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By GABRIEL FITO
The Landowners of Mt Turu in Yangoru that holds the repeater station, which
links all mobile communication between East Sepik and the rest of the world,
have called on Telikom PNG Ltd, the East Sepik provincial administration and the
chairman of their landowner company to explain why they have not been paid their
land lease dues for three years now.
Mt Turu Holdings secretary and landowner Raphael Hawina said yesterday that the
landowners from Ambukanjai and its surrounding villagers had waited for three
years since the tower was erected in 2005 for their promised K100,000 per year
but as of yesterday, they have yet to receive anything from the government.
Mr Hawina said according to a memorandum of understanding (MoU) that was signed
at Ambukanjai village in 2005, Telikom would pay K50,000 while the provincial
government would settle the other K50,000 each year.
He said the chairman of the landowner company, Louis Koinduo, had also been
operating in isolation from the board of directors and the landowners, therefore
he should come out and explain to the people if some money had been paid by the
government.
Mr Hawina said frustrated landowners had been bothering him, the deputy director
Collin Wafihuaje and other board of directors for some time now after they did
not get any answer for the government’s delay in paying their dues.
He is therefore appealing to Telikom’s managing director, the provincial
administration and Mr Koinduo to come out publicly and tell the landowners
whether payments have been made or why they have not been made.
He said if payments were made, the landowners would be interested to know when
they were made, to whom they were made to and under which criteria.
Meanwhile, Mr Hawina has also called on the government to consider paying his
project consultation fees which he said was well over K84,000.
He said he had spent time and money to negotiate the project and that he should
be fairly compensated for his effort.
Attempts by The National to get comments from provincial administrator John
Alman yesterday afternoon were unsuccessful as he was attending a meeting,
however, former governor and Yangoru Saussia MP Peter Wararu told FM 100 News
yesterday that K400,000 has been paid to the landowners.
However, Mr Hawina said the landowners were interested in the K100,000 per year
land lease money that was agreed upon and signed in the MoU and not the said
K400,000 that was used to settle other matters.
 
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