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 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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TSI wants change to electoral laws

Lobby group, Transparency Solomon Islands, in an article in the Solomon Star, wants the Minister of Home Affairs, Chris Laore, to change the electoral system. TSI recommended that the first past the post system be replaced by a limited preferential voting system where the voter must rank the candidates according to their preference which will ensure that the candidate that is ‘most preferred’ wins. TSI also recommended that provision be made for absentee voting to ensure that voters need not travel to their constituency to vote given problems with the high costs of travelling. (Source: Solomon Star 14, May 2019)

TSI’s recommendations suggest some dissatisfaction with the results of the 2019 national general elections. A change in the electoral system may not necessarily achieve the desired result and may in fact lead to more problems. The underlying premise of TSI’s recommendation may need to be further scrutinised.

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Government begins roadshow for new mining law

The Ministry of Mines, Energy, and Rural Electrification will soon conduct a nation-wide public consultation with important stakeholders about the new mining law. A senior official from the Ministry said that the consultation was an opportunity for the stakeholders to comment, question or scrutinize the new mining law. The consultations will take place at: Gold Ridge Mine, Turarana Alluvial Mine community, Honiara with Guadalcanal Provincial Government, East Honiara with quarry companies, Buala, San Jorge Mine communities, West Rennel Bauxite Mine, Sivai community, and Wagina Island. (Source: Solomon Star, 14 May 2019)

The DCGA Government looks keen on bringing in the new mining law and the public consultations, in what appears to be strategic locations where the valuable minerals or the resource owners are probably located, may be an important public relations exercise. It will be interesting to see how the Government reports on the success of the public consultation.

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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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