OVER 2,000 families are left homeless and properties worth thousands of kina destroyed as eviction continues at the Air Transport Squadron (ATS) Oro block in the Moresby North-East electorate with no government intervention.
Many block holders lost their investments that they have been building and living on the land portion 695 for over 20-30 years.
The eviction came about after the Asian investor called Dunlavin Limited obtain the portion 695 land title from the Lands Department and a court order from the Waigani National Court to clear the land.
School students, public servants and the informal sector in the area are badly affected as permanent structures in the likes of family homes, rental apartments and mini trade stores are demolished.
Randolph Sunana, a father who lost his family home that cost him about K30,000 to build. A shelter that housed his extended family of 17 children told The PNG Bulletin that he is now confused where to take his family to.
“We are lost and we don’t know where to go. We spent money to build all these things but the government has no relocation plan to compensate for all this,” Sunana said.
The settlers are instructed to comply with the court order and vacate the area. Those that did not comply had their properties forcefully demolished under the watchful eyes of the police personnel deployed there to implement the court order.
The manner in which the eviction is done has been widely criticized on social media, questioning the current government of its “Take Back PNG” agenda.
Port Moresby North-East MP John Kaupa visited the affected community once, prior to the actual eviction and assured to assist the people. However, the people are still waiting for the help he assured them to do.
“Eviction order is in place, but there are other avenues that we can talk about with the investors. I assure you that we are working with the Lands Minister and the investor to find a win-win situation or find a land somewhere for the investor to develop. If we fail, I will come back and inform the people that there will be no demolition,” Kaupa said.
However, Kaupa never visited the affected people in his electorate again since the eviction started.
Giam Eringe, a mother with his three year old daughter and husband along with his dependent parents are helpless that they have to remove their permanent family home.
“We bought this land for K5, 000 and the building of our family home cost over K40, 000. All my family we have been devastated. We have nowhere else to go and we are still searching for a place to go and reside. That’s for us the working class but the people who depend on marketing, they are greatly affected.
“All I can say is that the current government hasn’t done enough for the people. The government should compensate the affected community. Just compensate us so we can move on to another place to resettle,” Eringe said.
Moreover, the displaced settlers are questioning why the government is silent about the issue and other similar issues that are happening in the country.
They are now calling on the Marape-Basil government, the NCD governor Powes Parkop and their local MP John Kaupa to come out and address this issue.
Squatter Settlement Sector Movement (#S3M) is a new social movement platform in PNG. The aim of #S3M is to rally informal and squatter settlers to use people’s power and vote out forced eviction.
Join #S3M Facebook group now and take part in the poll.
Say No To Forced Eviction:
Vote for:
#RightToTheCity
#InclusiveCityForAll
#LeaveNoOneBehind
Very moving stories and pics, I wonder how the local MP is gonna respond because comes next year around this time and month these are gonna be his potential voters if he steps in without delay. Cos it is still going to be fresh in their mind…
Terrible…theu must do better then this as the government for the people.
Very sorry…it was a risk taken by settlers, however after the hype about the urban settlement programming NCD by Governor Parkop and Kaupa where settlers living in 9 mile and 8 mile were given land titles, these ATS settlers must have thought they would be beneficiaries to the program..very sorry that it turned out to be the opposite..Our leaders need to find a way to help those displaced families..
What heartless leaders can allow this to happen to the very people they called their own?
I pray that some one will come out from PNG who will develop strategic plans for all people of all categories in this country, the poor and the marginalized in the remote areas of our country, the poor people in the villages, the University graduates with a paper certificate that does not land them a job, now their numbers building up, the hopeful but rather hopeless living at peripheries of our towns and cities selling buai, dakas and boiled daily to make ends meet for the night.
People are our greatest resource we have in our country. When our people are meaningfully engaged, our country will develop same speed.
What a Disgrace – The so called take back PNG as the Government of today called it.
Shouldn’t they at least think it through before making the decision or accepting the money.
People are not just animals you can take their homes away and expect them to live on the streets.
There should be a strategy plan put in place to re-locate the settlers or otherwise compensate everyone who lost their homes.
Comments are closed.