Bid to boost gas project

CONTRACTING companies based in Orange, New South Wales, Australia, could be offered international business opportunities as Orange looks to strengthen its relationship with its sister city, Mt Hagen.
The city, in Papua New Guinea’s Western Highlands, is set to embark on a mining project to extract three trillion cubic metres of liquefied natural gas (LNG).
Discussions between Orange City Council and Western Highlands dignitaries, including Governor Tom Olga, during a visit to the central west this week have opened up the possibility of using Orange tradespeople, particularly those contracted at Cadia Valley operations, to assist in the multi-billion-kina project.
“The project will be in operation for 20 to 30 years,” Orange City Council enterprise services director Stephen Sykes said.
“It is a significant capital development and will require ongoing maintenance.
“It would be a place to have business opportunities in Mt Hagen.”
Sykes said the work carried out at Mt Hagen would be similar to development and maintenance work at Newcrest and other mines in NSW.
Olga said the LNG project was a great move for Mt Hagen, with benefits stretching all the way to its sister city.
“This is a good opportunity in the highlands,” he said.
“It’s a great opportunity to invest in mining up there.
“There are a lot of things the Orange industry could produce up there.”
The discussion came after Olga was criticised for not encouraging
development and business opportunities in Mt Hagen to
attract investment from international companies. – Centralwesterndaily.com.au