Urban land tenure and administration in Papua New Guinea

Abstract

The colonial administration in Papua New Guinea considered custom and customary land tenure to be anachronistic institutions which were to be eventually replaced by western forms of law and land tenure. Whereas customary land tenure had to be tolerated in rural areas, there was no such pressure operating in urban areas which were the creation of the colonial state and remained 'European enclaves' until the 1960s. Urban development took place only on state land; this entailed the purchase of customary land for the establishment and expansion of towns and the drawing of urban boundaries so as to exclude existing neighbouring villages on customary land. Torrens registered state leases were granted over this land. With the approach to Independence in the early 1970s and the re-assertion of traditional values, it was expected that customary law and customary land tenure would play a more important role in national development. The Eight Aims which were adopted at the end of 1972 seemed to ensure this. However customary law and customary land tenure were subordinated to state law and controls in the new urban land tenure regime which the Commission of Inquiry into Land Matters (CILM) devised for an Independent Papua New Guinea. The CILM considered that the development goals of the new nation state required that state law and state institutions be used exclusively in developing urban land. In keeping with this, the CILM called for the nationalisation of all remaining customary land in urban and peri-urban areas. This thesis argues that arguments which led the CILM to recommend the abolition of all customary land tenure in urban areas were misconceived, and that it placed too much reliance on state law and institutions to achieve an efficient and just urban land tenure system. The urban land laws, administrative procedures and institutional structures which have so far obtained in urban areas in Papua New Guinea have failed to advance the national development goals which were adopted at Independence, and have led to substantial inefficiencies and inequities. Changes are necessary, both to the state system and to custom, to promote a more efficient and equitable urban land tenure system. Show more