THE dead will soon have no proper resting place as there is no land available within Honiara to establish a new cemetery.

Kolaridge cemetery has been described as over crowded that in some cases desperation to bury the dead lead to wreak havoc on existing graves.

Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Lands, Housing and Survey Mr Stanley Waleanisia said his ministry is still looking for available land as a dwelling place of the dead.

He said a piece of land has been identified at Green Valley but new development has forced the ministry to terminate the proposed site.

“Land at Green Valley was identified but according to studies that there are running water under the proposed site.

“We fear that establishing a cemetery at the site will pose health risk to people given that there are water bole holes erected at the site.

“We don’t want the water bole holes to be contaminated,” Mr Waleanisia said.

He stressed that the Ministry has carried out studies on few sites but results have been negative – meaning that the sites are not suitable to become a cemetery.

Mr Waleanisia said there is no land available within the Honiara town boundary for cemetery and that the need now is to negotiate with landowners for customary land close to Honiara.

He told this paper that the issue is very serious and that the ministry has been searching for suitable land for the past three years without any success.

Meanwhile Waleanisia said his office is still waiting for official submission from Honiara City Council to formally kick start the official search for cemetery land.

“I think HCC has already made a submission to the Ministry of Home Affairs but not us,” he explained.

When contacted yesterday Honiara City Major Hon Andrew Mua said Honiara City Council has already made a submission to the Land Commissioner regarding the issue.

He said HCC is still waiting for a green light from the lands office with full support ahead of any positive feedback.

“We understand that availability of land has been a problem and that we are relying on the Lands office to sort the matter in regards to land allocation.

“HCC is just a caretaker in managing the cemetery as endorsed by the government, so we will have to wait for the government’s decision on this issue,” Hon Mua explained.

He reiterated that HCC is ready to assist the government especially the Ministry of Lands, housing and Survey in search of new cemetery site.