By Julie Badui-Owa – EMTV News, Lae
Morobe’s Chairman for Lands and Physical Planning, Thomas Pelika told EM TV News in Lae, that the delay in endorsing the new members of the Board by the Provincial Executive Council is taking too long.
Morobe currently doesn’t have an official Physical Planning Board. It has been like that since 2015.
The Governor for Morobe, Ginson Saonu, said new members of the Board will be endorsed once funding is available.
The Chairman of Morobe’s Lands and Physical Planning Board and Member for Menyamya, Thomas Pelika, said the process involved in swearing in new Board members has taken too long.
New members of the Board have been appointed by the Provincial Executive Council and are yet to be endorsed.
The delay resulted in reports raised by the public in Lae, concerning breaches of regulations by various businesses and lack of enforcement by authorities.
Businesses have been established in Lae City and some, are operating without following the government’s requirements and regulations.
In April this year, Lae City Council’s Health Division closed a sausage factory, a foreign-owned company operating in a commercial zone near a residential area at Two Mile.
Earlier this week, the Health Division team again, closed Lipo Factory Trading as Sany Food Company Limited, located at a compound near the Bumbu River in Lae.
The foreign-owned company makes fruit juice and distributes to wholesales and then to retail shops.
It was reported that Sany Limited was operating with incomplete documents, that were approved by the Lands and Physical Planning and Building Board to operate.
According to the Physical Planning Act 1989, approving authorities such as Lands, Physical Planning Board and Building Board are supposed to assess business building plans before the city authority issues licenses.
