Transcript
LUKE KIDDLE: The government seems to be getting more serious about urban issues. They hosted a national conference to discuss urban issues and principally the need to better manage urban growth. The United Nations' shelter agency has a global programme with a component in the Pacific, which is about looking at best options for upgrading current informal settlements. So this work, built from the work of UN Habitat, which was looking to firstly profile the informal settlement situation in Honiara, to get a better understanding of the current situation, in order to then put in place some programmes and support for informal settlement upgrading.
JAMIE TAHANA: This is measures like getting them formally down, I guess, and connected to things like water, power and stuff, isn't it?
LK: Yeah that's right. So most informal settlements in the Solomons, like elsewhere in the Pacific, are very poorly provided with services. Infrastructure is limited if provided at all. Water supply is patchy and often jerry-rigged. Electricity supply is also patchy. And sanitation and toilet services are limited at best, or I suppose you could say less than ideal quality.
JT: The settlements are expanding, aren't they? What's this like, considering land is such a sensitive issue in Solomon Islands?
LK: Yeah the settlements are expanding. Certainly the fastest growing urban areas of greater Honiara are the informal settlement areas, both within and outside the formal town boundaries. So yeah sensitive issues at stake, very complex issues, obviously, involving land. Many of the settlements, particularly outside of the formal town boundary, are on customary land. Some of those settlers may have an arrangement with the landowner, some may not. So yeah, very sensitive issues, very complex issues, and the way forward is not necessarily easy or clear. But what is obvious, I think, is that the scale of the issue is getting more serious, and stakeholders do need to get their heads together to look at ways that urban growth and the growth of informal settlements can be better managed.
JT: How should they be going about this?
LK: Firstly, I think that realisation that urban growth is only going to continue in the Pacific is important. Central government needs to be working closely with local government on some of these issues. In Honiara, both Honiara city council and the Guadalcanal provincial government are key stakeholders that need to be engaged. And to date engagement with Guadalcanal provincial government has been relatively limited. So in the first instance obviously people talking, but also stakeholders getting together and mapping out the best ways forward.
JT: Housing is expensive, there's a kind of housing supply crisis in Honiara to.
LK: Yeah, absolutely true. Part of that is related to the RAMSI (Regional Assistance Mission to Solomon Islands) period. After the ethnic tensions period ended, (there was) an influx of ex-patriates which sort of pumped up the price of particularly formal housing. So in short, most formal housing supply is just completely out of reach for average Solomon Islanders.So in terms of what's required, I think a mixed solution, a comprehensive package, is really needed. Innovative thinking is needed. A discussion, I think, on opportunities for reducing standards which currently lead to very high new subdivision costs. In the Solomons, government isn't involved in the provision of housing that actively targets low-income earners. And this is the thorny one I think; looking at opportunities to increase the supply of urban land and also land outside of the town boundary are needed.
