Settlers add to growth

PROFESSOR Satish Chand from the National Research Institute (NRI) has said that the increase in settlements in PNG can be used as a way to help build the economy.
He said this yesterday during NRI’s launching of its publications on “The Genesis of the PNG land reform programme” and “Improving access to land within the settlements of Port Moresby”.
Speaking on the book “Improving access to land within the settlements of Port Moresby”, Chand said results presented in the paper were from a field survey conducted in settlements in Port Moresby to find out how settlers acquired land for housing.
Analysis from the study showed that several means for land acquisition were used such as land invasion to the purchase of use rights from the customary landowners.
In his presentation, professor Chand said statistics showed that NCD had a current population of about 376, 000 with one of three people living in settlements.
He said it was predicted that by 2020, half of the population in NCD would be living in settlements.
“The challenge now is to grow the increasing population in settlements into economic activity not only for NCD but for PNG as well. We can use this as an opportunity to draw these people into the formal system to contribute to the economy,” Chand said.