MORESBY South MP Justin Tkatchenko is warning people to settle at their own risk on vacant lands in urban centers throughout the country.
Tkatchenko whose electorate is a chaotic area due to the establishment of settlements on customary land has warned people to do detailed check to determine the ownership of the land before settling.
“Anyone wants to settle in urban areas on state or customary land has to find out what’s the status of that land. Is its own by anybody? If it is customary or state land? You just can’t buy and settle down on a piece of land that is not yours and think that you own it and have the right to live there. I mean we must have common sense here and follow rules and regulations,” he said.
He said when people do these simple checks, it helps them to avoid eviction problems.
“Like for Moresby South. We have a lot of customary land. But those people making deal with the customary landowners and bought the land for ridiculous price without any proper survey and proper Physical Planning Board approval and Building Board approval and at the end of the day, they blame authorities such as National Capital District Commission,” he explained.
“So, it’s a big challenge. I know people want homes. And I know people need shelters. But they need to do their homework and then work with the authorities. So that they are there for the long term. The thing is that the majority of the land owners want to do the right thing when it comes to traditional land owners. it’s one or two rogue elements in the family and in the clan that go out and sell the land from underneath without the clan the permission and this is happening throughout the country and not only in Port Moresby. And this is causing great grieve to customary land owners and also when seeing their land taken away by other Papua New Guineans that they know nothing about and not benefiting from their own land.”
