THE GOVERNMENT’s Land Reform Bill will be tabled in the next parliament sitting on November.
Special Secretary to the Prime Minister (SSPM) Rence Sore confirmed this.
This is for its approval so that work on land reform for customary land could be implemented soon.
Mr Sore stated, land reform is a fundamental reform of the government, operational on land; hence it is designed to engage people and the government in consultations processes to identify ownership of customary land in Solomon Islands.
He said, that this is not an easy job since nation-wide consultations will have to be conducted in order to get the work done.
“The land reform policy will remain a responsibility for the Ministry of Lands and PMO to work on it, so that everything done right with no stone left unturned.”
The SSPM stated that the purpose of this land reform is for the government to keep records of the rightful owners of customary land, so that when future development happens, it will be easy to seek consent from rightful land title holders.
He further explained that certain economic zones identified by the government for its prioritized development projects such as Suafa, Bina, Noro and Tina hydro have separate legislations.
By AATAI JOHN
