A Papua New Guinea community leader says the people of Lae are so frustrated at government inaction over illegal settlements that they are willing to break the law to resolve the situation
Community groups are threatening a take-over of the power pylons on their land if the Morobe Provincial government fails to remove the settlements.
Benson Nablu says the groups could revert to the action in their bid to force the authorities to act swiftly to address the spiralling crime situation.
Mr Nablu says the authorities have tried to address the situation but nothing has changed.
He says community action is the only way.
"Who else do we turn to now, except we have to turn to ourselves to do this. Admittedly it is not the right thing to do but we've followed all the rules of law and procedures to get this done but it has never been done properly and it has been neglected."
Mr Nablu says the provincial government has been given three months to rectify the situation or the groups will take matters into their own hands.
