Kaupa, ILG row over land title

A GROUP of landowners in Port Moresby is claiming that a piece of land marked for a proposed government housing project belongs to them, and is not a State land.
Dabunari Boteka Incorporated Land Group chairman Iama Dabada has therefore advised Housing and Urbanisation Minister John Kaupa to seek legal advice from the Lands Department about who actually owns Portion 528, before committing the State to developing the housing projects.
Kaupa had said Portion 528 was a State land which would be subdivided to provide housing for public servants and others.
“We will split Portion 528 along the 9-Mile-Gerehu back road,” he said.
“One half is the Duran Farm where we are developing a Government housing project. And we will subdivide the other half towards the Moitaka power station and give it to people to build their own homes.
But Dabada said an investigation team set up by Lands Minister Justin Tkatchenko had confirmed that the piece of land belonged to his ILG. “So he (Kaupa) should not be misleading other government department and agencies that Portion 528 belongs to the State,” he said.
“The team that Tkatchenko had set up to investigate fraudulent land titles had confirmed that my ILG is the rightly owners of Portion 528 and the adjacent Portion 1489.”
The officer in charge of the land fraud investigation team Peter Kila Pat confirmed in a letter dated Oct 22, 2018 to Dabada that the Dabunari Boteka ILG owned the two portions.