With the ongoing eviction exercise within the National Capital District (NCD), leaders from Wildlife Zone One in the Port Moresby North East Electorate have carried out an awareness program on the eviction exercise and the work the association has been doing over the past fifteen years to secure land titles for residents.
The awareness was witnessed by NCDC Women’s Commissioner, Miss Elice Siki, on behalf of the NCD Governor, Hon. Powes Parkop.
Wildlife Zone One Community has been formally organized through the registration of the Wildlife Zone One Community Development Association with the Investment Promotion Authority (IPA) as a legal entity in 2014.
For the past fifteen years, the association has been following legal processes to secure land titles from the Department of Lands.
Interestingly, prior to the announcement of the Settlement to Suburb Scheme by the NCDC and Governor Hon. Powes Parkop, the Wildlife community was the first settlement in Port Moresby to submit an application for settlement-to-suburb upgrading in 2012.
However, the submission was unsuccessful. A second submission was made in 2014, but it was also unsuccessful due to issues relating to the land being claimed by a local company.
On November 4th, 2019, the National Court ruled in favour of the Wildlife Zone One Community Development Association following court battles with a local company that claimed ownership of the land through illegal processes.
After the court victory, the land was labelled as State land and returned to the State.
Since then, community leaders have continued engaging with the NCDC Physical Planning Board to deliberate on their submissions.
Wildlife Community Development Association Chairman, Mr. Thomas Irai, said the association has been doing its best to secure land titles from the Lands Department for the past fifteen years.
“Since coming up with the idea to register an association in 2012, we have followed all legal processes to receive land titles through the NCDC Physical Planning Board,” Mr. Irai said.
“We are the first community-based association to submit a Physical Planning Compliance Urban Development Lease (UDL) Application to the NCD in 2020.”
“The association has also submitted complete documentation to the Lands Department. We also have existing agreements with service providers—Water PNG and PNG Power—for the Settlement to Suburb upgrading program,” he added.
Speaking during the awareness, Pastor Nathan, the spiritual director and an executive member of the association, said their submission was listed as item number eight in 2020.
“So, while they listed us, the board realised that we did not have the title to progress the development plan,” Pastor Nathan said.
“They instructed us to go to the Lands Department, clear the title issue, and bring the title back, and then they would assist us to develop the area,” he added.
He said their submission is now with the Office of the Minister for Lands, Hon. John Rosso, Deputy Prime Minister.
“The Office of the Minister gave directives to the Secretary to amend the Survey Plan and help us register our plan as part of the process of securing the titles,” he said.
The Wildlife Zone One Community Development Association also issued a strong warning to evicted settlers in other parts of the city not to enter the community, as Wildlife Zone One is progressing through legal processes to transition from a settlement to a suburb.
“We are all aware of the recent evictions in the city to remove illegal settlements in Port Moresby,” Mr. Irai said.
“For us at Wildlife Community, we do not want any evicted settlers to move into our community. We are also warning our community members not to accommodate relatives who have been evicted.”
“We have a registered body in place to look after our community and achieve the goals we are working towards,” he added.
“Our plan is 95% complete. We are about to receive our UDL and become part of the development programs. We have already been working towards it, and we are 95% done. The remaining 5% is for the relevant authorities to complete their processes,” Mr. Irai said.
Representing the NCDC, Women’s Commissioner Miss Elice Siki applauded the tremendous work done by the Wildlife Zone One Community Development Association over the last fifteen years.
Miss Siki, who is also a resident of Wildlife Zone One, has been supporting the association over the past couple of years. She urged the community to continue working together with the association for the betterment of the area.