Fix landowners of Wutung Border Post

Letters

THERE were three portions of land acquired by the State at the Wutung Border Post.
Portion 104 is located on top of the hill right at the border line with Indonesia. Portions 108 and 109 are located at the foot of the hill adjacent to Wutung Village.
Portion 104 was acquired by the Papua New Guinea Government in the 1990s while portions 108 and 109 were acquired during the colonial administration in the 1960s.
The Lands Department completed the survey of these three portions of land in December 1995 and were registered by the Department in Aug 2003.
Although the department registered these three portions of land as owned by the State, to date all these three land parcels are still under customary ownership.
That is to say that the State is yet to pay compensation to the customary land owners for acquiring these three portions of land.
Can the government through the Lands Department fully acquire these three portions of land to prevent the ongoing land issues with the customary land owners when the government agencies trying to implement infrastructure development under Government directives?

Willie Sangi,
Works Dept – Vanimo