Probe into land deals

By PISAI GUMAR
LAE city is investiga­ting 20 questionable land deals, including reserved lots for government agencies, Lord Mayor James Khay said yesterday.
Khay said some politicians and bureaucrats in Morobe could have benefitted from the deals against the advice from the provincial lands and physical planning officers.
He claimed more than 20 public recreational parks and land reserved for government agencies were obtained without approval from the proper authorities.
Morobe Governor Kelly Naru has called on Lands and Physical Planning Minister Benny Allan to appoint an independent commission of inquiry into all controversial land deals in Lae city immediately.
“Due to limited land, all land must be divided fairly and equally to all interested investors instead of having one person to acquire more than two land portions,” Naru said.
Sources at the provincial lands office, who did not want to be named, said politicians, bureaucrats and lawyers were involved in overriding provincial lands board decisions.
“Dubious involvement of prominent Morobeans always kept the provincial lands officers in the dark as they deal directly with Waigani, then later point fingers to lands officers,” the sources claimed.
“All development work needs to be halted immediately until investigations are carried out to verify how land titles were obtained is completed and status of the land verified,” Khay said.
The sources at lands said the Lae city council, as the custodian of the recreational parks, needed to work closely with provincial lands and physical planning division to monitor their lands to ensure they were not obtained illegally.
Provincial principal adviser special purposes Tony Ase said it was unbecoming of reputable persons and businesses claiming reserved and recreational lands illegally.