Stimulating investment in pearl farming in ... - World Fish Center

the Foreign Investment Act. As pearl farming is not listed as a restricted or prohibitedactivity, a certificate of registration should be issued within five days. More detailedissues may then be addressed. This process is under judicial review of matters of law andthe constitutional independence of the judiciary generally renders it free of politicalinterference. The legal system is considered slow but fair and recently a change ofgovernment was precipitated by a Prime Minister’s filling of the Attorney General’sposition with a close personal friend.Unlike the judiciary, the Public Service has suffered from direct political interference andhas been weakened by corruption in many departments. The departments with which aninvestor would mainly be dealing (investment registration, taxation, employment,immigration, lands, fisheries, provincial government) are all ostensibly aiming topromote and assist legitimate investment, but they vary in experience, effectiveness andspeed of doing business. Investors should ensure that documents are carefully preparedand presented, and sufficient time allowed for processing and discussion of anydifficulties with relevant officials. Any suggestion that additional unofficial paymentswould facilitate processing should be rejected.4.1.2 Land and land lease issuesA key issue for investors will be securing long-term leasehold of suitable premises. Likemuch of Melanesia, land (and associated reefs and coastal waters) in Solomon Islands isheld either under customary tenure (90%) or under a system of registration of land (10%).Registered land has gone through a process of title and rights investigation before beingregistered, and the interests in registered land recorded on the Land Register are thesubject of indemnity by the government. Leases on such lands are secure. Customaryland is more problematic. Definitions of customary land rights and boundaries arecomplex and often disputed, more so as customary authority and leadership have brokendown in many areas under pressure from monetisation, education and the physical andfinancial stresses of commercial logging. The barriers that customary tenure erect againstinvestment are appreciated and machinery does exist to convert customary tenure toregistered land, though this requires extensive investigations of traditional use rights andcommunity history. If attempting to acquire a registered interest in customary land, aninvestor would need to be assured of local acceptance of the proposed investment throughextensive interactions with local leaders and communities before initiating theregistration process.In short, commercial investment on unregistered land by a foreign company would berisky and is not recommended. Conversion of customary land to registered status iscomplex and slow. Lease or purchase of an interest in land that is already registered, andhas been or is now in use in some form of economic activity, is advised as the bestsolution to acquiring premises. Such lands exist in the following locations, with thoseperhaps most suitable to pearl farming (based on habitat quality) in italics:− Shortlands (Ballalae airstrip), Gilbertese resettlement, close to Bougainville− Waghina, Gilbertese resettlement, Kagau (airstrip)17