By ESTHER HARO
Kira Kira villagers in Moresby South gathered anxiously at their United Church hall recently to hear a delegation of Government officials talk about something very dear to their hearts, their land.
Among the group of villagers were former statesmen Babani Maraga, former PNG High Commissioner to Fiji Gaudi Kidu, brother of late Sir Buri Kidu, Reverend Edea Kidu and retired Reverend Dick Avi.
This was a sensitive subject. So much customary land had already been taken from them by the Government in the colonial days to build the city of Port Moresby.
They had more or less become mere spectators in the development of their land.
It was into this atmosphere of doubt, bitterness, and anxiety that the Chairman of the National Consultative Committee on Urbanisation (NCCU) Max Kep, the Director of the National Research Institute and Chairman of the National Land Development Task Force (NLDT), Dr. Thomas Webster took their team of officers for the first time to carry out a land awareness visit on November 8.
The NCCU is made up of the National Capital District landowner representatives, the Office of Urbanisation, the National Capital District Commission, the Lands Department, the National Research Institute, the Department of Community Development, and the National Housing Corporation.
Taurama Valley situated on the outskirts of the city, has been selected by the Urbanisation Committee as a pilot project site to trial how urbanisation can be undertaken in partnership with the customary landowners without alienating them from their land.
The word 'urbanisation' often elicits feelings of doubt, insecurity, and bitterness, and fear in the mind of landowners about land grabbing settlers and in particular, outsiders.
Mr Kep told the villagers that urbanisation was a process of change that would continue to take place in PNG as people move from the rural areas to the urban areas.
He said that it was a problem that would not vanish, unless something constructive was done to address the issue to benefit all.
In PNG today, it is not just the rural to urban drift that is pushing urbanisation, but increased interest from foreign investors who also want to do business in the country.
The government on one hand is looking for ways to secure prime land to deal with the urbanisation issue, whilst on the other hand, customary landowners especially in Port Moresby, are reluctant to release more land because of painful lessons of the past, in which they lost ownership and control of their land to the Government.
The government agencies, who are working as a team to act as a liaison between the people and the government in the Land Development Program, include the Office of Urbanisation, the Constitutional and Law Reform Commission, the National Consultative Committee on Urbanisation, the Lands Department, the National Land Development Task Force, and the National Research Institute.
Dr Thomas Webster in his capacity as the Chairman of the National Land Development Task Force dispelled doubts, saying that the Government was now looking at ways in working in partnership with the customary landowners so that it would be a win-win situation for both sides.
He said the phrase 'pilot program', should not only be taken to mean experimenting, rather, the Land Development Program will be purposely carried out to empower the landowners.
Kira Kira village in the Taurama Valley has been chosen as the model village where this new land initiative project would be trialed if agreed to by the people. According to this new land initiative, a portion of land would be allocated by the villagers for the project to be implemented.
About 500 allotments, each allotment to be between 400 - 1000 square metres would be developed depending on the land made available. The landowners would then decide what type of housing they want on that piece of land - a low covenant house, high covenant house or executive covenant house. The landowners may choose to have businesses or schools to be set up on a portion of land.
About K15 million has been earmarked by the government to build the infrastructure, and to bring in the power and telephone lines in four selected sites in Papua New Guinea, including the Taurama Valley.
The Taurama Valley Project alone may cost around K8 million, depending on land available. The landowners would take ownership of the project, and monies coming from rents or leases would go back to the landowners.
More awareness meetings and seminars will be conducted to make the people aware, and eventually based on their consent, a social mapping would be carried out on the selected land area. The social mapping would take into account the land boundaries and the person or clan who owns it, and a genealogy of all the clan members.
Dr Webster reassured the villagers that the National Research Institute will be documenting and conducting research during the implementation of the land development program, to ensure that all is running well.
Any problems that come up in the course of implementation would be taken note of and related to the government to address.
A villager, retired Reverend Dick Avi, summed up the gathering by quoting a popular New Zealand saying that goes, 'you do not receive the land from your forefathers, but you borrow the land for your children and your children's children'.
He told his fellow villagers that either they continued to use the land to do gardening or build houses on them to rent or lease out to bring in an income for the children.
Another landowner expressed his views that the government should not down play the past, especially in relation to land matters, as customary landowners of Port Moresby were now living with the bad decisions made in the past. He added that the project should benefit the whole community and not just for certain village clan groups.




 

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