City Hall to upgrade settlements, says Parkop

By LULU MARK
THE National Capital District Commission (NCDC) is committed to upgrading settlements to suburbs, Governor Powes Parkop says.
He was responding to queries by The National on the NCDC’s 15-year urbanisation plan to convert settlements into suburbs, and an update on the 9-Mile quarry project which started last year.
“We are trying to cater for everyone and not just people in the settlements,” he said
“People can say what they want but I want to (tell) everyone that at the 9-Mile quarry, 60 per cent of the people living there are public servants.
“They could not afford the rentals or get access to land in the planned suburbs because it’s just too hard, and the price is too high.
“So they end up in the settlements.”
He said it came back to the lack of proper planning by Lands Department, National Housing and Urbanisation and the Department of National Planning.
“The best, humane and ethical way is to upgrade (settlements) to suburbs and there is no reason we can’t do it,” he said.
“We have the potential, resources and I am happy (that the) Prime Minister James Marape has set up a taskforce to support us.”
He said they spent nearly K14 million on the 9-Mile project.
“We’ve done the roads, drainage, subdivision of the land, allocated all the land and we have got all the settlers who want to remain there to pay fees.
“They pay K4,000 as an initial deposit and they will pay ultimately about K40,000.
“All of them have paid.”