Govt urged to regulate urban drift

By LULU MAGINDE
A SENIOR Catholic official says the Government must regulate rural to urban migration in order to avoid problems in the country’s main towns and cities.
Catholic Bishops Conference general secretary Fr Giorgio Licini said the rise in the number of squatter settlements in Port Moresby showed the need for regulation.
He was commenting on the recent evictions of settlers at Garden Hills as well as an ethnic clash at Baruni during a conference in Port Moresby yesterday.
“Under the Constitution, you cannot prevent the movement of people from one place to another, but when there are big numbers of people with no income coming into the cities, there are going to be problems so this should not be left unchecked,” Fr Giorgio said.
“The city is not managed efficiently; I’m not an expert, but normally, governments and countries, with this phenomena of urbanisation, have to develop housing projects for the less privileged or low income families.”
Fr Giorgio noted how society and the State needed to have proper governance in order to avoid ethnic clashes such as the one at Baruni becoming a recurring issue as the population continued to grow.
“Today, with urbanisation and the challenges of the modern world, with communication and the lack of opportunities during this pandemic, we need a good electorate process to elect competent leaders to run the country the proper way,” he said.
Fr Giorgio said while the church did not condone how the exercise of mass evictions was carried out at Garden Hills, the bigger issue was the lack of adequate housing and basic services for the urban population, including indigenous people, workers and their families, students and the retired.
Caritas Papua New Guinea director Mavis Tito said many people living in the settlements were employed in the private and public sector and they all contributed to nation building.
“We’re not saying we encourage squatting on public land, but they’re human beings, so the thought needs to be given to people who are working and contributing to the development of this nation because they can’t afford housing,” she said.
Tito said the situation was an opportunity to look at ways to make housing in the city more affordable and ensuring the housing market was regulated.