Lae, Monday 21 April 2025 – The Livestock Development Corporation (LDC) is set to begin evicting settlers from its long-abandoned Three Mile Livestock Training Centre in Lae, with Managing Director Terry Koim announcing plans to reclaim and redevelop the strategic government asset in line with national agriculture revitalisation efforts.
The move, Koim said, follows a 2020 directive from Prime Minister James Marape to take stock of and reclaim rundown government properties for productive use. Despite notices issued since 2020, and a formal letter in 2022 advising settlers to vacate, illegal occupation has increased—hindering proposed investments in agriculture.
“This land belongs to the State and is under LDC title,” said Koim. “We’ve already reclaimed 14 similar assets across the country. This site, Portion No. 234, opposite the Three Mile Police Station, is among the last and must now be secured. We plan to move in by June 2025.”
Koim has requested Lae Metropolitan Police and the Morobe Provincial Police Command to assist in the operation, stressing that the area has been earmarked for downstream processing investments in livestock and other agricultural products.
“Investors will not commit on customary land. They want secure, State-leased land to build processing facilities—whether for coffee, cocoa, copra, or meat. This land can unlock those opportunities,” Koim stated. “But at present, investors are scared off by the number of illegal structures.”
According to Koim, LDC has exercised its rights as the legal titleholder in previous similar reclamations without needing court orders, and the Three Mile case would be no different. He plans to give settlers one final month—until the end of May—to voluntarily dismantle their structures and vacate.
“I respect that they are Papua New Guineans, and I want to give them time to leave with dignity,” Koim said. “But this land is vital to national economic interests, and we cannot delay its return to productive use any longer.”
He reaffirmed that the planned development is part of the government’s broader effort to reduce raw commodity exports by promoting onshore value addition and job creation in agriculture.
“PNG has the land and the people—we just need the infrastructure and the right policies. Securing this land is the first step toward building that future,” he said.
Koim also hinted that an aerial drone survey of the area would be conducted prior to eviction, to assist in planning and documentation.
The Three Mile Livestock Training Centre, once a hub for livestock extension and training, fell into disrepair after 1995 and was overrun by informal settlers over the following decades. Its planned revival is seen as a litmus test for the government’s push to strengthen agriculture as a pillar of economic growth ahead of PNG’s 50th independence anniversary.