THE Commissioner of Lands Nelson Noapu yesterday confirmed that Hatanga Limited is the rightful owner of land in the Independence Valley, West Honiara.
Mr Noapu confirmed this as Hatanga Company started moving squatters out from its area last week.
He said Hatanga was granted a Fixed Term Estate (FTE) title over the land which is still valid today.
He explained that with this title, the company is the rightful owner of the area and also had the legal right to exclude anyone from the land.
“The eviction order issued by the High Court and acted upon by the police and the company is straight forward and my ministry cannot intervene,” Mr Noapu said.
The Commissioner of Lands said the Ministry of Lands had no power to stop Hatanga Company because the ministry had already granted the company the right to do anything within the land until its FTE title expired.
Mr Noapu said the government could only reclaim land when there is public interest to construct schools, hospitals or houses for public servants.
“But at this time, the land remains with Hatanga and I believe they have issued notices for eviction before they remove the houses and families,” he said.
The commissioner then called on Honiara residents to visit the Ministry of Lands to get right information about the status of land they occupied to avoid eviction.
“People who want to build houses in areas within Honiara boundary must come to the Ministry of Lands to check before constructing buildings,” Mr Noapu said.
By AATAI JOHN
