Firm teams up with locals for project

 A CHINESE company has partnered with locals from Morobe to get gravel from their traditional land and use a quarry in the second phase of the Lae Tidal Basin Project (LTBP).

The deal to do this was recently signed between the China Harbor Engineering Company (CHEC) and the Pwaluc clan from Yanga, Lae.

This was part of the spin-off benefits under the LTBP locals. Yanga is part of the six communities of Ahi.

The agreement paved way for the company to set up a crusher gravel site near the Busu compound to get gravel for the next two years.

The second phase of the Lae Tidal Basin would cover the extension of the basin, wharf and container yard.

Prime Minister Peter O’Neill in an earlier interview told The National that the second phase of the Lae Tidal Basin would cost almost K1.3 billion.

CHEC quarry manager Jeff Feng Gou thanked the Pwaluc clan leaders for opening up their traditional land.

He assured them that some of their men would be engaged as security and safety officers at the gravel site. Young Ahi leader and quarry officer Michael Early thanked CHEC for recognising the Ahi people as development partners and called on the Pwaluc clan to cooperate with the developer.

“The LTBP is a huge project that will turn Lae into a little Singapore so we must unite and work together as partners,” Early said.

Pwaluc spokesman Thomas Ahi and assured the company’s management of their cooperation.

“We will take this spin-off project on board and look after it as well as your workers,” Ahi said.