Landowners

Asi said there is no approval given by authorities to stage the protest.

The PPC, who was at the site this morning told Loop PNG that he had warned landowners not to cause any damage to the plant site but to allow the operation to continue as normal.

He had advised them that the protest was illegal and while the landowners have been reluctant to back off, they promised to do it peacefully.

Asi said his men are on the ground to protect facilities and to ensure the protest does not turn rowdy.

Central Province Pressure Group spokesperson, Lucielle Paru, says the land has been sold to people who had no right over it.

The meet was held to address the issue of the illegal land grabs that are taking place in Central and the recent land grab of Manumanu that had two high profile ministers step aside from their portfolios for allegations of involvement.

From Gabadi, Kairuku-Hiri, Paru said the land itself, as per the Defence organisation, is not suitable for a naval base and that it goes 10 kilometres inland.

Sonk said this in response to statements by beneficiary groups from the Wellhead and Facilities areas of PDL 1 (Hides), PDL 2 (Kutubu), PDL 7 (Hides 4) and, PDL 8 (Angore) who have refused outright the vendor finance option.

They claimed that KPHL is riddled with a massive debt of over K9 billion and said there will be no value to the shares they acquire.

The group also said they are still awaiting a response from the Government on ‘14 Critical Demands’ which they presented to the Deputy Prime Minister, Leo Dion, on November 2016.

David Kaya and his lawyer, Philip Kamen, will stand trial in Daru on March 6, 2017.

They appeared for mention before Deputy Chief Justice Sir Gibbs Salika, who agreed that the matter should be transferred to the Western Province as that is where most of the witnesses are based.

Kaya, who is a landowner representative, and Kamen are in court over allegations they misused K5 million, monies belonging to the landowners of East Awin in North Fly.

He said various orders issued by Courts by various landowners have put a stop to the disbursement of the funds.

Until those cases are resolved, the Government will not be paying the landowners, explained the PM.

He said the Government has been in close discussion with all the landowners to resolve the issues amicably before the funds are disbursed.

“We are not in the business of withholding the benefits of the landowners that was signed in the UBS agreement by the previous government and landowners in Kokopo, but working to disburse the funds.”

The option to acquire shares in Kumul Petroleum (Kroton) Limited is part of a range of benefits agreed to by the Government and set out in the Umbrella Benefits Sharing Agreement or UBSA for the benefits of the landowners and Provincial Governments along the footprint of the PNGLNG project.

Under the UBSA the State granted to these beneficiaries a commercial option to buy a 25.75% of the shares in Kroton No2 Limited, the special purpose company that held the States 16.75% interest in the PNG LNG Project.

He said the statement is completely misleading and doesn’t make sense at all.

“One has to appreciate that the financial modelling that goes behind something like this is far beyond any of these people that have put together.”

He said what the landowners have used was from a presentation he did and they have completely interpret it incorrectly.

 He said there are motives behind the landowners’ misleading statements.

The warning was issued on Wednesday during a meeting attended by the four LOA chairmen, Tobby Bare of Kurumbukari LOA, Peter Tai of Inland Pipeline, Jeffery Gamrai of Coastal Pipeline LOA and Sama Mallembo of Basamuk

The chairmen also questioned why the National Government pays close attention to other mining projects in the country by paying their  BDG and ignores its commitment towards Ramu Nickel project landowners.

The importance of ILGs is to safeguard customary landowners from land grabbing, which is on the rise.

“By registering your land under an ILG, you will be recognised by the State to secure that piece of land by having a title so that any developer has to negotiate with the clan,” ILG manager for Southern and New Guinea Islands Max Wagi explained.

The clan will be able to sub-lease their land and will be able to benefit from development services.

The April Salumei REDD+ Pilot Project is located in the 526,000 hectares’ area of East Sepik Province.

It involves an estimated total of 126 landowner groups and represented by six landowner companies under the April-Salumei REDD+ Working Group.

The REDD+ initiatives will mitigate greenhouse gases from the atmosphere and stabilise the global temperature. The project is the first project PNG has actually brought it to the point of sale.

Landowners came from the project area in the Ambuti/Drekikir and Wosera/Gawi of ESP for the discussions with stakeholders.