East New Britain (ENB) Provincial Administrator Levi Mano has assured that the provincial government will soon award land titles to the resettled people of Rabaul district, now living in the Gazelle, Kokopo, and Pomio districts.
Reflecting on past efforts, Mr. Mano commended the National Lands Department’s recent delivery of nearly 200 titles to Talvat Sikut residents in Pomio, saying, “This is the final and an important part of the restoration program that was supposed to have been completed decades ago.”
“We plan to do the same for Clifton – Asing, Vunakabi, Warena, and Gelagele resettlements, so we can issue titles to everybody that has lived there for 30 years.”
“This is the intention of the Provincial Government, and we will go in a big way in 2025,” he added.
Mr. Mano confirmed preparatory work has begun to issue all titles by December 2025.
Mr. Mano also thanked political leaders and community members from the three districts for accommodating the resettled families.
“Let me assure our people that the provincial administration will be working around the clock to ensure that those in the other 4 major resettlements are given their land titles so that they can use it for their benefit.”
The ENB Provincial Government initially acquired four plantations when the National Development Bank (NDB) auctioned them in the early 1990s after leaseholders defaulted on loans.
“Except for Sikut Talvat, which was already a state-owned land, where we only requested the National Land Tenders Board not to sit on that portion of land in 1994, so we could resettle our people, under a State of Emergency at that time,” Mr. Mano aid.
He said that people were resettled on state land but the process of land allocation was not completed until September this year, when the National Land Board gave out 199 land titles, facilitated by Prime Minister James Marape.
“The other 4 resettlement areas are just plantations that we were lucky enough to purchase at that time, when they were advertised by the NDB,” he said.
It is estimated that a few more hundreds would be given titles, as the whole population along the caldera to coast of Kombiu LLG, were allocated blocks of land in the resettlement areas.