Modernization of Port Moresby at whose expense? Mine or someone else: A personal experience By Busa Jeremiah Wenogo It is overwhelming when one tries to comprehend the pace of development that is taking place in Port Moresby. A drive around the city gives one an impression of the huge level of investment that the government is putting into Port Moresby in the hope of transforming it into one of the best cities in the Pacific and the world. The amount of money that the government has spent so far in modernizing Port Moresby has already reached the billon kina mark. For instance, the much talked about fly over bridge at Erima in Port Moresby will cost the government K800 million. This is just one of the many huge impact projects costing in the millions that the government through the National Capital District Commission (NCDC) is embarking on. Initially the hype around the city is one of great optimism as residents in the city became hopeful of the positives that would come out of the planned developments in the city. However, recent cases of forced eviction have brought anxiety and confusion into the minds of the city residents. Subsequently, many people are now beginning to wonder what the future holds for them. It is clear that while these developments are long overdue it is also bringing with it problems. Although problems are expected to arise with any development,unfortunately for Port Moresby’s case, the magnitude of the problem is huge given that the city has continuously suffered from poor planning since independence. The result speaks volumes with the city now in the middle of a major housing crisis with settlements outpacing formal development and subsequently occupying most of the state owned land. Therefore, sudden injections of life into the city in the form of big developments have resulted in most of these settlers being made homeless. What is even more worrying is when public servants or other civil servants who have genuine clear land titles cannot have access to basic services such as water and electricity. Classic examples are those state titled houses located within settlements. On the other hand, there are countless of public servants and the general working class in the city who are resorting to settlements due to its affordable rental rates. Two (2) years ago I moved in with my family to Erima after I managed to secure a mortgage loan over a house there that we were moving into. Although the house was a decent high post 3 bed room house, there was no water running eventhough we had bathroom and toilet inside. Nevertheless, faced with very limited opportunities we had no choice but to move in and do the best that we could with what we were offered. Regardless of the huge costs that we would have to bear, given the dire housing condition in Port Moresby we saw this as God’s blessing. To me it was a one (1) in a million chance for me to get a house with a state title at a bargain price in Port Moresby. Once we moved in we were told by our neighbours that the only means of accessing water was to walk down to the main road and fetch from common taps set up by Eda Ranu. However, water flows through the taps only at certain times of the day, that is, 6-9am in the morning, 12-1pm in the afternoon and 6-9pm in the evening. There is no exception to the rule as mothers, children, fathers, youths, the old and elderly, employed and unemployed folks carry bucket loads of water day in and day out from the road side taps to their houses. For the minority few living on the side of the road, distance is not much of a problem. However for the majority to access water they will have to negotiate the heat of the sun and the on-coming vehicles while heading back home. Already couple of accidents have occurred along the road. One of them involved a child who while waiting for his mother was hit by an oncoming vehicle sometime this year. Fortunately, quick action from the community resulted in the child being rushed to the hospital to receive treatment. Often times I wonder what the travelling public thought of us or let alone the government when they see people struggling to look for water in the heart of the city. Even worse the sight of mothers, fathers and children armed with water containers and convoying back to their homes is surely a sight that no right thinking government would ever want to entertain. Port Moresby as the capital city of Papua New Guinea should portray an image of a city that is setting a benchmark interms of development and addressing key socio-economic indicators for other towns and even regional cities in the Pacific and Asia to follow. This scenario made me realize that the government did not care for its people and I began to understand the hopelessness that I see in the eyes of the youths and generally the people that live there. Later on, I found out that this problem is not only confined to Erima but is widespread and includes 8 mile, 9 mile, ATS and some other parts of the city. Given that these areas are home to the majority of city residents in Port Moresby one can imagine the magnitude and complexity of the problem. A couple of days after we moved in I was informed by neighbours that water was never a problem until recently when EDA Ranu decided to reduce the water pressure due to illegal connection and the ensuing “out of control water bills”. While I acknowledged EDA Ranu’s move to cut cost I felt that the state miserably failed me as a state title holder. It dawn on me that the state had no responsibility to protect my rights or interest as accorded to me under the constitution or the legal title I had over my house and land. In the end I came to the conclusion that nothing’s going to happen in the near future and decided to purchase a 4500 L water tank purposely to hold water for my family’s use. The problem is that given the large family size the water runs out before the month’s end and so I had to pay K330 a month to a water company to refill the tank. I may consider myself lucky but I feel for the majority of the people in the community especially babies, kids and mothers who need water on a regular basis. Last week I read about NCDC’s plan to inspect houses in the city to make sure residents conform to certain acceptable hygiene and health standards. I command the commission for this initiative however, I see a problem here. For some of us rate payers although we are willing to pay for garbage collection, the services cannot get to our door step due to poor peripheral roads (street roads). Subsequently, I had to dig up the remaining portion of the land at the back of my house to dump all of my family’s rubbish. Worse comes to worse we just put them into plastic bags and then we either burn them or discard them onto the side of the road which is very unhygienic indeed. But once again we don’t have a choice. Sometimes my family and I had to climb the mountain at the back of our house to dump our rubbish. The last time I checked, this place was now over-filling with rubbish and not long there is going to be a major outbreak of diseases. Recently, I have observed with great interest the development that is taking place around Erima. The Fly over bridge and the wildlife/Erima junction roundabout that is currently under-construction are two of the most obvious developments. These developments as one would expect are bringing with it mixed reaction. For those who have state titles on their land like myself, I am hoping that these developments will open up opportunities for Erima to become an attractive suburbs where genuine rate payers and their families get to stay and enjoy. This I feel has been unfairly deprived from us by the government not doing anything about the settlement issue in Port Moresby. Such developments we hope will once again connect us to basic services like water and efficient electricity services. However, for the majority of landless settlers these developments are bringing anxiety and confusion given that thus far eviction has followed suit whenever NCDC/Government undertakes a development in the city. The Paga Hill and the Erima Arts and wildlife junction incidents are reminders of what the government can do when in pursuit of development in the city. We have read and seen on TV about what the government has in store for settlers in 8 mile, 9 mile and Burns Peak but so far there has been nothing said about Erima. In the vacuum, residents have been bombarded with so many stories from individuals about the government’s plan for Erima but I remain a skeptic until I get some sort of clarification from the “horses mouth” .i.e from NCDC. As a citizen of Port Moresby (been born and raised in the city) I have high hopes for the city and I am proud of the development that is taking place in Port Moresby. To me it is a breath of fresh air after so many years of stagnation. However, being a family man I worry about the future of my family, neighbours and the surrounding community. So everyday when I walk around Port Moresby or pass through the fly over bridge in Erima I asked myself this question “modernization of Port Moresby at whose expense? Mine or someone else? I guess only time will tell.
Posted on: Wed, 05 Nov 2014 00:14:46 +0000
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