PNG locals want fair share

25 Jun 2012, 12:37 pm   -   Source: Kathy Novak, SBS
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SPECIAL REPORT: The province of Hela is at the centre of Papua New Guinea’s economic future, but locals say they are missing out on their fair share of the mining boom.

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The province of Hela is at the centre of Papua New Guinea’s economic future, but locals say they are missing out on their fair share of a resource boom.

The $16 billion Exxon Mobil project is expected to double the country's gross domestic product when it starts production.

Gas drilled from here will be sent to a plant in Port Moresby, and work is on track for exports to begin within two years.

The people who live on the doorstep of the project have signed an agreement to allow the company to use their land. But many say they aren't getting the benefits they deserve.

“They haven't built our village. They haven't given us electricity. They haven't given us a water supply”, said one local. "They haven't given us a hospital and there are no proper schools. The roads are bad. Everything is bad."

Some landowners are set to be moved, but haven't been told how or when that will happen.

Exxon Mobil says it has gone to great lengths to put in place fair agreements with landowners, adding that royalties will also flow once exports begin.

“Substantial benefits already flow to people,” said Peter Graham, Managing Director of ExxonMobil subsidiary Esso Highlands.

“I think the concern historically has been more about who gets those benefits and the identification of those people and the efforts that need to be made to direct those payments to the appropriate people.”

Payments from the company are administered on behalf of landowners by a trustee, the Mineral Resources Development Corporation (MRDC).

“Most of the disputes are between the landowners among themselves in terms of leadership in terms of identification of who the real beneficiaries are,” said Augustine Mano, managing director of MRDC.

Landowners are calling for the new government to put better measures in place to ensure services reach the appropriate people.

“If we can cooperate with the landowners as well as the government and the company, with three parties together,” said landowner Jacky Ango, “then I think its best that we will benefit properly.”

With promises of development across the country thanks to the resources boom, the landowners say it's only right that they, too, get their fair share.

Watch the report on YouTube

PNG Elections , LNG , Exxon Mobile , PNG Politics

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Your Comments

Hardly suprising...

Keith Ealanta - from Belgrave, 11 months ago

We can't even get our govt. to tax them.

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