By JIMMY KALEBE

FRUSTRATION has build up for landowners in Turubu LLG whose land has been the subject of Special Agriculture Business Lease (SABL) in East Sepik Province.

Photo: Landowners gathering in Mundawin village for the meeting to put pressure on relevant authorities to give back their land title on portion 144c in Turubu LLG in East Sepik on Monday. Pihoto: JIMMY KALEBE.

On Monday, more than 50 women and men gathered at a meeting in Mundawin village and gave their support for a possible protest march against logging on their land if the government could not receive their petition.

It was reported in the meeting that letters were given out to government offices in the province to come for the meeting but there was no representatives from the provincial government agencies during the meeting.

The landowners from Suanum, Munjun, Taul, Mundawin, Bungain and Kep villages claim that their land under portion 144c is being sold to investors as marketable item without proper consultation.

During the meeting, a resolution was reached that a petition will be given to provincial authorities as well as the national MPs to look into their concerns regarding the status of their land.

Local people are looking at possible means to make the authorities see the pain that they feel and come down to discuss the issue with them at the village level where majority of the population is and receive their petition.

Turubu local level government ward 3 member Issac Ujim of Mundawin village while giving his remarks during the meeting said the people are ready to go for a protest march if the authorities do not respond favorably to their demands

He said since the logging company engaged by Limawo Holdings Ltd (Landowner Company) to come and harvest timber, there were no proper agreement signed between landowners.

Lately, landowners of portion 144c learned that actually their land is now being transferred from the current logging company to another company supposedly to develop oil palm plantation.

The landowners of the log pond area and the jetty expressed strongly that the actions taken by the landowner company and its partners were done at the back of the many landowners of Turubu LLG.

Aron Saniwa of Taul incorporated land group gave a strong support for the protest march and said if the government through its relevant agencies does not act swiftly people are ready to take any actions that they think is appropriate.

He said such call has been long overdue because locals have made such calls and that the report on the commission of inquiry into SABL is still pending meaning that people might not get their land title back.

The landowners demand that the title to portion 144c be given back to them adding proper procedures must be implemented when engaging new investors to develop oil palm.

Meanwhile it was learnt that the current logging company is winding up its operations and the current log pond area at Turubu Bay will be closed and the company is looking at operating another log pond along the Sepik River.

Locals at Mundawin village are complaining that damages done by the current logging company have not been properly compensated for and with the withdrawing of its operations in this area will mean people loose much.

The villagers said they have engaged Division of Agriculture and to do an assessment of the damages done to cash crops and other food crops but to date this report and others have not been entertained either by the logging company or the landowner company.