Proposal to change dept status vital

Business

THE PNG Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative has welcomed the proposed transition of the Department of Petroleum and Energy into an authority.
Acting department secretary Kepsey Puiye had said the proposal was to regulate better the fast-growing petroleum and energy business.
The volume of petroleum reserves is one of the main factors necessitating the change.
PNG Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative national secretariat head Lucas Alkan said it was good news because the first two PNG Extractive Industries Transparency InitiativeReports highlighted chronic capacity issues at the department.
“The first PNG Extractive Industries Transparency InitiativeReport (2013) found that the department was chronically under-resourced, operating from a ramshackle collection of buildings with limited internet access,” Alkan said.
“The department has no website and has not produced and annual report for the past four years.”
He also welcomed the political commitment in the Alotau Accord II to make the department an authority – similar to the Mineral Resource Authority which administers mining activities.
“The DPE recently indicated to PNGEITI that it would implement a national executive direction to set up an electronic registry to supersede the current ledger system,” he said.
“As this directive came from a policy submission we made based on the first Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative Report, PNG Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative is proud to have helped DPE in this regard to tackle some of its challenges.”