​Time for legislation change: PNGEITI

​Changes to legislation governing the petroleum and mining sector has never been more needed than at this time.

According to the Papua New Guinea Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative (PNGEITI), the time is ripe for changes to the legislation given the changing landscape of projects in the country.

Head of the PNGEITI National Secretariat, Lucas Alkan, said greater cooperation was needed between all stakeholders to put in place better fiscal and regulatory mechanism for the good of the industry and the economy at large. 

He said this regarding news about PNG’s first off-shore gas project called  Pasca, which is estimated  to bring in close to K1 billion in first drilling expected in 2020.

“Changes in technology and the way people do business are so swift today and the petroleum and mining industry have their own challenges and opportunities.

“Papua New Guinea now is on a very unique position to be a model country to set standards that other miners and explorers around the world can learn from. The Solwara 1 Project in New Ireland and the Pasca projects are case in point.

“We are of the view that the industry and the government are living up to meeting immediate obligations and this must be further strengthened to see better outcomes,” said Alkan.  

“If there needs to do finer tuning to certain legislation(s) and policy(cies), timing is now right to make things happen.

“In regards to the Offshore Gas Project in the Gulf Province, we trust the department of Petroleum and Energy is on top of this in terms of policy and legislative to cater for this development.”

Alkan added they hope to see better outcomes from negotiations and discussions around setting up better fiscal and regulatory frameworks to lay solid foundations for similar projects in future. 

“We have world-class technical expertise to make Papua New Guinea a model mining and petroleum country that strictly upholds global best practices, whether it be in transparency or the overall approach taken in administering and regulating business in the mining and petroleum space.  

“There is a whole scheme of things we need to harmonize before the economy and investors alike can enjoy the benefits of PNG’s resource.

“We at PNGEITI always stand ready to do our bit – promoting accountability and transparency in the industry,” he said.

Author: 
Cedric Patjole