Commissioner of Lands (CoL) Alan McNeil in a public consultation on Thursday in Noro, Western Province (WP) says the land mass commonly known as PARI land is now under the hands of government through COL.
This was confirmed by Mahroy Vincent of Noro who was present during the meeting and described the consultation as one that was anticipated by the public since the land drawn much attention in the past year or two.
During the hour long consultation meeting a brief history of the land and its acquisition was shared of which it was explained by the commissioner that the land mass was acquired by the PARI company in 2012 with the intention to develop the land over a period of 10 years.
However, this was not done and instead parcel of the land were sold which forced the CoL to reclaim the land.
But commenting on the meeting yesterday Donald Bato a firm representative of PARI Development said the meeting is a debacle and a form of indoctrination.
“All though we (PARI) were given was a forfeiture notice, that of which has a process of its own, which arguably should only be complete after due agreement with the current FTE holders.
“To say the land is inadequately developed is truly not a fair assessment especially in the last few years the concerned land now hosts the submarine cable, Telekom installments as well as road access.
“PARI Development as a Fixed Term Estate (FTE) holder legally has a right to do with the land as it wishes provided it is within the law of the country, and an FTE holder has the legal right to sell land parcels.”
CoL McNeil was accompanied by Board Members of Noro Town Council including the Town Clerk, Noro Lands Officer and the WPG Member for Ward 25 Loncy Zala.
Over a hundred people were present during the consultation and included invested land owners as well as some who claim to have bought property parcels on the land in concern.
BY TERENCE ZIRU
Gizo News Bureau
