The Papua LNG Project to be developed in the Gulf
Province still has issues to be ironed out.
The state may have signed the agreement with
developer Total SA PNG and its minor partners Oil Search and Exxon Mobil but
the landowners appear to be still aggrieved about the content of the agreement.
One of the vocal groups is the Purari Development
Association, the umbrella association representing eight tribes from the
Baimuru local level government- the area which hosts the Elk and Antelope gas
fields.
The landowners issued a statement yesterday in a
press conference calling on Prime Minister James Marape to “defer the Papua LNG
project indefinitely until such time all proposed changes to resource laws in
Papua New Guinea are done and that Papua LNG Project can be the first LNG
project that will be negotiated and signed after these long outstanding reforms
are enacted and passed into law.”
“As landowners we know this agreement does not serve
our interests and must be reviewed and renegotiated.”
In making this statement through General Secretary
Roy Daniel Evara, they however congratulated the Prime Minister for his
election last Thursday.
“The executives of PDA and the people of Baimuru
Sub-District in particular celebrate his ascension to the office of the Prime
Minister because we have read, heard and seen him speak publicly about issues
relating to the recently signed suppressive and controversial Papua LNG gas
agreement that we have been and will vigorously fight against.”
“We are very encouraged by the Prime Minister’s
vision to make Papua New Guinea the “richest black Christian nation” in the
world by reviewing the outdated resource laws that will be tailored to drive
this agenda.”
“As end users directly impacted by such laws, we
welcome the Prime Minister’s call to work with likeminded citizens to gauge our
views on how we can revolutionise and transform PNG into the future,” Evara
stated on behalf of the association.
Evara said they were firm that the Papua LNG gas agreement
must be reviewed because it was rushed and poorly negotiated.
Further they claim it was signed without conforming
to several very critical pre-conditions under Oil and Gas Act 1998 and the land
and resource owners were not consulted. They described the agreement as
dictatorial in that it specifically directs Ministers of State and Parliament
to change laws where required to suit the terms and conditions of the agreement
which favours foreign developers.
