Company (NGC), and the managing directors of bp Alternative Energy T&T (bpATT) and Shell Renewables Caribbean (Shell), who partnered to develop the project that is touted to become the largest of its kind in the Caribbean once complete.
In the letter, obtained by Guardian Media, Taylor claimed that his client’s 37-acre plot falls within the 238- hectare site that is being developed into the solar farm.
Taylor claimed the land was originally owned by Charles Placide and transferred to Wilhelmina Placide after he died in 1916. He admitted that in 1955, Wilhelmina entered into a 35-year oil mining lease agreement with a company. Three years later, she sold the land to Garnet Hasmatali.
Taylor claimed the lease expired in 1991 but was renewed by implication through the conduct of the parties. He claimed that when Hasmatali died in 1973, the land passed to his widow, Cynthia.
She allegedly transferred the land to the company and applied for it to be declared the beneficial owner in 2012.
“The subject areas upon which you have trespassed and upon which your further trespass is imminent, falls within the consolidated lands. Our client has demonstrably better and superior title to the subject lands,” he said.
Taylor called on the solar farm and its investors to provide evidence of their claims to the land.
Taylor did not give the company a deadline to respond to the legal threat but claimed his client would file a lawsuit and seek injunctive relief if it did not receive a favourable response within a reasonable time.
Once completed, the farm is expected to contribute eight per cent to T&T’s total power-generation capacity by providing approximately 31,500 homes with clean and renewable energy annually.
