Northern Governor Gary Juffa is calling on the government to treat the landowner issue in Hela Province with utmost consideration.
Juffa exclusively told Loop PNG that if the government is not careful, the situation will lead to a crisis similar to the Bougainville case.
"More than 200 cargoes of LNG shipment have left our shores and the landowners are yet to receive a toea from the Government, which is unbelievable,” said Juffa.
"It was fine for the government to take them to Kokopo and have them sign all types of agreement without questioning their land ownership.
"But now when the payments are due, they (government) are claiming that they don't know who the landowners are and are asking for all sorts of titles."
He cautioned the government and urged them to really understand what happened in Bougainville and not to repeat the same mistake.
Juffa added that the locals are kind people who have shown patience and must be compensated accordingly.
The government must be blamed for the current shut down of the PNG LNG conditioning plant in Hela, said the governor.