The Kokopo City Boundary Committee headed by the Chairman and former Kokopo City Mayor, Albert Buanga, recently completed two weeks of the Proposed Kokopo City Boundary General awareness program.
The general awareness started off on the 26th of January and ended on the 6th of February 2026 which targeted 19 wards within the Kokopo District administration in East New Britain province (ENBP).
These wards include Malakuna 5, Rainau, Taui 1, Taui 2, Ramale, Bitagalip, Ulagunan, Vunabalbal, Bitarebarebe, Vunamami 1, Vunamami 2, Karavi, Balanataman, Ulaulatava, Malakuna 4, Tinganavudu, Takubar, Kabakaul and Ranguna wards that the proposed Kokopo City Boundary covers.
The main purpose of the awareness was to do close consultation with wards and their ward members as well as getting local knowledge on the different types of land available in their respective wards whether it be freehold, customary, state or plantations.
The two-week awareness saw much feedback from locals that were raised.
Many landowners claimed that their blocks of land have no proper titles.
The alarming issue identified and even raised, was the land disputes between different parties and have led to ongoing fights and even death in wards.
Another issue identified was the Integrated Land Group (ILG).
Many locals in the wards visited, said their customary lands have no ILG certificate or have not been formally registered claiming that the barrier was the ILG process of which many of them are not sure of.
In response to the ILG query raised, provincial customary lands officer Henry Pinuana, stated that the problem many land groups faced in getting their ILG registered is because of the trend of recruiting private consultants for a quicker way of getting their ILG’s registered but many ended up spending a lot of money and the outcome is always negative.
Mr. Pinuana stated that the Lands division have process to apply for and ILG certificate and even getting the ILG registered, however, it is the people that make the choices and end up blaming the Provincial Lands Office.
In complementing the awareness program, Kokopo Open Member Ereman ToBaining Junior, said that the awareness will be an ongoing program and the first leg of it has been done during the first two weeks.
He added stating that the expansion of Kokopo City will not take place on the sea or up in the air but will take place on land in which land is life, therefore, in order for the town to expand without disputes, landowners must be well informed.
“That is why the Lands sector and the Lands division through the provincial lands office, will play a vital role in assisting landowners to get their available land surveyed and title in preparation of the city expansion."
ToBaining further added that all untitled land must be titled so that when the government moves in with development, the very people to benefit will be the rightful landowners because their titled land will now be ready to partner with the government in terms of the city expansion.
He also mentioned that the expansion of Kokopo City will be unique from Port Moresby, Lae and Mt Hagen.
“As it is, no land grabbing, only municipal services will be expanded to all the wards captured in the city boundary and people will enjoy doorstep service” said ToBaining.
He says more wards consultations will continue with rightful landowners because the expansion of Kokopo as the 4th city and the tourism hub of Papua New Guinea, depends entirely on land and because 97% of land in PNG is customarily owned, the city expansion will take time and proper consultations and planning with landowners is a must.
Moreover, this is first step into establishing a good working relationship with the local people in th wards that the proposed city boundary will run through.
ToBaining also urged landowners to stop the sale of land whereas selling their land, is selling their birth right.
Meanwhile, chairman of the City Boundary Committee Albert Buanga, also made it clear during the awareness that the main purpose of the awareness was to let people know of the city expansion and the proposed city boundary that will run through the above-mentioned wards.
“This awareness is all about close consultation with wards and getting proper feedback on land, land use and other issues within wards, it is not land- grabbing as many claimed.”
Mr. Buanga also stated that due to rumours heard, the awareness is not a political move thou Kokopo MP Mr. ToBaining is supporting the program because he was the one who presented the Bill in 2015 in parliament for Kokopo to be the 4th City of PNG.
He added that Kokopo town at the moment cannot cater for its growing population, therefore, the town needs to expand.
That is the reason the committee was established in 2024 to carry out proper awareness and consultations within wards so that people are well informed of the current developments taking place in Kokopo City and ENBP as a whole.
Furthermore, the successful completion of the awareness saw the teamwork from the provincial and district lands office, community development sector, district information unit, city boundary committee and the Kokopo open members office.
The awareness team is now working on the second detailed awareness program including all interested stakeholders from both the public and private sectors.
