Pacific / Papua New Guinea

PNG govt urged to settle issues with Kokoda track landowners

14:11 pm on 19 December 2018

A tour operator on Papua New Guinea's famed Kokoda track says the government should use the current off-season to settle issues with landowners.

Kokoda track Papua New Guinea Photo: WikiCommons

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Villages and landowners along the track's length say they haven't received their share of the money collected by the government's Kokoda Track Authority, and have threatened disruption.

Pam Christie, from PNG Trekking Adventures, said the problems go back several years.

She says that in some cases, the authority doesn't even know who the rightful landowners are.

"When you're working in Papua New Guinea, that's the first thing that you do if you're going to work along a corridor. Whether it's in mining, whether it's trekking, cultural issues, you have to identify who actually owns the land."