Lands Minister orders investigation

Wednesday June 11, 2014

Lands and Physical Planning Minister Benny Allan has directed the department secretary Romilly Kila Pat to immediately issue a stop work notice to a developer of a land in the National Capital District.
His direction comes after he noticed fencing around a well-known sports and recreational land situated at section 136, Lot 3 commonly known as Nomads Cricket Ground between the newly built Laguna Hotel and the Carpenters along Waigani Drive.
The piece of land was owned by a group of trustees in the 1980’s and 1990’s and was used by locals for cricket competitions, trainings, and other sports purposes to date.
It is alleged the cricket ground has been given away to a controversial multi-million kina company.
According to information, the land was under Nomads Cricket Club Trustee which was mortgaged to the bank and later discharged for special purpose such as sporting activities and for public use. It is unknown at this stage how the land was transferred from the trustee to a private company whether the zones of the land have also been changed from sports to commercial use.
The Lands Minister queried if the developer complied with the processes and procedures in their application to be considered by the NCD Physical Planning Board and the National Land Board.
“Why there was no public notice for public comments on the transfer of the sports/recreational land to private ownership?” he queried. 
He said NCDC has lost lots of sports and recreational land to foreign companies including part of Unagi oval and OTC grounds and now the Nomads ground is a cause for concern which he will need to clean up.
Minister Allan therefore ordered an immediate investigation into the alleged dubious land deal.
He said if the investigation reveals lack of compliance with certain legal procedures he will be obliged to invalidate the land title as the minister responsible under the Land Act 1996. 

Hon. Benny Allan, MP
Minister for Lands & Physical Planning