K35m for Hela clans

LANDOWNERS in two petroleum development licence areas (PDL1 and PDL7) of the PNG LNG project in Hela will receive a total of K35 million next Friday.
Landowners clapped with joy after the announcement by Minister for Petroleum and Energy Nixon Duban at Hides yesterday.
He told them that the Government would release the Infrastructure Development Grant (IDG) next Friday.
PDL 1 will get K20 million and PDL7 will receive K15 million.
The IDG payment was one of the two key issues resolved between the protesting landowners and the Government in the past few days.
The other was the clan-vetting process which Duban said would begin today.
He said the successful meeting between the Government team and the landowner leaders resulted in them removing the barricade to ExxonMobil’s plant entrance at the Hides.
He thanked Mineral Resources Development Company managing director Augustine Mano, Kumul Petroluem Holdings Limited managing director Wapu Sonk and acting Secretary for the Department of Petroleum and Energy David Manau.
Landowner and Hela businessman Larry Andagali thanked the Government after viewing the bank landowners’ share was being kept at the Central Bank. Andagali told the Government delegation that “there’s nothing else to ask for. Let’s complete the clan-vetting process”.
The clan vetting for PDL 1 and PDL 7 begins today.
Duban said these understandings paved the way for the two parties to work together in the next 30 days in solving issues discussed.
He also appealed to the landowners not to interfere with the operations of the developer or tamper with the valves.