ONE of the leading researchers in the Honiara urban growth report launched last week says public-private partnership is a way forward to address urban growth in Honiara.

Mr Joe Foukona said the existing issue affecting urban growth in Honiara is because important stakeholders are always left out in urban planning processes.

He adds that many people don’t even understand urban regulations and at the same time are unable to access information from influential urban planning authorities.

“Many don’t feel well connected to urban planning processes, don’t understand urban regulations, or know how to access and influence urban authorities.

“As highlighted at the first Solomon Islands Urban Conference last year in 2016 – we need to get better at connecting the people.

“That means opening up more dialogues with key landowning groups, service providers, government officers and the private sector to come up with inclusive processes and frameworks for urban land development that work in our context,” Mr Foukona explained.

He stressed that Honiara urban growth needs proper processes together with support from customary land owning group to develop their land without any disturbance.

Mr Foukona said the research carried out by his team found the need to establish an open dialogue seeking green light from both development aspirations and landowning groups.

He said this process will encourage urban development to accommodate customary land tenure to be fairly distributed with shared benefits.

“Our project held a workshop with communities in the Henderson area of Guadalcanal province.

“Participants supported urban development as long as customary land tenure was respected and benefit sharing fair,” Mr Foukona said.

He said most people are affected by rapid urban population growth in Honiara and this leads to housing shortages and service gaps.

Mr Foukona said there are many possibilities from public-private partnerships to establish initiatives such as tenders for land development so that public facilities and services are always part of the tender process.

He said Honiara is developing and there is a need to ensure developments are implemented in a way that fit public, as well as private needs.

Mr Foukona continues to say that it is equally important to know more about who is living in Honiara and also who comes to Honiara when they need service.

He said such idea will help authorities to focus on the future of Honiara urban planning and growth.