by KEVIN PAMBA
Things looking bright for Biliau-Uribu people
The Biliau-Uribu people once owned
the land that now makes up half of the picturesque Madang town.
What used to be their gardens and hunting and fishing grounds,
made way for the airport, a meat cannery, woodchip mill, sawmill,
wharf, power station, educational institutions, shopping
complexes, light and heavy industry workshops, sports fields and
residential allotments among other facilities that are on it.
The Biliau-Uribu people, numbering some 1,100 today, have
essentially been quiet bystanders on the edges of the town since
the colonial administrators and missionaries occupied their land
and transferred ownership to State use over a century ago.
The 99-year lease of the entire Madang town land expired in 1998.
But a review has been subjected to protracted dispute between the
State and the 10 clan groups including the Biliau-Uribu people to
a point where it has reached a stalemate.
Amidst that uncertainty, the Biliau-Uribu have literally been
spectators on a small pocket of land on the edge of town as the
State and outsiders (people from other parts of the country and
the world) enjoyed doing business and benefit from living in
Madang town.
“We own nothing in Madang town. We don’t have any businesses like
the outsiders in town,” Larry Wagol Nalon, the chairman of the
recently incorporated Biliau-Uribu Intergrated Landowning Group (ILG),
said.
“When the town developed over the years, we lost our land
forever,” he said last Friday.
“No one bothered to consider us and facilitate joint ventures with
us for the last 25-30 years.”
He said they were not against other people doing business and
living in Madang but “we want them to realise that we as
indigenous owners of the land exist on the sidelines of business,
politics and commerce in Madang”.
That sense of loss and despair is about to change as the
Biliau-Uribu people realised where they have gone wrong. They are
now coming to terms with what they can do to help themselves. They
incorporated the Biliau-Uribu ILG with the State and were issued
with the ILG incorporation number 12120 last Dec 26.
They also received the certification of the incorporation of their
holding company, Biliau-Uribu Holdings.
With the ILG recognition and holding company registered, the
Biliau-Uribu people are gearing up to venture into spin-off
businesses in Madang town as joint ventures with
others or on their own.
A security services company is first on the cards. The start of
that venture was marked during a small ceremony at the Coast
Watchers Hotel last Friday when Col Silas Moffett of Lae-based
Mosu Security Services presented a new computer and accessories
worth K3,200 to Mr Nalon to begin a joint venture.
Col Moffett, who is on the waiting list for retrenchment from the
army’s Igam Barracks Depot, said his company was happy to work
with the young people in the security business.
Col Moffett, who is also an experienced scout master and Col (rtd)
Wagera will assist the Biliau-Uribu organise the security company
in a joint-venture arrangement.
Col Moffett said as a military person and scout master, he liked
to work with young people and looked forward to the new challenge
with the Biliau-Uribu people.
He said he would like to establish a well-trained security company
to take care of the public and property they are tasked to look
after with dignity.
The new security company plans to provide a well-trained and
professional service with help of the military and scout
backgrounds of the two colonels.
The Biliau-Uribu people also would like to be given recognition by
the provincial and National Government to venture into other
businesses in Madang.
Mr Nalon suggested to deputy administrator of Madang Ben Lange,
who was present at the gathering, that the government should
provide incentives for displaced landowners like them to start up
businesses and become self-sustaining.
The Biliau-Uribu ILG and its holding company are now planning to
meet with members of the Madang business community soon to present
their case – that they as indigenous landowners of Madang town,
sidelined for so long, would like to be given joint venture
businesses or any spin-off businesses they can do.
The Biliau-Uribu folks are no longer going to sit back and be
spectators as others benefit from commerce, industry and politics
in the town that sits on their customary land.
They have appointed a reputable law and accounting firms to assist
them.
The group’s special advisor, John Kambual said Steeles Lawyers
were their legal advisers and HBL Niugini Ltd would provide the
auditing and accounting expertise.
Mr Lange applauded the initiative of the Biliau-Uribu people. He
said the Madang administration encouraged such ventures where
people are becoming self-sustaining.
The Biliau-Uribu people are sowing a seed for their future. Time
will tell how this seed is nurtured.
