economic development

The ban, which prevented people from running a shop or constructing a multi storey house, was put in place years ago by village matais who did not want to lease out their lands to businesses.

However, village council member, Taliaoa Viliamu, told a local radio station that the current village council wanted to create business opportunities for the people of Afega.

Mr Viliamu said a few matais opposed the lifting of the ban initially but they now support the decision after several meetings.

The Asian Development Bank is calling on the Solomons government to foster tourism as the country's key export earner, logging, winds down.

The sector is tiny at the moment and the legacy of years of ethnic tension at the turn of the century has held it back, with about 23,000 tourists annually at the moment.

But Auckland University of Technology's New Zealand Tourism Research Institute director, Simon Milne, said the sector had a big future.