Nixon Duban

The first term MP, says members can still have access to their DSIP, whilst defending an election petition in court.

“The only time they should be worried, is if he’s found guilty. That is only when the court will intervene and remove him from office.

“So if you are a member of parliament and if your election is being challenged, you have no excuse what so ever, to take issue.  You welcome it, get on with the job (service delivery).

“If you want to occupy public office, it comes with that (public office), your election will be challenged.

Amongst those was the petition filed against Madang MP, Bryan Kramer, by his predecessor Nixon Duban.

In this petition, Returning Officer for the Madang Open seat, Joe Sakipa, has been summoned to appear in court for the trial.

Other counting officials will also be summoned once the names are made available to the court by Duban’s lawyer.  

In the petition, Duban is alleging two grounds of bribery against Kramer and one ground of undue influence, errors and omission on the part of the Electoral Commission.

This was the message from Minister for Petroleum and Energy, Nixon Duban, during the closing of the Inaugural Petroleum and Energy Summit in Port Moresby.

Duban says while there are strong calls for the Government to maintain national interests, it must be careful as well not to scare away investors.

Duban said the acquisition will enable the company to create value for the shareholders of both companies and the people of Papua New Guinea.

On Monday, the Yukon Supreme Court in Canada approved a revised commercial arrangement between ExxonMobil and Interoil for the acquisition of the latter.

This follows a majority vote of 91 per cent by InterOil shareholders last week for the arrangements to take place.

Duban said the acquisition increases Exxonmobil’s position in the liquified natural gas business through a diverse asset base and strong dividend stream.

Minister Duban said this on Thursday while commenting on the need for people to celebrate independence in a true Madang way.

Duban said next year Madang District Development Authority (MDDA) will put K200,000 for independence celebration to bring together the people of Madang district from three three LLG’s Ambenob, MULLG and Transgogol.

He said next year will be bigger and better and people will celebrate in a true Madang way and with music, traditional and singsing festival.

The payment was initially scheduled for Friday last week but did not eventuate because a gazetted public holiday (Repentance Day) also fell on that day.

Petroleum and Energy Minister Nixon Duban said all parties agreed to reschedule this event to tomorrow at Hides in Hela Province.

The event will see the payment of K35 million to Hides PDL 1 and 7 areas. K20 million from this money will be paid to PDL 1 and K15m to PDL 7.

Managing Director Philippe Blanchard said they (Total) had made a commitment that their schedule is on time and they will make a final investment decision in 2018 and production around 2022 and 2023.

He said they are committed and will deliver the project.

Meanwhile, Minister for Petroleum and Energy, Nixon Philip Duban said the Government is standing firm with Total E&P PNG to ensure it meets its target in developing and delivering the Papua LNG project in the Gulf province as scheduled.

That is the assurance by Minister for Petroleum and Energy, Nixon Philip Duban in meeting with the Managing Director for Total E&P PNG, Philippe Blanchard recently.

“We want to show our support to ensure the wells are drilled, completed and also look at the current licence their holding and as a Government because of the importance of the project we are committed to ensuring that their concerns are given every support so that they are ready to obtain a PDL at the right time,” Duban said.

The discussion will be on how best the process of accessing their royalties and the 2 per cent free carry equity can be fast tracked.

This is after negotiations yesterday reached a dead end with landowners taking a concrete stand on their demands that their outstanding LBBSA and UBBSA commitments be paid as well.

After a whole day of discussions which turned rowdy at some stage, Minister for Petroleum and Energy Nixon Duban and Finance Minister James Marape put forward the option of meeting again with the landowners after parliament sitting next week.

During his electoral visit recently, Duban visited several schools in South Ambenob to honour his commitments in ensuring these schools receive funding  to improve their learning facilities.

Schools he visited includes: Transgogol High School, Bahor in Bilbil and Kil Primary in Fulumu and presented their school funding.

At Transgogol High School, the Member spent some time talking to the students on the importance of education as the resource to move the country forward and is the reason Government has been investing millions in.