Plans for Housing and Land Package for PNG middle income earners announced

Papua New Guinea'  acting Prime Minister John Rosso says the Government will embark on an affordable land and housing program to be made available in the market for low and middle income earners in the country.

Mr Rosso said that when responding to questions from the media in relation to the recent evictions on settlers who have settled on government and privately owned land in most parts of the urban areas around Papua New Guinea.

 acting Prime Minister John Rosso

He said the Government has inherited a legacy issue on the issue of unplanned and illegal settlements in and around the periphery of urban areas in many parts of PNG.

The Acting Prime Minister who is also the Lands, Physical Planning and Urbanization Minister said the issue of people living in settlements and illegal settlements is a delicate issue that needs a holistic approach to address. And we also have a lot of working class people living there.

“I have been brought up in a settlement myself and I do feel for those people being evicted from the settlements. However, you cannot just settle on land that someone else owns.

“Most of those recent evictions are based on court orders from the National and Supreme courts by people who have the legal titles. These titles were issued before my tenure as Lands Minister, sometime in 2011.

“That is something beyond the National Government's control as the title holders have the legal authority and right to remove or evict the settlers from their land for development purposes.

“And to be frank some of those evictions started as far back as 2011 and were delayed due to court battles,’’ Mr Rosso said.

Acting Prime Minister Rosso said that most of the people who go looking for opportunity and in search of better lives go and settle in those land by dealing with landowners and pay a minimal fee as there is no house and rooms for rent or are too expensive for our average wage earner.

He said past governments have not built any new suburbs like the ones in Gerehu in Port Moresby especially in many parts of other provinces and urban settings like Lae, Mt Hagen, Madang and Wewak.

However, he said the National Government plans to address some of those legacy issues by introducing a house and land package in the market starting next year, 2023.

“The National Government and I as Lands Minister, we have started with the Tuhava House and Land package with the landowners of the Motu-Koitabu and their development partner people to build up to 4000 houses costing 300-400 thousand kina on the market so middle income earners can purchase and own. This will put 400 houses on the market.

“The program is at no cost to the government and we have not put in any single toea,” he said.

In the Tuhava case, the landowners have formed their company and will have shares in the program and get their land subdivided and portioned so that the land remains with them through their landowner company.

The Lands Department will help with the necessary support to the program including Policy and Planning of the land in close collaboration and consultation with the landowners who have allowed their land to be piloted.

Mr Rosso also said some of the houses on the markets are more than 500-600 thousand kina and that is very expensive for our middle income earners, he said.

Acting Prime Minister Rosso said the Government will and is looking at acquiring more land as there is a shortage of State land in many parts of the country’s urban areas.

“There is no more land in areas like Port Moresby, Lae, Kokopo and Rabaul and also in West New Britain, Eastern Highlands, Western Highlands, Madang and East Sepik provinces.

“We want to access more land and extend the urban boundaries with careful planning and to pay or partner those land in careful consultation with the landowners."

The Acting Prime Minister said that they will ensure that also low income earners are part of the program. That will be targeted at our lower income workers and SME around the 100 thousand kina packages.

“We are closely working with private development partners, super funds and landowners to achieve this,” he said.

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