Racing returns to Bomana turf club

 GREYHOUND racing in the country will soon be held at the Bomana Turf Club track, in Port Moresby.

That follows the trustees of rundown club gifting the land to the State, Sports Minister Justin Tkatchenko  said yesterday.

Tkatchenko said about 138 acres of land there belonged to the Bomana Turf Club and the trustees had gifted it to the government.

He said the government would acquire the title.

The handover was witnessed by Lands and Physical Planning secretary Rommy Kila-Pat, Sports Foundation acting chief executive officer CEO Peter Tsiamalili, PRL board  of trustees and foundation deputy chairman Godfrey Seeto.

Tkatchenko warned the 20,000-plus people living there had acquired the land from illegal sales and  their properties would be bulldozed for the redevelopment.

He said some people had been illegally living there and claiming to be caretakers of the property for decades.

He said those people lived in the rundown stables.

The track was abandoned in the late 1980s because of continuous hold-ups, armed robberies and theft of vehicles there.

“This is very serious as the so-called landowner will be prosecuted for illegally selling the land to the settlers, mostly from highlands region,” Tkatchenko said.

“The clubhouse is only left with the skeleton iron structures, with all the corrugated iron sheets removed by hooligans from nearby settlements.”

He said South Pacific Brewery general manager Stan Joyce would head the new trustees to spearhead the redevelopment of the one popular turf club.

He said a new-look turf club, racing track for horses and greyhound racing would be introduced there.