Source: Melissa Martin, Post Courier

SPECIAL agriculture businesses lease (SABL) titles found to be defective by a Commission of Inquiry are mutating into a new scam.

According to landowners, there are early signs that a new trend of mutation is starting to take shape on defective SABLs, and as such they (landowners) have alerted the public to prevent this trend from taking root.

Source: Post Courier

The reason behind the dispute during the special agriculture business lease (SABL) site in Pomio district has been attributed to land ownership issues.

Norbert Pames from Portion 196C (Pomata Investments Limited) in the Sigite/Mukus integrated project area in West Pomio indicated this when commending the national Government on its decision to cancel SABL projects.

Your help is urgently needed by indigenous communities in Papua New Guinea who are seeing their forests illegally destroyed by foreign-owned logging companies.

These companies are stealing logs, destroying the valuable forest environments communities rely on for their subsistence and subjecting local people to violence and abuse.

In compliance with court orders issued in May the Department of Lands has cancelled the SABL titles over portions 113C and 143C in Collingwood Bay, Oro Province.

This follows a successful legal battle by the customary landowners with the substantial support and backing of their Governor, Gary Juffa.

By Jimmy Kalebe, Communications Officer, Turubu Eco-Forestry Inc.

Minister for Trade and Industry and Member for Yangoru-Sausia, Mr Richard Maru on Wednesday night gave Turubu Landowners the green light to use the services of Mobile Squad 04, from Port Moresby to stop certain members of the local police that are interfering with compliance to a National Court Order by the Palm Oil developer illegally operating in Special Agriculture Business Lease (SABL) area Portion 144C, East Sepik Province.

The landowners of Turubu in East Sepik have won a National Court order cancelling the Special Agriculture and Business Lease over Portion 144C and declaring the logging of their land illegal...

Madang Landowners are calling on the National Government to be faithful to their word by cancelling all illegal SABL leases, stop all illegal logging AND return the land to its customary owners.

Over 5 million hectares of customary land in Papua New Guinea has been stolen from local people over a period of time. Using Special Agriculture and Business Leases (SABLs), foreign companies were unlawfully been given 99 year-rights to own the land mass.

Source: EMTV

The Lands Department will be cancelling 25 SABLs as recommended by the Commission of Inquiry.

Secretary for the department Romily Kila Pat says notices will be placed in the two major papers come Monday.

At this stage, the department is currently updating addresses for cancellation. The Lands Department has comfortably moved into its’ new premises called ‘Eda Tano’ or ‘our land.’