Court rules in favour of Commissioner on Rove foreshore land, orders Zhang to pay compo

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On Friday 16^th May 2025, the High Court handed down its decision on a claim against the Commissioner of Lands’ resumption of a Fixed Term Estate at the foreshore opposite the Ngossi / Tasahe junction on the Tandai Highway. This is a relatively small parcel at just 652 square metres but it has direct frontage to the highway and to Iron Bottom Sound and is therefore a strategic location.

The court ruled that the Commissioner complied with the Land and Titles Act in the process of resuming the land for public purposes. The public purposes referenced in the resumption notice are drainage, sewerage outlet and public parkland. The court also ruled that the transfer to Solo Enviro Beautification was lawful. Notably, the re-allocation of the land to Solo Enviro Beautification by the Land Board came with conditions that they can only carry out works involving landscaping, beautification and public access to the sea.

The court rejected the Claimant’s (Hong Jun Zhang) application for compensation for losses resulting from the resumption. To the contrary, the court noted that the Claimant had carried out earthworks on the land after the resumption notice, therefore he had trespassed, and damages are ordered to be paid by him to the Commissioner of Lands, with the figure to be assessed.

Speaking after the court’s ruling, Commissioner of Lands Alan McNeil said this ruling reinforced the power of resumption for public purposes. “We have several rulings in our favour now when it comes to resumption of Fixed Term Estates for public purposes, including the land where the new Ministry of Finance complex is located in Noro; the land where the telecommunications towers are located after Don Bosco Technical Institute at Henderson; the traffic island known as Promise Point outside Lawson Tama; a part of Mbokonavera school grounds; Henderson Airport land close to the new international departures terminal and taxiway; and part of the nearby Biosecurity Solomon Islands grounds” (these are High Court Civil Case Numbers 301 of 2019, 411 of 2019, 626 of 2019, 663 of 2019, 695 of 2020, 253 of 2021 and Court of Appeal Case Number 26 of 2022). Commissioner McNeil added “the success of these rulings is often measured not so much in terms of what you see on the ground but rather what you don’t see on the ground, for example if I had not resumed this land we may well have seen a fuel station built on this site, which is what the former Fixed Term Estate holder had wanted to build”. Commissioner McNeil added: “we are reminded every time we experience heavy rain just how important it is to keep drainage corridors clear and free of development, and development of this site would likely have prevented or hindered the free flow of stormwater from the Ngossi area out to sea, resulting in even worse flooding around this important road junction”.

Commissioner McNeil thanked the Crown Counsels of the Attorney General’s Chamber for their professional role in defending this and all other resumption cases in court.

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