The National Court has declared two special agriculture and business leases or SABL's covering over 38-thousand hectares of land in Oro Province null and void, and further ordered the State to cancel their titles.
The SABL titles were issued on traditional land portions 113 and 143 in Collingwood Bay in Tufi, Northern Province, covering a land mass of 41,000 hectares. The area covers nine local tribes, and is full of animal and plant species covered in virgin forests. In 2012 the Acting Secretary for Lands, had issued a 50-year SABL lease to Sibo Management Limited over Portion 113. The Acting Secretary also granted another 50-year SABL lease to Wanigela Agro Industrial Limited for portion 143. The two lands were then sub leased to ANG Agro Forest Management Ltd under the SABL. ANG Agro placed the assets under a company called Collingwood Plantations and sold 51-percent of the company to another company KLK for over 8-million US Dollars, or 20-million Kina. The landowners initiated the court proceedings by way of a judicial review. The orders declaring the two leases null and void were obtained through consent of the disputing parties and was endorsed by the court last week. Comments are closed.
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