Churches’ council urges provincial govt to discuss K14bil project

By GLORIA BAUAI
THE Morobe council of churches has urged the provincial government to have dialogue with developer and stakeholders of the K14 billion Wafi-Golpu gold and copper project.
This consensus was reached following an information session hosted by the Wafi-Golpu Joint Venture, on the project’s environmental permit.
The session was for the Morobe council of churches, including Evangelical Lutheran church and the Lae ministers fraternity comprising Evangelical, Apostolic and Pentecostal independent churches.
The council highlighted making decisions based on the science behind the project and the environmental permit conditions and processes which would lead to the granting of the special mining lease.
Pr Pinaria Sialis, chairman of Lae ministers fraternity, said this was the first time they (the church body) had been given a detailed scientific explanation on the background of a project.
He said the presentation was clear “even for a non-scientist like me to understand things such as deep sea tailing placement”.
“Without understanding, there’s fear and we say things that are not right or we go on assuming,” he said.
Pr Sialis called for the Morobe government to make the effort to listen on this information session.
There was also a united call for the Morobe government to provide scientific research to counter Wafi-Golpu Joint Venture’s processes and methods.
Mary Taukulu, with the ELCPNG, said the provincial government needed to convince the people with evidence and research to back its claim that DSTP posed a significant threat to the province.