Minister asked to recover land in Abau

OIL Palm Minister Francis Maneke says that undeveloped land held by companies which have been vacant for years should be made available for use by the state.
The Nakanai MP made the statement in response to a series of questions from Abau MP Sir Puka Temu yesterday in Parliament on the recent advertisement of 5,000 hectares of land for sale in the Amazon bay area of Abau district, Central, originally bought by New Britain Palm Oil Ltd (NBPOL) for an oil palm plantation.
“If it is state land, then there is a process to follow. If it’s been held over time, it has to be forfeited to be made available for any developer to develop,” he said.
Maneke said that he would be looking into the selling of the uncultivated land in Amazon bay in Abau and added that if it was customary land, then he understood that the title had to return back to the customary landowners.
Sir Puka explained that in 2007, the company approached him to look at the possibility of developing oil palm, an extension from Milne Bay to Amazon bay at the borders. Land was freed in 2008 and a 99-year lease was granted.
“There are four portions, totalling 5,351.29 hectares intended for NBPOL to develop palm oil. On Nov 4, I noticed that the company advertised to sell that particular portion of land that was meant to be for oil palm,” he said.
Speaking on behalf of the landowners of the uncultivated land, Sir Puka asked Maneke if he could talk with Lands Minister John Rosso to recover the land for the traditional owners instead of it being acquired by another party.
“With our government policy of empowering landowners and the deputy prime minister’s initiative of using state leases and grant the landowners a state lease so that they are empowered to negotiate development,” he said.
He asked if Maneke he could negotiate with NBPOL to resolve the issue before the land was sold to other companies.
Maneke said he would hold talks with the company (Sime Darby) to determine the status of the land and why it was being sold.