Company claims land lease legally acquired

 A COMPANY in Port Moresby says it legally acquired a piece of land which a Cabinet minister is trying to return to the people of Koki.

Managing director of Kitogara Limited Daniel Hii said: “The land lease was obtained legally and the validity of the State lease had survived court proceedings in 2005 and 2006 to quash any claims that it should have not been granted.”

Hii was responding to Moresby South MP Justin Tkatchenko’s statement yesterday that Portion 2569, Milinch Granville, Fourmil Moresby, in the National Capital District, had been illegally obtained in 1987. 

Hii said they were the registered owners of the land.

 “The land is under a State lease granted originally in 1987 to the company owned by the late Mr Frank Griffin,” he said. “We acquired the land from Mr Griffin’s family and we are proceeding to bring development to the land and improve the value of the area.” 

The land was until recently the site of the Koki temporary market.

“We have been very generous by letting the temporary market use our land in the past nine months,” Hii said.

He said they had to evict sellers there “because we wanted to start construction”.

He said they wanted to resolve the matter peacefully because they had no ill feelings towards Thakchenko or anyone else.

“We are still trying to resolve any misunderstandings with Mr Tkatchenko amicably,” Hii said.