West New Britain Governor Sasindran Muthuvel has made a response on behalf of the concerns of the landowners and Incorporate Land Group representatives regarding a Forest Management Agreement.
Governor Muthuvel has requested the Forest Minister, Solan Mirism to postpone the signing of the Ania Kapiura Fulleborne Forest Management Agreement (FMA) until all concerns raised by the landowners from Gasmata are addressed.
In a letter addressed to the minister, Governor Muthuvel expressed his lack of understanding of terms like FMA and TRP but emphasized the significance of committing to a 35-year logging agreement without obtaining the full consent of all affected landowners.
Governor Muthuvel in a letter to the Minister for Forest, Solan Mirisim appealed for intervention.
“I would appreciate your intervention to defer the signing of this FMA with SBLC (owned by Rimbunan Hijau) and negotiate for a win-win deal."
"This is the ANIA KAPIURA FULLEBORN FMA planned to be signed, 13th June. I was demanded by landowners from Gasmata to be mindful about this Agreement, that there are a lot of issues that need to be addressed with landowners before proceeding with the FMA signing."
The governor stressed that the agreement, scheduled to be signed today, June 13th, must address the issues raised by the landowners, as their well-being would be affected for the next 35 years.
The landowners advised the governor that there are several concerns that need to be addressed before proceeding with the FMA signing.
They criticized the development aspects of the agreement and expressed that it is not suitable in its entirety.