Govt plans to acquire land

 PRIME Minister Peter O’Neill has announced his government’s intention to acquire all recreational and public land in NCD.

O’Neill said it would be compulsory to acquire the land under the Lands Act and give the titles to the National Capital District Commission.

“The established land trust would give titles for all recreational and public land in Port Moresby to the NCDC,” O’Neill said. 

“We will try and secure all recreational and public land in the National Capital District,” he said.

O’Neill said that it was a strong and clear indication by his government signalling to illegal land occupiers that his government would be reclaiming the land.

The project – an O’Neill initiative – will be trialed in Port Moresby before it is extended to other provinces.

NCD Governor Powes Parkop said there were about 155 portions of recreational and public land in Port Moresby that would be looked at first to determine the legitimacy and process in which they were acquired and given title to.

“There has been a lot of land-grabbing through the Lands Title Commission, I do not know whether it is by design or neglect,”he said.

Parkop said the commission had spent K2 million to correct the land title to the Unagi Oval while losing the title to Jack Pidik Park.

He said the city was growing and needed portions classified as recreational to be utilised by the public and not by illegal owners through dubious deals with the Lands Title Commission.