Concern raised about people moving into NCD

HELA’S deputy governor Thomas Potape is concerned that people from petroleum development licence (PDL) 1 and 7 in the province have been moving to Port Moresby in large numbers to wait for the
K35 million promised by the Government.
Potape said people could not stay in their local areas as they thought by shifting to Port Moresby they would get their fair share of the money.
He appealed to the Government to release the money so people would stop moving to the city unnecessarily as they may encounter a lot of social issues.
He said a Government team went to Hides some weeks ago and advised the people of the cheque.
“It’s been weeks now and people – both young and old – have started leaving home and are in the city awaiting the money that they were promised,” Potape told said yesterday.
“I believe there’re more than a thousand that have just recently left home and are in Port Moresby,” he said.
“The money was said to be split between two groups, K20 million was said to be for PDL 1 Special Purpose Authority and K15 million for PDL 7 Special Purpose Authority.”
However, Potape said he understood that PDL 7 had issues that were before the court but requested for the PDL 1 money to be released as soon as possible – if possible this week.
“Some of these people do not know how to move about in the city.
“The issues is not with the money. The main issue is with the people’s movement from the villages to the city. Money should be released quickly so they can all move back.”
Attempts to get confirmation and comment from Government representatives yesterday were not successful.