Officers who give away state land to be dealt with

By Rebecca Kuku
LANDS and Physical Planning Department officers giving public land away will be dealt with by the law, Minister Justin Tkatchenko says.
Tkatchenko made the statement in connection with a piece of public land identified as Portion 2569, Granville (Koki), in Port Moresby that was taken away and given a title.
The land has since been developed into a K60million commercial property managed by Malaysian-owned  Kitogara Ltd.
However, Tkatchenko said that the company had developed the land at its own risk, knowing that the land title was in question.
“We took the matter to court in 2015, but they withdrew their case, then went ahead and developed the place,” he said.
“But I will get the land back for the people.”
Tkatchenko said that the piece of land was reclaimed land and was purposely reclaimed for public use and recreational purposes.
“The question is how was a title given to state land that was reclaimed for public use and recreational purposes?
“So we won’t only look at the company that was given the land title but the Lands officers or anyone within the department that awarded the title to Kitogara Ltd will also be looked into.”
Tkatchenko said that Lands officers or anyone in the department did not have the right to give away public land to companies, businesses or individuals.
“I will not tolerate this sort of attitude or behaviour and I will ensure to remove all those who are involved in doing such activities so that public land is not taken away again.”
Tkatchenko said the National Capital District Commission Land Unit was working with the government to ensure that they got back all public land that was given away.