The landowners want development in their area and their attitude is “no exploration and mining at Kodu – no tourism on the Kokoda Track,” but they, like Frontier, hopes rationality, compromise and reasonableness will prevail in the immediate future.
Frontier is still awaiting the renewal of EL 1348 from the Minister for Mining and Deputy Prime Minister Dr Puka Temu, who is believed to have said the EL would not be renewed.
And the Australian government is believed also to have opposed the renewal of the EL in writing.
This action by the Australian
government has come under attack from the Chamber of Mines
and Petroleum over allegations of conflict of interest.
President of Koiari LLG Willy Vavi and Mt Kodu Resource Owners Association president Barney Jack have voiced their support for Frontier and the mining of Mt Kodu, adding that it would bring about development and basic services that tourism had not provided over the past 65 years.
This is despite 5,117 trekkers, who walked the Kokoda Track last year and generated some K25 million in overall revenue for the tourism industry.
“The people of Koiari have not seen any development for too long; we want to see change,” Mr Jack argued.
Koiari people do not have access to better markets for their cash crops because of lack of roads, health services and education in the area.
“No official written or verbal correspondence had been received by Frontier in relation to this issue for several months and apart from being a political football, its renewal status is unknown,” managing director of Frontier Resources Peter McNeil said.
Frontier has complied with all licence renewal conditions and expended more than K8 million on the licence, which vastly exceeds the statutory expenditure commitment.
Failure to renew would seriously reflect on the PNG Governments’ commitment to security of mining tenure in PNG.
This view is supported by the PNG Chamber of Mines and Petroleum in a recent letter to the Mining Minister.
The landowners stated that “mining at Kodu and tourism on the Kokoda track should proceed harmoniously together for the benefit of all stakeholders”.
Media organisations from Australia flew in and also witnessed the shut down of the Kokoda Track near Camp 88 (Nigu area), about 45km from Port Moresby.
This part of the land is owned by the Niguia and Erei clans who are principle owners of Mt. Kodu.
The landowners including women and children protested with placards with some reading ‘Australian prime minister Kevin Rudd wants Fuzzy Wuzzy Angels to live in perpetual (everlasting) poverty’.
Thousands of Australians, young and old, walk the trek every year to experience how tough it was for Australian troops, who fought the Japanese during the Second World War fared along the trek.
According to figures released by the Government, visitors to the trek alone was a big contributor to the increase in bona fide tourists to PNG in 2007, the year visitors to the country topped 100,000 for the first time.