Secretary clarifies sale of land

 THE Lands and Physical Planning Department does not see any issue in the sale of the Nomads Cricket Grounds along Waigani Drive in Port Moresby.

Secretary Romilly Kila-Pat said anyone who owned a property could sell it to any interested party and the concept was applied to the piece of land concerned.

“There are no issues with the title,” he told The National following complaints that the grounds had been fenced off.

“We should be really concerned about why the Colts Sports Club (as the Nomads Club was known then) executives sold that land.”

Kila-Pat said the land – Section 136, Lot 3 – a popular sports and recreational area between the Laguna Hotel and Carpenters, was identified for public amenities and property development.

He said Colts Sports Club bought the land from Burns Philip in 1983.

The club then sold it to Ambi PNG Limited in 1990 and nine years later, Naima Investment acquired it.

He said people could still continue to use the ground for sporting activities because the Physical Planning Board had rejected Naima’s plans to develop the land.

“They were unable to fulfil their requirements under the lease so they just allowed people to use the facilities.”