Tkatchenko wants land commission abolished

The Land Titles Commission should be abolished because it is duplicating roles, says Minister for Lands and Physical Planning Justin Tkatchenko.
Tkatchenko said on Friday that this issue was among many suggestions raised at the Southern Regional land summit workshop last week.
“This was brought up on numerous occasions, where it is duplicating the process of the Lands Department,” he said. “The end result is to totally abolish and remove the Land Titles Commission because it is duplicating and does not serve the correct purpose – creating a lot of conflicts and problems with customary landowners.
“These were brought up by our customary landowners’ firm Motu-Koitabu and Koiari in NCD and Central.
“These are some of the issues we can address and make some strong arguments to reform the system, abolish certain entities and cut out the red tape and make it incorruptible.”
Land consultant Dr Charles Yala said many Papua New Guineans were buying land from customary landowners and getting freehold titles, which was permanently alienating the land from traditional landowners.
“We have to bring that to a stop because that’s going to alienate land,” he said. “We want to empower the landowners to take custody over the land.
“It would be better for a lease system, but ownership remains with the traditional landowners.
“This piece of legislation, allowing other people to take ownership of the land is not going well and that came out very clear from the discussion.”