Minister takes tough stance against land grabbing

Minister for Lands, John Rosso, says one of the first order of businesses for him will be to reclaim state land from illegal land grabbers in Lae, Morobe Province.

“All the illegal land grabbers, we’ll be going through all their files, all the parks and everything in Lae will be our first order of business, (which) is take them back and they will be done properly in the legal way,” said Rosso during the handover- takeover of the Lands Ministry on Tuesday.

Minister Rosso says he will be working close with Minster for Housing and Urbanization, Justin Tkatchenko, to give titles to locals living in National Housing Corporation properties.

The eviction of locals from NHC properties in Lae has been widely covered in the media, which Rosso wishes to rectify.

“We will also be looking at working closely with the new Minister for NHC, trying to give titles to our ordinary people in the housing corporation properties in Lae, the papas and mamas that have no proper access and were evicted from their houses,” stated the Minister.

“We will be now looking at giving those titles back to them, especially along the 7th Street, the Miles areas and the Papuan Compound Areas.”

Minster Rosso officially begins his duties next Tuesday.

(Minister for Lands, John Rosso)

Author: 
Cedric Patjole