Prime Minister Sam Hinds has signed an order to appropriate Toolsie Persaud Ltd's (TPL) land on Water Street and to declare it an area of public work.

The land is intended to house the Water Street vendors.

President Bharrat Jagdeo made the announcement yesterday at a press conference and said the order will be gazetted next week.

Another order will then be signed to allow surveyors to move onto the land and once they complete their plan, the government will go to Parliament to vote the resources to compensate the company, the President said. He said following this, another order would be signed to complete the process.

The government recently went to Parliament to make legal the acquisition for public use of private land on which there was construction. It made the move after negotiations with Toolsie Persaud Ltd on the land stalemated.

The government had estimated the value of the land at $100 million. But TPL said that the land was worth $457 million and had proposed a swap for the Guyana Garage building further down Water Street, which was owned by Guyana Stores.