Housing developer challenges state entities

Caption: South Pacific Homes Director Peter Tapiolas.

By MATTHEW VARI

Sunday, December 6, 2015 (Sunday Chronicle, PNG)

SOUTH Pacific Homes Director Peter Tapiolas has called on the State housing entities to make land project available to developers to get maximum returns and get idle housing projects up and running.

Tapiolas made the comments when presenting South Pacific Homes vision to provide quality affordable homes for the urban Port Moresby market at the National Research Institute last week.

“Land is the key and the state has got a role to play. If it can provide the state land. Developers like South Pacific Homes can deliver affordable homes,” Tapiolas said.

“We can deliver those small homes on a state piece of land under that K200,000. We have come in here looking at the market for many years and the market is that people want their own home.”

“We are having discussions with the state because we are aware that land is the issue. And our experience in Australia is if you let private enterprise enter into a public private partnership and let it happen, open the floodgates, let competition in, the market will take care of the rest.”

He added, however, that the current market in PNG does not provide an open market environment.

“We are paying higher prices for a whole range of things that people shouldn’t be. If we had control over the land like we do in our Australian projects, we do it from virgin bush right up to delivering fully services allotments.”

He also made mention of the much publicized Duran Farm housing project that has not moved beyond the point of land clearing, and SPH’s interest to get the project off the ground.

“With Duran Farm and we would love to be a part of that. It certainly concerns us and probably the other builders that might be working there,” he said.

“I do not see that development happening quickly and I just cry as I fly over and see all that land being cleared and see all that gravel being pushed out and nothing has been happening there.”

“Let a private developer in there, he will develop it- it will there, otherwise I am fearful that in five years’ time nothing will happen.”

Topialas added the example of the state government in Queensland that had a similar problem delivering affordable homes.

“The private market was delivering homes but they were not at the price point that they wanted that were to affordable and socially acceptable homes.”

“So the State Government came to us and we actually entered into a joint agreement to develop a large parcel of land in Townsville called Cosgrove.”

“We are developing 3,000 lots in Cosgrove, government has actually mandated that 10% of those lots to be actually social housing, and another 10% at an affordable price band.”

“That is certainly something the government up here should look at considering if they are entering into a public private partnership with a private company.”