Trukai wants land law reform for agriculture

TRUKAI Industries Ltd says changes should be made to the Lands Act 2010 to cater for the developing agriculture sector, especially on land issues.
Chief executive Greg Worthington-Eyre told the inaugural agriculture summit in Port Moresby thgis week that land tenure was an issue.
“There is lack of departmental processing capability,” he said.
“We had a number of rice projects over the last four years, some showing some fantastic, high quality rice to be produced in PNG. Some guy decides he wants a piece of the action, he takes it to court because he said he owns the land. Even though it was all fully registered and titled and surveyed. We’ve got to break through this and fix the legal system around the land tenure and the challenges within the Lands Act.”
“The 2010 Lands Act itself is an issue because all the ILGs (incorporated land groups) had to re-register their land under the new Act as well.  Many people do not have the K15 it takes to get the birth certificate so that they can register themselves under the ILG listing as phase one and three so that we get that land registered for use. All these roadblocks along the way need to be dealt with. It creates a high risk for all the investors in the country as well.”
Prime Minister Peter O’Neill had told the summit that investors needed “assurance” from landowners and locals to continue to invest in the country.