BY JENNIFER KUSAPA
GUADALCANAL Premier Francis Sade has called on the national government to return the Perpetual Estate titles for alienated lands to the province and its people.
In his speech on Guadalcanal’s 38th second appointed day celebration yesterday, Premier Sade said his executive is looking forward to work with the national government about who should now hold the Perpetual Estate (PE) title to those parcels of land, or if the FTE titles should be transferred to the Guadalcanal Provincial Government.
He said it is important for the national government to assist Guadalcanal province in addressing the long-standing issues affecting the province.
“As old as these issues are, it is therefore crucial that the National Governments helps the Guadalcanal Provincial Government address these issues, and do so urgently.
“Our policy is clear! We want the PE title for alienated lands to be returned to the Guadalcanal Provincial Government and eventually to the people of Guadalcanal.
“This will ensure that our Province and people benefit from our lands and lessen the fast land selling issue without any proper social and economic regulation services.”
He also said due to the migration of people from different parts of the country in search of opportunities, many of them have built settlements beyond the town boundary, on customary and alienated lands.
“Many of these are informal or squatter settlements.” He adds.
“This creates challenges as well as opportunities. As stated earlier before, due to Nahona’ara, Guadalcanal Province hosts people from all over the country and is in many ways the center of Solomon Islands, it has also created tensions between indigenous Guadalcanal people and our fellow citizens from other provinces. It also increases the competition for social services.”
