Dekena: Landowners play key roles in urbanisation plan

THE national urbanisation plan (NUP) 2010-30 will prominently feature landowners as crucial partners in the urbanisation process.
Lands and Physical Planning minister, Lucas Dekena, said this while giving his keynote address to participants at the National Urbanisation Seminar in Waigani yesterday.
He said the state was currently piloting two customary land projects in Eastern Highlands and National Capital District with the aim to encourage customary landowners to develop their land and benefit from it.
“The purpose of these pilot projects is to show the way forward for customary landowners to develop their land and benefit from it whereas simultaneously leasing land for urban development and extension”, he said.
According to the minister, this would be a win-win situation for the landowners, the developers and the state because they would each get a return for their investment in the land.
He also said that NUP was timely because it gave an opportunity to plan and design towns and cities properly before they were populated by citizens.
Dekena said the current trend of population growth in towns and cities showed that by 2030 an estimated 3.5 million people would occupy the city, mostly living in squatters if we do not start planning now.
He said his recent trip to Malaysia was an eye-opener because the politicians, bureaucrats and the public there all took urbanisation programmes seriously.
Dekena said that was the secret and implied that if PNG could follow their example, then, the NUP could be implemented effectively.