World Bank water project may require Government to acquire land and make changes to land laws

International financial institutes, the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank, and the European Union, will be funding a multi-million dollar project to build infrastructure for water and sanitation. The project will be implemented primarily by Solomon Water, the national body responsible for water and sanitation services in the country. The World Bank says the project will align with policy objectives relating to health, safety and economic growth, reduction of public and environmental health risks, building climate change resilience, as well as empowering women. (Source: Solomon Star, 23 May 2019)

The World Bank anticipates that the project will inevitably require some land to be acquired, particularly around Honiara, and has developed a policy to address this issue. If land will need to be acquired, then the proper identification of the landowners, including identification of their claimed land boundaries, will be necessary. The process of identifying landowners and their land boundaries, training of land acquisition officers, and setting up the appropriate systems and processes to deal with the process including any disputes are probably already underway. Changes to the current land laws are also likely so as to align with the project objectives. Government as well as civil society buy-in will be essential to the success of the project and the World Bank and the other international financial institutes, development-aid donors supporting the project, as well as development-aid recipients co-opted in the project will have an interest in the project being viewed in a positive light. The article in the Solomon Star exalting the potential benefits of the project fulfills that role.

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Government accused of not dealing with true owners of land earmarked for Bina Harbour project

A tribal chief, claiming to represent the true owners of the customary land where the Government intends to develop the Bina Harbour project, has challenged the DCGA Government’s reconciliation ceremony held recently, in which a MOU was signed with the apparent resource owners. The tribal chief said that the DCGA Government was dealing with settlers and not with the rightful owners of the land. (Source: Solomon Star, 16 May 2019)

Disputes over the ownership of customary land is par for the course whenever there are talks of commercial development taking place on customary land. Previous Governments have tended to view such disputes as a hindrance to national development when it should probably be viewed as part of the process. There is a process, provided under law, by which such disputes can be adjudicated – which should ordinarily lead to the customary land being made available for commercial development – but this depends on Government funding to meet the costs of the adjudication process. The availability of funds to adjudicate land disputes should therefore be a matter of Government priority. In the case of Bina Harbour, unless the land earmarked for the project is legally acquired by the Government and legally registered as registered land, it would be a risky exercise to commence any development while the land remains customary land and subject to competing and unresolved claims over ownership – as evident here. The DCGA Government’s policy of land reform may be a way forward for unlocking customary land for development.

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Government prepares to acquire more customary land

The Ministry of Lands, Housing & Survey has launched a 3-day workshop to train land acquisition officers. Minister, Willie Marau, speaking at the launching, said that the training was important because the Government would be appointing acquisition officers in the future. The Minister stressed to those attending the training, and who may be appointed acquisition officers in the future, the importance of understanding the acquisition process properly to avoid the acquisition process being overturned by the courts due to mistakes in the acquisition process – as has happened in the past. The Minister also used the opportunity to promote the DCGA Government’s Traditional Governance System Bill and the associated Land Reform Bills. (Source: Solomon Star, 15 May 2019)

Economic growth has been hampered by the fact that the land required for national development is usually customary land, which is owned by the customary landowners rather than the Government. The acquisition process is a way for the Government to acquire customary land from the customary landowners. Through this acquisition process, customary land, once validly registered, is converted to registered land, and is therefore capable of being owned by the Government. Once the Government owns the registered land, it can then develop it – or sell or lease it to another commercial entity to develop it. The training of acquisition officers therefore represents a first step, and an important one, that will probably lead to more acquisition of customary land, which the Government will hope, will not be overturned by the courts. It will be interesting to see what Land Reform Bills the DCGA Government are proposing and what impact they will have on existing laws relating to customary land ownership, the acquisition process, and the registration process.

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Communities affected by mining will have place to get advice

Preparations are underway for the setup of a new independent centre called Solomon Islands Mining Advisory Centre (SIMAC) under the Government’s National Minerals Policy. The Chief Mining Inspector, during a public consultation of the new mining law, said that SIMAC will provide more support to landowners and communities who are impacted by mining projects. This support could be in the form of legal advice, awareness training, financial management support, and other services to enable effective participation by landowners, communities and other project impacted persons. (Source: Solomon Star, 15 May 2019)

Mining operations tend to have significant impact on the environment and on the lives of people who live in and around, and depend on, that environment. Recognising this, it seems that the Government has set up SIMAC to address this issue, where those affected by mining can go and get advice. Apart from giving advice, it is not clear what else SIMAC will do. While the Government describes it as an independent body, it is not clear who will comprise SIMAC, how SIMAC will be funded, and whose interests SIMAC will ultimately represent.

