ORO Governor, Gary Juffa has put the Department of Lands and other relevant government departments and agencies on spotlight.
In a grievances debate on the floor of parliament on Friday, Governor Juffa said the Department of Lands, Department of Commerce and Industry including Investment Promotion Authority must discharge their mandated roles properly.
Juffa said there is no problem with genuine investors involve in acquiring State lands for development purposes because they are following laws that strictly dictates how they should be performing in developing those lands.
However, Juffa said if the investor is an individual, then the responsible departments must find out its purposes before facilitating the titles.
“If it is a company, it must be a legitimate company registered with IPA for tax purposes. And find out how it has been performing as a company,” he said.
Juffa said there are number of companies that are not genuine operating in PNG.
“They use Papua New Guineans as fronts such as directors and shareholders. Are they signatories to the company’s bank accounts? These types of companies have gone out and illegally obtained lands for whatever purposes that we need to concern about,” Juffa expressed.
“As Chairman of the Special Parliamentary Committee in Public Sector Reforms, I will be issuing letters to your departments and agencies and ask about what your departments are going to do about this particular situation.
“It is not only the foreign companies doing this but also PNG companies that are usually fronts and this is happening throughout the country.”
He said this does not excuse the people who are unlawfully occupying the land.
“This in itself is illegal but it also boils down to the fact that Lands Department is failing to manage this very vital asset,” Juffa added.
The governor further stated that IPA must not become a mere rubber stamp by authorising anyone and everyone to register whatever type of business they want to do.
“You have a vital role to play as enforcers of the laws,” he said.
“Often times, we always blame the police for not doing their jobs. The fact of the matter is that the said government departments are simply not stepping up in doing their job.”
Meanwhile, the Governor has challenged the IPA to institute a survey on companies that are operating in the country to see whether they are actually sticking to what they said to do in terms of business in PNG.
He also challenged the Lands Department to start investigating how nationwide land acquiring exercise have been carried out.
“Before any land is allowed to be acquired by the developers, their genuineness must be ascertained first in the areas of financial capacity and the benefits they wanted to share with their shareholders who are the title holders or owners.”
Governor Juffa made these remarks in light of the ongoing eviction excise at Morata one.
Caption: Oro Governor Gary Juffa.
Too much bribery in the system.
The heads of departments and its employees please let’s work together to save our country.
This is our land this is our home.
Who else gonna fix things if you’re keep on excepting bribery.
Enough is Enough! Lest put a stop and work together to save our country.
With you honourable Governor Jerry Juffa.
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