Butibam villagers want part in project

BUSULUM clan leaders of Butibam village in Lae have pressured the Morobe provincial administration to negotiate on their behalf with the tidal basin project developer China Harbour Engineering Company.
The clan is one of the primary landowner groups of the K150 million project, which the national government has a stake through the Independent Public Business Corporation (IPBC).
The project is funded by the Asian Development Bank (ADB).
Spokesman John Bobola confirmed on Wednesday the leaders had discussed the matter with deputy administrator Patilus Gamato.
The meeting was a result of advice by project director Ila Mari, who told the leaders to sort out their differences and reorganise their strategies.
Busulum clan elder Jack David was appointed to head all their business dealings as board chairman of their new joint venture company, Lumkoc JV, with HBS Machinery PNG.
“We met with Gamato and one of the failings is the distribution of information within the government system,” Bobola said.
“We asked Gamato to contact China Harbor to accommodate our interest and make some allowance for us to put in at least five to 10 machines.
“We are also calling the government to look into landowner participation and put some money in IPBC to cater for us.
The clan said they had been trying to participate in the project since August 2012 but were again turned down by the developer on Feb 11 in their attempts to get a contract.
IPBC is yet to respond to queries by The National.