1. Accessibility of customary land for residential property development in PNG: Challenges and prospects

2. Background information
Demand for land by private property developers increases
Stated owned land (3%) is almost exhausted
Alternative option: access customary land
Customary land can be accessed via the ILG and VCLR process

3. Lessons learnt from views of private property developers
Shortage of state land increases cost of building a house
Increase sales and rental prices
High sales and rental prices in Port Moresby and others
Supply more customary land to the formal market
Customary land must have secure tenure or title
Register customary land via ILG and VCLR process

4. Lessons learnt from views of private property developers
Promote ILG/VCLR system
Most landowners ill informed about the system
More public awareness
Encourage landowners to register their land

5. Challenges to access customary land
Decisions regarding use of customary land is taken collectively
Customary land is communally owned
Any decision must include views of members of every social unit
Exclusion of any member leads to disputes, development disruptions and even loss of human life
Demarcation of customary land boundaries is not often clear
Land boundary information passed orally
Lack of reliable map or plans to identify traditional land boundaries
Boundary disputes are common in PNG

6. Challenges to access customary land
Inadequate public awareness
Public not well informed on ILG and VCRL process
Fear of losing customary land ownership rights via ILG and VCLR process
Complicated land registration process
ILG process consists of 17 steps involving 7 state agencies
ILG/VCLR process is costly and lengthy
Landowners face difficulties in accessing land registration requirements

7. Challenges to access customary land
Poor land management practices
Transparency and accountability issues relating to management of state land
Poor record keeping of state land transaction files
Absence of sustainable land use policy
No land use policy to guide allocation, development, management and use of land and its resources

8. Policy interventions for improving access to customary land
Promote public awareness on ILG/VCLR process
More public awareness on the process, Acts that empower landowners, and expected benefits
Awareness must include all stakeholders like landowners, property developers, students, private businesses, public servants
Make ILG/VCLR system simple and efficient
Redesign the current land registration process
Be flexible with registration requirements like birth certificates

9. Policy interventions for improving access to customary land
Include all communal members in the customary land registration
Identify and include every member of social units in the decision making process
Reduce potential land use conflicts
Improve land administration system
Develop an effective land administration system
Promote transparency and accountability
Establish a separate office purposely to manage customary land

10. Concluding remarks
Encourage landowners to register their customary land through the legitimate ILG and VCLR process, lease the titles to developers while ownership rights still remain with landowners, and enjoy the benefits.
Strongly discourage landowners selling unregistered land to developers. Landowners only benefits during transaction, and also losing ownership rights to developers.

11. Policy interventions for improving access to customary land
Include all communal members in the customary land registration.
Identify and include every member of social units in the decision making process
Reduce potential land use conflicts
Improve land administration system.
Develop an effective land administration system, reduce time taken for registration
Promote transparency and accountability
Establish a separate office purposely to manage customary land

12. Thankyou