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Government roadshow of new mining law to end in May

The Ministry of Mines, Energy and Rural Electrification recently finished a successful consultation with members of the landowning groups at Gold Ridge Mine about the National Mineral Policy, the new mining law, and the Solomon Islands Minerals Advisory Centre (SIMAC). An important topic discussed during the consultation was SIMAC, which will be an independent body like a watchdog to oversee the operation and provide feedback as well as recommendations for the purpose of influencing the Ministry. Also discussed at the consultation was the need to improve how the mining sector is regulated given the recent experience in Rennell, Isabel, and Guadalcanal. The Ministry added that the consultation for the new mining law took place in Honiara in September 2018 and is planned for Guadalcanal, Isabel, Rennell, and Choiseul in May 2019. (Source: Solomon Star, 15 May 2019)

With the consultation timetable set to end in May 2019, the new mining law may be ready for Parliament by late 2019 or early 2020. The Government may be keen to fast-track this new mining law to ensure Government revenue continues to flow with logging revenue expected to decline in the future.

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Resource owners promise not to disturb Bina Harbour project

The DCGA Government has entered into a Memorandum of Understanding with the ‘resource owners’ of Bina in West Kwaio, following a ‘reconciliation’ ceremony, to allow the development of the Bina Harbour project. Member of Parliament for West Kwaio, Titus Fika, was confident that the MOU would allow the Bina Harbour project to go ahead without any dispute by or disturbances from the ‘resource landowners.’ (Source: Solomon Star, 14 May 2019)

The DCGA Government has wasted little time in laying the groundwork for the development of national infrastructure projects. While the MOU is a good start, a more concrete legal framework for the intended development may be required as feelings may change in the future, especially when money starts flowing into the project.

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Government eyes customary land for economic development

The DCGA Government has started the process of mapping the boundaries of the customary land of a tribe in Northwest Guadalcanal under its Land Recording Program. According to the Minister of Lands, Willie Marau, this process will lead to customary land being converted into a commodity which the tribe can then use to participate in the economic development of themselves and the country. The Minister reiterated that land is critical to economic, social, and cultural development and plays a key role in Government’s effort to eradicate poverty and to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals. The Minister assured tribal leaders and the community that the Land Recording Program was not there to alienate their lands but to assist and facilitate security of their land rights. (Source: Sunday Isles)

Customary land disputes – varying from disputes over rival business interests, land boundaries, and access to benefits – have tended to stall attempts by previous Governments and businesses to bring economic development to the rural areas. The existing system to resolve customary land disputes, from a business perspective, is time-consuming, costly, and unpredictable. With national infrastructure projects ready to be funded by foreign states and multinational development banks, the Government may be now laying the groundwork to ensure that customary land earmarked for the projects will be ready for registration, and if necessary, acquisition, thereby fast-tracking economic development.

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ADB keen to have more women own land

The President of the Asian Development Bank, speaking recently at its annual meeting in Fiji, highlighted several areas that ADB considered essential to economic development, among them being gender equality and women empowerment. A particular focus was on supporting a transformative gender agenda such as promoting women’s land title ownership which is a basis for women economic empowerment. (Source: Solomon Star)

It will be interesting to see how this translates locally, particularly with respect to customary land, which traditionally, has been dominated by men, who tend be the decision-makers and beneficiaries regarding commercial developments on customary land. The discourse around women’s ownership and decision-making in relation to customary land may need to change if ADB’s development goal is to be achieved. Increased advocacy by the usual development-aid partners may be required. Law reform is also a distant possibility.

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New mining law soon

The DCGA Government is working on a new mining law, one that promises to promote economic development in an ‘environmentally sustainable’ manner. Prime Minister Sogavare acknowledged that Solomon Islands had been caught in a very ‘awkward situation’ recently over mining issues. (Source: Solomon Star)

Apparently, previous Governments were not able to prevent that ‘awkward situation’ from happening under the existing mining law. With logging expected to decline in the near future, mining is seen as the next big source of Government revenue. However, the minerals are located under customary land so accessing them may be difficult if customary landowners refuse to cooperate with the Government or the mining company. How the new mining law will overcome these problems will be interesting.

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Commissioner of Lands reassures public of recent land resumption

The Commissioner of Lands has reassured the public and business who own land that they have nothing to fear about recent steps taken to resume land in Honiara. According to the Commissioner, that land was resumed because it was undeveloped, and since that land was undeveloped, no compensation was required to be paid. The Commissioner explained further that the Government would be obliged to pay compensation if it were to take back land that had been developed. Since the Government has ‘no money’ to pay compensation, it is unlikely to take back land that has been developed. (Source: Solomon Star)

Owners of fixed-term estates and leases may want to check that they are fully compliant with the development conditions of their estate or lease. The Commissioner has been quite active since his appointment. Don’t be surprised if more land is resumed or acquired by the Government.

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