By Mickey Kavera
Governor Gary Juffa called on the national government to seriously consider an overhaul of the [national] Lands Department to make it more effective to deal with this issue.
Governor Gary Juffa called on the national government to seriously consider an overhaul of the [national] Lands Department to make it more effective to deal with this issue.
The governor is a member of the Public Accounts Committee that recently grilled the lands department on illegal land deals.
Illegal land grabbing in Papua New Guinea is a growing concern for many landowners and worried Papua New Guineans.
The Special Agriculture Business Leases or SABL is an example, which has seen rights to five million hectares of customary land given to foreign companies. The SABL report is yet to be published.
All this has been blamed on the inefficiency of the Lands Department to monitor land deals.
Northern Province [as Oro Province was formerly known] Governor Gary Juffa has been critical of the functions of the lands department in the recent Public Accounts Committee hearings.
He said, the department has no enforcement capacity and has no mechanism in place to prevent land theft, prosecution or recovery of land, whether traditional or government-owned.
An overhaul of the department is crucial to effectively protect land being squandered, he said.
An overhaul of the department is crucial to effectively protect land being squandered, he said.
The Oro Provincial Government is also in the final stages of establishing a business arm for the Northern Province to represent landowners and the province in all business activities.
