Bougainville might be one of the most troubled places on earth, but it is also one of the most beautiful, particularly with regards to islands in Bougainville. Can the said islands though be purchased and what is the infrastructure of the place like?
Why the interests is the islands of Bougainville?
At Lets Buy An Island we are not just interested in Coffee Caye, but Also the island business as a whole, as well as potential places where we can expand our portfolio.
We might “only” own one island now, but we intent to expand that in the not too distant future.
What is the Bougainville story?
A de-jure part of Papua New Guinea, this is not a position that they have ever been happy with, originally declaring the Republic of North Solomons, before being reintegrated into PNG.
Things though did not go well and they ended up not only being screwed over with their mine, but also enduring a brutal; war of independence.
This though at least resulted in a referendum for them, which was pro independence by a massive 98 percent…..
This is due to occur between 2025 and 2027, but could sadly also result in further war.
Islands in Bougainville
Bougainville is itself and island, but there are also a bunch of smaller ones. These include the capital of Buka, as well as hundreds of islands and atolls.
The most famous of these are centered around Arawa, kind of like the second capital of Bougainville and the biggest population centre in the “nation” And it is here that some of the LBI team tested our some Bougainville island hopping.
This involved sleeping on one, checking out a bunch, as well as derives seeing where the movie Mr Pip featuring Huge Laurie was filmed. Yeah we have never heard of it too, but check the YouTube clip below
Just how good are the islands?
The islands themselves are fabulous and were told there far more islands in Bougainville, as well as atoms that were equally as good if not better than the ones that we had seen.
Legal issues aside, which we will get to later, other issues with investing in the islands of Bougainvillea are reeked to the series lack of infrastructure in the nascent nation.
There is currently no international airport, meaning going through a very corrupt PNG, but also the fact that the roads here are terrible. There is though clearly potential for development, as well as local populace who want more tourists to come to their islands.
Can you buy the islands in Bougainville?
Despite its autonomy of sorts Bougainville still comes under the jurisdiction of Papua New Guinea. PNG is not only corrupt, but has strict land ownership laws, meaning you need a PNG partner owning 51 percent.
Of course there are ways around this, but it does not currently make Bougainville a great place to invest in right now.
What are the future opportunities for investing in the islands of Bougainville?
This depends hugely on if they get independence, which they truly hope to do. In this instance though there would still have to be serious infrastructural investments, as well as changes to the laws.
Both of these though are officially at least key aims of the independence seeking government. Overall this leads us to see Bougainville as having huge potential, as well as being well worth a visit.
For the time being at least though, now is not the time to invest in the islands of Bougainville.
