Locals told sea resources not theirs

MINING Minister and Namatanai MP Byron Chan has told his people in the district that they are not owners of whatever is in or under the sea.
Chan spoke on Monday during an event at West Coast Namatanai.
The district will play host to the first seabed mining project, Solwara 1.
“People of West Coast and Namatanai, those of you who are here now, the machines will start operations in the seas you said you own. But I would like to tell you that you are not the real landowners. You are not the landowners,” Chan said.
“You are now hearing this directly from the minister for mining who is also your local member of parliament.
“I’m sorry to say this but Papua New Guinea’s law is in place which says that the person who owns the sea is the Government of Papua New Guinea – which is the State.
“It only recognises the local level government and the province.
“Under the law, you are not the landowner.  You will not have shares in this.”
However, he highlighted that the West Coast area of Namatanai now has an agreement in place for the project.
“For the past five years, you may have been seeing Nautilus and Mineral Resources Authority and the Department of Mineral Policy and Geo-hazards Management who have been paying visits to this area – I’ve been sending them.
“Memorandum of agreement (MoA) for the seabed mining for the West Coast is ready.
“But the only problem is, I can sign this MoA today but advice from experts in the industry is that if I sign this MoA now, I will be signing up to the current commodity price which is very low.
“So I have to wait till when the price is up again.
“However, if we gain autonomy, whatever that is on land and in the seas, you will own them. I would like to stress that autonomy is the way forward for us, the people of New Ireland.”