Landownership for people

 THE most important benefit of Independence is the Papua New Guinean ownership of 80 per cent of the land, Minster for Public Enterprise and State Investment Ben Micah says.

He said laws had been enacted to protect the land for future generations

In his Independence anniversary message, Micah said: “We are the only country where indigenous people own the land to this day and we have to enact laws to protect our rights and the land for future generations.

“The gold, petroleum, oil and gas, fish in the seas and the trees in the bush, so long as they’re in somebody’s land, your land and my land, our land.

“The law and sovereignty of our country gives us the protection and the rights over the use of these things. We can invite foreign companies or other people to come and develop the land in partnership.

“One of the big changes is that the fathers of this nation have helped us to receive independence and we have the rights to our land and protect our land, but we have not added value to that land in many areas where we have not given justice to the people who have surrendered those land so that Papua New Guinea, as a country, and private investors can benefit.”