Juha is in the Hela region, SHP
The National
THE Department of Petroleum and Energy (DPE) and the media claim that the LBBSA for Juha has been “signed”.
Let me highlight some landowner confusions and demands here.
The Juha project is in the Hela region, SHP.
Out of the four well heads, three are in Hela and one in Western province.
You take a chopper and fly into these three well heads from Soabi – the nearest village from Western province and it takes four minutes.
The other nearest village in the Hela region is Levani village and again you take a chopper and it takes you 90 seconds.
The council wards of Tobi and Umimi are in the North Koroba LLG council area of the Koroba-Lake Kopiago electorate.
North Koroba LLG has 26 wards of which, the 25th and 26th are Tobi and Umimi.
This will be confirmed with official records with the Department of Provincial and Local Level Government Affairs, the Electoral Commission, National Statistic Office, Department of Southern Highlands, the Koroba-Lake Kopiago district office and North Koroba LLG.
Wabi Sala, chairman of Phembi Landowners Association of Western province, is from Tobi ward and the last funding presented to him personally for Koroba district office by Southern Highlands Governor Anderson Agiru was a K12,000 cheque for some projects in his ward last year, and he has yet to present the acquittals of the expenditure to the SHPG.
The MP for Koroba-Lake Kopiago has also carried out some projects in these wards.
Therefore, Mr Sala cannot say that Juha is in Western province.
The UBSA is Kokopo was clear on this with the Fly River provincial government getting 1% and SHPG 19% in the 20% equity.
To date, the landowners of both provinces have not sign the LBBSA during the forum in Soabi.
I urge officials and landowner representatives to follow the precedents set in the UBSA and the Western province landowner group known as Pembi and Hela has four major ethnic landowner groups – Tugupas, Snails, Pogaiyas and Hulis (North Koroba).
Tindi Apa
North Koroba