Relationship with locals good: Firm

OPERATOR of Papua LNG project, Total E&P PNG Ltd, says it has a good working relationship with locals in the project area.
Managing director Philippe Blanchard said the company was still working on understanding the communities better.
There are about 43 villages that the operator has visited.
“So for the moment, our relationship is good with different communities from PRL 15,” he said.
“We are still understanding and discovering the community from the pipeline because this is not the area that we are working every day,” he said.
“Through the baseline surveys, we are going to know a bit more about the communities, potentially along the pipeline, and we will take advantage of the year 2017 to know them better and spend more time.”
Blanchard said the two-day roadshow in Port Moresby was organised to ensure people were made aware of what Total was doing in the project area. “What exactly is Papua LNG, what it means, what it is going to build and also what kind of feedback is going to have on the environment, on the community, and on the social aspect of the living conditions of the people who are going to be affected by this project,” Blanchard said.
“What is interesting about Papua New Guinea is that there is a framework existing – giving us the guidelines to go ahead with the project.”