North Fly

This time, a new concern emerges in the form of the Gulf of Papua dredging.

Minister Wera Mori is already unpopular with the people of Morobe when it comes to his views on deep-sea tailings placement, or DSTP.

Whilst the people and leaders of Morobe are pushing for a more sustainable waste disposal method for the Wafi Golpu mine, another concern has risen from Western Province in relation to Minister Mori’s view on the cleaning up of the Fly River “at no cost” to the State.

Petroleum Minister, Kerenga Kua clarified this in parliament today when questioned why ExxonMobil continued discussions on the Pnyang Project when the PRL License expired.

North Fly MP, James Donald, raised a series of questions in parliament.

One of them was to clarify why ExxonMobil was allowed to negotiate on the P’nyang Project when the PRL the hold expired.

“Can the Minister confirm or deny the PRL license gas expirzed and so ExxonMobil is unlawfully holding onto the license?” asked Donald.

The group includes men, women and children.

The West Papuans, from Boven Digoel village, are currently in North Fly District.

Pictures of the West Papuans who crossed over were shared with this newsroom by a reliable source on ground.

Michael Pius said the people began crossing the border in November.

Pius, who is from a mixed parentage of Western Province and West Papua, said their safety in West Papua was not guaranteed because state security cannot protect them.

He said they felt their lives were in danger and so fled across the border.

Local MP and DDA chairman, James Donald, said this was among a number of decisions reached in their meeting last Tuesday (Nov 19) at Olsobip local level government station.

The North Fly District Development Authority board approved K6.1 million in direct funding to each of the 122 wards that will leave each ward with K50,000 each.

LLGs in North Fly include Nomad LLG 26 wards, Olsobip 16, Ningerum 24, Star Mountain 13, Kiunga Rural 30 and Kiunga Urban 6.

The proposed new high schools are Olsobip High in Olsobip, St. Betila in Kiunga rural and Bedamuni High in Nomad.

This comes after the North Fly District Development Authority (DDA) passed its policy decision on their establishments during the first 2019 DDA meeting on February 11^th in remote Mougulu station in Nomad local level government.

North Fly MP and chairman, James Donald, said it was a government directive that all LLGs in the province should have a high school.

Minister for Defence and Telefomin MP Solan Mirisim, who officiated at the launch of Alicepit-Ambaga-Yetetkun (Indonesia) road project launch at the invitation of North Fly MP James Donald, assured the people this week that he would take the project to the Cabinet level for National Executive Council submission and endorsement.

He also took the opportunity to inform the people about the O’Neill-Abel government’s priorities, including connecting the missing links around the country by road.

The North Fly emergency response team is among others working tirelessly to distribute food and medical supplies and tarpaulins with water catchment tanks, items that were donated as well as purchased by the local MP.

Mogulu station in Western Province has been the base of relief supplies which the team has been dispatching to the five care centres of Dodomona, Adumari, Digasubi, Huya and Walagu.

It is estimated close to 5,000 affected people are in the care centres.

Adumari has 826 people, Dodomona 1,550, Huya 1,405 and Walagu 1,207.

Member for North Fly James Donald is the chairman of the committee.

Following Monday’s concern regarding assistance not going into the province, particularly the North Fly district, Ok Tedi Mining Ltd responded positively with the request for a helicopter hire to carry out assessment in the areas affected.

Assessment started yesterday.

Donald thanked the management of OTML, especially Deputy Managing Director Musje Werror, for the timely support and assistance.

He said the P’nyang Project will be a stand-alone project that will form an integral part of Western LNG whose combined processing facility will be built near Daru in Western Province.

Currently, Western Province has two other upcoming gas projects apart from P’nyang which include Elevala Ketu and Stanley Gas with Juha already running under PNG LNG Project.

He is planning to engage contractors from Indonesia to work on major roads and other infrastructure projects in the District.

Donald said this is one of his priorities under his first 100-Days Plan in Office.

He said, it is cheaper to bring in materials across the border from Indonesia than shipping them from Port Moresby to Kiunga or Tabubil in Western Province.

Donald said his decision to look further West is in line with the current economic situation the country is facing and the need to cut cost and work within the means of his district’s budget.