The chiefs on Vanuatu's main island, Efate, say they will oppose any Government plans to compulsorily acquire land for a planned international airport.
The Government is pushing through a plan to overhaul Vanuatu's airports, and has agreed to underwrite a 350 million US dollar deal with a Singaporean company to build and operate them for 50 years.
The chairman of the Land Reform Committee of Efate Vaturisu Council of chiefs, Levi Tarosa, says that Vaturisu welcomes a new airport but disagrees with compulsory land acquisition.
Mr Tarosa says the chiefs were told by a parliamentary committee that the government will use the compulsory land acquisition act.
"We will object or resist the Government's intentions to use the compulsory acquisition act as a means of acquiring the land for the new international airport. The basic reason for that is we feel that any compulsory acquisition affects or impacts on future benefits of the landowners and their descendants."
Levi Tarosa says the new airport has nothing to do with public interest because it will be run and managed by a private company.
