By ELIZABETH MIAE
THERE is a very high demand for housing in Port Moresby but the biggest problem is the availability of land.
Housing Minister Andrew Kumbakor said this during his presentation briefing on the progress on the national urbanisation policy development and pilot project implementation in Port Moresby yesterday.
Mr Kumbakor said about 10,000 to 20,000ha of land were needed to build 100,000 houses in the nation’s capital.
Only 3% of land was State-owned but was not enough to cater for the growing number of people in urban areas and that was where traditional landowners come in.
Mr Kumbakor told several landowner representatives at the meeting that their partnership with the Government was very important.
He encouraged landowners whose land had been speculated on for pilot projects not to sell their land but have it used for development so they too can benefit.
The national consultative committee on urbanisation had identified four areas – Port Moresby, Minj, Faniufa and Tari – as pilot project development sites for new urban centres.
Reacting to this, Community Development Minister Dame Carol Kidu said the issue on urbanisation must become a concern for everyone as PNG was getting urbanised gradually.
She said other Pacific countries were on average 46% urbanised while PNG was only 15% (urbanised).