Overview:
Tmetbab Clan has filed a lawsuit against the Palau Public Utilities Corporation, seeking the removal of a water tank from clan-owned property in Koror after alleging that a long-term lease for the site expired in 2025. The case raises questions over land rights, public utility operations, and compensation for continued use of private property.
By: L.N. Reklai
KOROR, Palau – Tmetbab Clan, represented by Rimuu Dominica Ngoriakl, has filed suit in the Palau Supreme Court seeking to force Palau Public Utilities Corporation to vacate a water-tank site in Ngerkesoaol Hamlet, Koror State, after a lease on the property allegedly expired last year.
In a verified complaint filed May 11, 2026 in Civil Action No. 26-081, the clan says it owns Cadastral Lot No. 023 B 01 and that PPUC has remained on Lot 05, where a water tank is located, despite notice to leave.
The complaint says the original lease, signed June 16, 2000 between the Republic of Palau and the clan, covered a 1,142-square-meter parcel for a water tank and included two five-year extension options. Plaintiffs allege the utility did not exercise those options and that the lease expired on June 15, 2025.
The suit asks the court for an injunction, ejectment, damages of not less than $300,000, rental compensation, and attorneys’ fees. It says continued occupancy of the land has interfered with the clan’s rights and caused irreparable harm.
PPUC is a government-owned public utility created under the Utilities Consolidation Act, which merged the Palau Water and Sewer Corporation into PPUC in 2013 and authorized the corporation to request the government’s eminent domain power for public purposes.
An eminent domain process involving the property has also been filed with the Clerk of Court by the government using an appraisal value of $75,000 prepared by Summit Realty, according to the information provided.
