THE Government is urged to seriously consider calls to settle the issue surrounding the city boundary.
Tandai chiefs, landowners, and people of north west Guadalcanal made the call this week.
Spokesman for the Tandai chiefs John Batista Nano said the issue of town boundary is of great concern and priority to his people that must be determined and settled.
Forum Solomon Islands International (FSII) chief executive officer Benjamin Afuga said the Honiara town boundary expansion remains a very complex and sensitive issue.
He said the government has been talking about it but failed to demonstrate its commitment to resolving it.
“I am not at all surprised that NCRA has included this issue as one of its priority areas for this year.
“This is a same old story told by many successive governments,” Mr Afuga said.
“Many of the revelations exposed by Mr Nano, in particular moving the boundary 4 times is not only irresponsible but shameful.
“How can you do that to someone who has been so understanding, kind and helpful?”
MrAfuga described these government actions as “administrative land grabs” and must be condemned by society.
“It is surprising to see land grabs still happening in a modern era, where the laws and legitimate accountable institutions exist to protect the rights of indigenous landowners.
“Similarly many of the social and investment problems experienced in Honiara are caused by land issues, especially the illegal settlements.
“They are primarily caused by poor land administration and the government must be blamed for this hysteria,”Mr Afuga said.
He said Honiara is no longer the city of the 40s to 90s period, or this millennium.
“It is absolutely a different Honiara where 64,609 people and 8,981 households sandwiched in a 22.8 square kilometers limits.
“Documents confirmed that the western end of the original Honiara town boundary is Rove, somewhere around the Good View shop and around the Mbokona bay towards the east.
“At the back, the boundary runs along the Lengakiki ridge.
“But how the boundary has accruedup to a 22.8 square kilometer through various meansas claimed by Mr Nano is highly suspicious andone that demands right and honest answers,” Mr Afuga said.
