Port Moresby housing price boom leaves locals homeless
Updated
Many of us dream of owning our own home one day, but for many people in Papua New Guinea's capital just finding a place to rent is becoming just that - a dream. Even those with good jobs are being forced to live in Port Moresby's illegal squatter settlements as property prices soar out of reach.
Presenter: Liam Fox, PNG correspondent
Speaker: Joe Sabbath and Motsy David, Port Moresby residents unable to afford homes; Andrew Kunbakor, PNG Housing Minister
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FOX: Joe Sabbath and his family moved in with his in-laws after the unit they were renting was sold two months ago. He earns a decent wage but the cheapest place he can find costs the equivalent of around 750 Australian dollars a fortnight, a huge amount of money by local standards.
SABBATH: Nobody gets that kind of salary, no, a simple public servant works for the government cannot afford that kind of rent. The government should actually try and control these things. Public servants a lot of them want to do a good job but because of housing problems half of them are living in settlements. We need somebody to take control of this situation now, it's just getting crazy.
FOX: Teacher Motse David moved his family into the Eight-Mile settlement because the land is free.
DAVID: Rentals are very expensive and I can't not live in the city because of the rents are going to kill me. So therefore I decided to come and live in a settlement here so that I can save some money for rainy days, for medical reasons, for holiday, and for school fees for the children.
FOX: The land may be free, but technically the settlements are illegal. While authorities for the most part turn a blind eye, that situation can quickly change.
Last week, police demolished part of the Five-Mile settlement after three murders in the area. It's a tactic they've used before and just yesterday police warned residents in the Two-Mile settlement they'll use it again unless there's a reduction in criminal activity. Many locals blame the influx of high paid foreigners for pushing up property and rental prices. But Rod Mitchell, the CEO of one of the city's biggest developers, the Superannuation Fund NASFund says it's not that simple.
MITCHELL: We've had a huge influx of people from outside the province over the last number of years. In terms of constructing more property, titled land in Port Moresby, there's not a lot of it. Secondly, the costs of constructing housing in Port Moresby is very expensive. A lot of the materials are imported, so there's a number of reasons why it just didn't get off the ground.
FOX: Mr Mitchell says the national government needs to play a role if housing in Port Moresby is to become more affordable.
MITCHELL: If the government is serious about housing, I think they've got to put their money where their words are and start actually becoming partners in development, and that means building some of the basic infrastructure so the private sector can actually go ahead and build houses.
FOX: The Housing Minister, Andrew Kumbakor, admits the government has failed to address the issue.
KUMBAKOR: Of the three per cent land owned by the state or held by the state, many of them have been mismanaged, squatter settlements all over, and for we to go and repossess that land you have to deal with those human beings that are there. So the process is long.
FOX: But he says the soon to be completed construction of 80 new homes at a new sub-division marks a turning point, and he says there are plans for the state to build hundreds more at another 400 hectare site.
KUMBAKOR: The government's challenges in my view is flood the market with low-cost housing, middle-cost housing. Then you'll see them coming down.
FOX: But even if that plan is realised it will be years before many Papua New Guineans can afford to live outside Port Moresby's squatter settlements.
