Source: PNG Loop

Expert Former Chief Land Title Commissioner Josepha Kiris has issued a stern warning to people selling  customary land in NCD to restrain or face the full brunt of the law.

Kiris, who is also a professional lawyer, told PNG Loop that customary land was not supposed to be sold as there was no law guaranteeing the buyer to own the land. 

Source: The National

SPECIAL agriculture business leases are nothing but a “scam” used by logging companies and will be outlawed immediately, Prime Minister Peter O’Neill says.

He told a radio talkback show yesterday that the logging companies and certain individuals in Government were preying on the innocent and unassuming people in rural areas.

He responded to callers from around the country on the FM100 talkback show complaining about SABLs and the damage they were doing.

Source: PNG Loop

Forest Minister Douglas Tomuriesa says he is developing a program with an aim to deliver services using funds from the Log Export Development Levy.

He says he has written a letter to every Member of Parliament outlining his plans on how the levies from logging companies should be spent on development.

Source: PNG Loop

Logging companies have been asked to show the government the number of developments carried out as part of their community obligation in communities they work in.

Forest Minister Douglas Tomuriesa says companies will have to show cause or their licence to log will be suspended.

He says for far too long local communities have been ignored on their own land and now it’s time to “show and tell’’.

Source: The National

PRIME Minister Peter O’Neill said Port Moresby was a rapidly growing city with so much land being illegally acquired.

He said the Government was repossessing pieces of land taken illegally by individuals and putting them into trust.

He was responding to a caller on FM100 radio talkback show who said Port Moresby did not have sufficient recreational facilities because of all the land grabbing going on in the city. The caller said recreational areas in Port Moresby had been taken up or sold to foreigners or individuals.

MIDAS (Managing Impacts of Deep-seA reSource exploitation) Project and EU DG Mare (Maritime Affairs and Fisheries) Stakeholder Consultation on Seabed Mining 

Source: EUCC News

Source: Radio New Zealand

The National Court in Papua New Guinea has declared two special agriculture and business leases covering 38 thousand hectares of land in Oro Province null and void, ordering the state to cancel the title deeds.

The land is in part of the customary territory of nine indigenous tribes, who argued that they rely on it as the basis for their economy and subsistence livelihoods.

Source: Cook Islands News

Representative Tom Marsters (front left) sits alongside Finance Minister Mark Brown (middle) and Financial Secretary Richard Neves on the opening day of the seabed minerals forum. 14051305

A seabed minerals update meeting held for the public this week was disrupted by certain individuals who “hijacked” the event, says Seabed Minerals Commissioner Paul Lynch.

Source: PNG Loop

Forestry Minister Douglas Tomuriesa says a submission on the recommendations from the Commission of Inquiry (COI) into Special Agriculture Business leases will be presented to the National Executive Council this week.

He says the submission contains two recommendations from the Ministerial Committee on 94 SABLs held by logging companies across the country.

Source: PNG Loop

Landowners of the Collingwood Bay area in Oro Province say the government must act now on recommendations of the Commission of Inquiry into the handling  of Special Agriculture Business Leases.

Adelbert Gangai told PNG Loop that the order by the courts for land titles to be handed back to customary landowners in Collingwood Bay was a victory for all landowners in Papua New Guinea.