New initiative for people to buy units, apartments

BY JEFFREY ELAPA
THE Department of Lands yesterday announced a new initiative under which Papua New Guineans can buy units and apartments instead of going through the cumbersome process of land titles.
It is called “strata title” to replace the process of sub-leasing titles over a piece of land.
Minister for Lands and Physical Planning Justin Tkatchenko said the initiative, although new to PNG, was used internationally.
“It is a widely-used practice where titles are issued to owners of units and apartments instead of the sub-leasing practices.”
Tkatchenko said this was good news for the people and investors.
It will also be helpful for revenue collection (rental rate fees) of Government as each title holder will pay fees instead of the sub-lease holder paying the fees.
Tkatchenko said a committee had been put in place, led by the legal team of the department and the registrar of titles, to work on the legislation before going through a public consultation process. He described the process as “long overdue”.
“The good thing is that the people no longer need to sub-lease. They will own titles,” Tkatchenko said.
“This is a fantastic initiative as Papua New Guineans will be owners of units and apartments.
“Local and foreign investors can built apartments and sell them to individuals who can have titles.”