Bringing major projects to life key for economy: Mininster

PAPUA New Guinea is in the early stages of an unprecedented economic development phase based on the expansion of the mining and petroleum sectors, Treasury Minister Sam Basil says.
Basil, in his statement to parliament yesterday, said the challenge was to transfer the gains from the resources sector into the non-resources sector.
“Managing the income streams from existing resource projects and continuing to bring major projects to fruition is imperative if we want to increase fiscal inflows, employment, continue with infrastructure development and improve our social and economic development outcomes,” Basil said.
“The strong and durable momentum in the macro-economic performance of the country will be required if we are to reach our development goals.
“This will depend largely upon our ability to successfully bring major natural resource projects online.
“We will need to effectively harness, and transparently manage and invest, the proceeds from such projects for the betterment of the broader population,” he said.
Basil said along with the newly appointed Ministers for Petroleum and Mining, Kerenga Kua and Johnson Tuke, they would establish a better framework for the management of resource projects and pursue the Papua LNG, Exxon Mobil-led Third Train, the P’nyang Project, Wafi-Golpu and the Frieda River projects.
He said there had been concerns raised by the community, his colleague ministers and members of parliament.
“Let us address them quickly and make some decisions our future prosperity depends on delivering these projects well,” he said.
“We must now find a way to ensure that these major resource project agreements capture enough value for the state and to our people, including local land owners so as to deliver our people’s aspirations.”
Basil said the Government would be exploring different fiscal regimes for resources to modernise the elements of tax legislation.
“We have commenced the shift to production taxation in Papua LNG and we aim to have this across the board.”