Highway compo claims queried

A leader from Chimbu has questioned the state over the long delay in paying compensation to people who have been affected by the Highlands Highway Rehabilitation Programme (HHRP).
Paul Kai, leader of Mainini landowners association and key witness for the Mainini people against the state said that since the inception of the HHRP and the promise by the government to compensate the affected landowners along the corridors of the Highlands highway, nothing was done.
Kai said landowners were treated as if they were stupid.
He said landowners were referred from one government department to another for the last three years and were already exhausted and tired.
“Many people who have travelled from the village to collect their claims are stranded in the city. They are struggling to survive, often without food and shelter,” Kai said.
According to Kai, deputy Prime Minister Don Polye and chief secretary Manasupe Zurenuoc had already agreed to pay the landowners but for some unknown reasons the money earmarked for the compensation exercise was not paid out.
He said the state had enough money that was why it bought a jet for K120 million.
However, he said when little people in the village asked for money as a means of compensation to the destruction caused to their food gardens and homes, they were told that there was no money.
Kai said the state better act quickly as the landowners were fed up and were determined to shut down the Chimbu section of the Highlands highway.