Developers urged to own or lease land

SPECIAL Economic Zone Authority (SEZA) acting chief executive officer Kikila Yavase says SEZ developers must own clear land titles or have long-term lease arrangements with landowners.
He said investors in a declared SEZ space would be issued a user licence by the SEZA board, or the developer licensed under the SEZ Act, to invest in the declared zone.
Yavase said this on Thursday when explaining how SEZs would operate in Papua New Guinea.
“The board chairman, Varigini Badira, made it clear in a recent media statement that SEZ developers and/or operators are companies or persons who own clear land titles,” he said.
“They can also be persons who will have long-term lease arrangements with landowners, who have State land titles to develop or develop and operate SEZs, so investors can have land security to invest their money.
“The State, including local level governments (LLGs), district development authorities (DDAs), provincial governments and State companies, can partner with the developer or the developer and operator.
“Investors, both foreign and local, in a declared SEZ space will be issued a user licence by the SEZA board, or the developer licensed under the SEZ Act, to invest in the declared zone.”
Yavase said SEZA, guided by the board, fully supported the drive by International Trade and Investment Minister Richard Maru to ensure few SEZs that were viable and fully met the criteria under the SEZ Act were licensed by the board to develop, operate and attract investors to invest in the resources we have with strong policies, rules and regulations.
“All SEZ application processes, requirements, criteria and licensing processes are in place and clearly stated in the SEZA Act,” he said.
“SEZ is a whole-of-Government programme.
“All competent agencies that will be part of the SEZ process depending and varying on sector and industry, will be widely consulted through the one-stop shop arrangements under the SEZ Act.
“Proper processes and procedures will be put in place to ensure SEZs are a success story for the generations to come.”
Yavase said SEZA was now operating as a standalone government agency and housed on the eighth and third floors of Dynasty Tower at Savannah Heights in Port Moresby.
“If anyone has questions about special economic zones, please do come to our office, so that we can discuss to ensure that the concept is working for our people,” he said.