Commission plans to review laws on city planning

THE Constitutional and Law Reform Commission (CLRC) will review the laws on city planning and urban development before recommending reform proposals to the Government.
The public, interested organisations and stakeholders can participate in this law making process by submitting their views on the CLRC “Issues Paper 9: Review of Laws on City Planning and Urban Development”, which will be launched today.
“The issues paper is meant to identify the problems associated with city planning and urban development and the relevance of the Cities Act 1971,” CLRC acting secretary Dorothy Mimiko-Kesenga said.
“It will also provide the background and context to the law and will raise a series of questions designed to provoke discussion.”
Public consultations will be conducted in Lae, Wewak, Kokopo, Kavieng, Mt Hagen, Goroka, Alotau and NCD from June to July, with the views collected to form the basis of a draft report.
The draft report will be launched again at a seminar to obtain further views before it can be incorporated into a final report that could possibly contain policy and legislative reform proposals for presentation to the Attorney General and Minster for Justice in September.
Mimiko-Kesenga said: “City planning and urban development must be addressed to promote positive growth of cities in the country so that Papua New Guineans from different cultures can co-exist peacefully in towns and cities.”
CLRC is heading a working committee that comprises of relevant stakeholders in the conduct of the review.