Giving out MOAs like lollies causing rift between landowners and govt: O’Neill

PRIME Minister Peter O’Neill told Parliament on Tuesday that the major factor in the disputes between landowners and the government over the years have been the giving out of memorandums of agreement (MOA) “like lollies” by ministers.
O’Neill was responding to Sinasina-Yonggomugl MP Kerenga Kua’s query about violence at PNG LNG Project areas, especially Angore in Hela, as a result of the government’s failure to honour its outstanding landowner commitments.
“In terms of Business Development Grants (BDGs), all BDGs were paid out to landowners except K12 million belonging to Angore landowners that is being parked in the court trust account because of a court dispute among Angore landowners themselves,” he said.
“So once that court dispute has been resolved, we are able to, of course, release that money to the rightful landowners as per the court directions.
“But MOAs are side agreements. Individual ministers in the past were going around giving it like lollies to the landowners and they (MOAs) had in fact gone into hundreds of millions of kina,” O’Neill said.
He said the government had taken steps to address this and cut it off at around K350 million.
“We have already paid K200 million and there is a balance of K150 million still remaining and this is the point of contention all the time.
“People are demanding that MOA funds could be paid all the time. I have found K150 million already and we will make sure that this money is locked in a trust account and will be paid to the right landowners.
“We will pay their MOA funds that are committed. So our Government is committed to honouring commitments that are made by previous governments under the Oil and Gas Agreements since the PNG LNG Project started.”