Vital to register land: Study

THE voluntary customary land registration system is designed to encourage landowners register their customary land and lease it for development purposes, a report says.
The published report was put together by National Research Institute sustainable land development programme research fellow Logea Nao.
The report said it was essential for customary land to join the formal market and for landowners to engage in legal transactions over the use of their land.
“However, in practice, customary land leases derived from the system have been found to be unbankable due to risks concerning ownership and administration of land,” Nao said.
“If the intention is to make customary land leases bankable, the Government should consider minimising disputes, cutting unnecessary costs and (reducing) steps involved in land registration and improving title registry and management.”
She said this would give confidence to lenders to extend credit, allowing business and investment to grow, create jobs, increase Government revenue, provide revenue streams for landowners and safeguard customary land.
The report titled “Understanding how customary land leases can be made bankable in Papua New Guinea” would hopefully contribute to the discussions around retaining ownership of customary land.