Court denies bid to hold K52mil

THE Waigani National Court has refused an interim restraining order sought by the Hulia local-level government in Hela to stop a payment of K52 million in development levies for Hela and Southern Highlands.
The amount from the PNG LNG project was released by the State to the two provincial governments this year. However, the Hulia LLG council, an LLG from the impacted project area, claimed that the payment to the two provincial governments were illegal.
The order taken out by Hulia LLG president Erick Yawas, through lawyer Paul Othas, claimed that the money that was paid to the two provinces was in breach of the umbrella benefit-sharing agreement (UBSA) and also the Oil and Gas Act and sought interim orders to restrain the payment and accessibility of the funds.
The provinces were to receive K26 million each as development levy for all the local level governments that were affected by the LNG project.
It was argued that during the signing of UBSA in 2009 at Kokopo, Hela was not a province and under Clause 24.2 of the umbrella benefit-sharing agreement, there had to be a deed of amendment to the UBSA when Hela became a province, but that was not done and there was no deed of amendment in place for Hela.
The court ruled that there was no-compliance by Yawas (plaintiff) in regard to the Public Money Management and Regulatory Act Section 10.
Therefore it refused to grant orders and dismissed the plaintiff’s notice of motion sought.
He also ordered that the parties bear their own costs.