Prime Minister James Marape has outlined a bold vision for Papua New Guinea's economic future in an address to the independent Australian think tank Lowy Institute.
He predicts a substantial surge in the country's economy over the next decade, propelled by six major resource projects.
The Prime Minister anticipates a remarkable milestone, reaching a K200 billion economy by 2030.
These significant projects include the reopening of the Porgera mine, the progression of the Wafi-Golpu mine, and the strategic development of Papua LNG, P’nyang LNG, Pasca LNG, and a promising new gas discovery by ExxonMobil in the Eastern Papuan Fold Belt.
Prime Minister Marape, addressing the Lowy Institute in Sydney, Australia, on Monday, December 11, 2023, also reflected on the progress made over the past four years since he took office.
He conveyed his optimism for the future, emphasizing the imminent maturity of the six projects.
“In the next 10 years, I’ll be lining six projects, which are almost at their mature stage,” he said.
“Porgera is restarting. We’ve complied with all statutory obligations and Barrick, the operator, will be announcing the time when it will be restarting.
“Wafi-Golpu project is a couple of steps away.
“We’ve already sequenced Papua LNG Final Investment Decision (FID) with P’nyang LNG back-to-back so there’ll be seven years of construction.
“Exxon Mobil tells me there’s a bigger gas find in the Eastern Papuan Fold Belt, northwest of Kerema Town. Once this is established, we’ll be sequencing oil and gas projects for the next 10 to 15 years, in terms of construction.
“PNG will be a gas-producing nation in 40 to 50 years.
“Bring our gold and copper projects into the picture and we have six exciting projects.
“Never before in our country’s history have we seen projects running simultaneously for 10 years.
“The next 10 years will be project after project after project. That will see me hit, by 2029, my focus of a K200 billion economy.
“Our country should be on its way to being a growth economy in the 2030s.”