By CLIFFORD FAIPARIK
There will be another eviction exercise at the ATS settlement to make way for a new road project in Port Moresby that will go through the settlement to link Central Province , National Capital District Governor Powes Parkop says
Governor Parkop said last month that the road project will commence any time this year and not many people will be evicted.
However a settler William Kunia said “We are worried for our future. We have families and properties here. We built houses and shops. Our families have been living here for 30 years now. We are into our third generation of living here”.
“Last year there were two major evictions at Garden Hills in Moresby and also settlement at portion 695 next to our portion where about 5000 people were evicted. And they were left at their own mercy to relocate with their families elsewhere at their own arrangement and expenses. We have seen how these settlers were displaced. Despite taking their pleas to the courts, they always fail. The Court’s always rule in the Developer’s favor. And so we have seen it and now monitoring and preparing how to move before the road construction starts and we become victims”.
Mr Kunia who is a senior officer in the Labour Department said that they now accept the fact that they will be evicted whenever earth moving equipment arrives. “But before that happens, I’m appealing to the Developer; please don’t get us by surprise. The National Capital District Commission (NCDC) must relocate us to a land that they must find now. We are not ordinary settlers. After all Government doesn’t operate from the bush. Where there are people, there is the Government. I came here 20 years ago. Some of us built permanent houses and shops although we don’t have title. But yes we respect NCDC’s master plan for a road project and we respect it. But please relocate us probably. We are not foreigners living here. We are from PNG. So please NCDC should relocate us and also reimburse our monies that we had spent to build up our permanent houses and shops. . We had spent thousands of kina to settle here to live and do business. This settlement is a melting pot of ethnic group with 800 different language speaking people living here. We come from all over PNG and settled here. We made this settlement to be our home. We have people from all work of life here. Some are employed in the Government Departments and private companies; some are not employed and are doing informal business activities. . We want NCDC to reimburse the money that we had spent to build our homes and shops. After all we have spent thousands of kina to settle here. We have struggled to build houses and our shops from nothing”.
Mr Kunia originally from Erave District in Southern Highlands said that he has settled here 20 years ago and has five children with nine grandchildren.
