Another Bougainville crisis waiting to explode

Letters, Normal
Source:

The National

THE mining and petroleum extravaganza is a time bomb that is waiting to explode, if no action is taken by all stakeholders in the country.
It might be another Bougainville crisis for the provinces involved. 
The Government and developing partners at the infant stage of this surging boom should put necessary measures to curtail the growing uneasiness of resource owners.
Firstly, it seems that there has not been any form of meaningful awareness done by the Government or the developing partners before the actual BSA agreement that took place or when gathering required information in forming how development grants, royalties and funds to be divided among the resource rich land owners.
Therefore, it is necessary for the Government, with its partners, to be more vigilant in conducting further awareness and research into the resource rich provinces.
Secondly, a surveillance and monitoring unit needs to be formed to monitor how funds is dispersed within Government bodies and to monitor the procedures performed by the relevant authorities in dispersing the funds.
These Government bodies do not have good track records when it comes to following standard policies and procedures.
Landowners do not trust in the current system in which funds are dispersed nor have confidence in the Government.
For transparency’s sake and for the future of this project, such a bold move will create the necessary environment for a prosperous relationship with the landowners.
How many times have we seen landowners after landowners claiming to be rightful owner of resources and disrupting time and resources?
The truth is the Government has lost the plot in the infant stages of developing the multi-billion kina project by not doing the necessary ground work to prevent such issues from happening.
Landowner leaders must also be transparent in the way they gain their funds and divide them among their people and be accountable in how they spend the funds.

 

King Kong of Gerehu
Port Moresby