Landowner withdraws case

HIDES landowner John Honale has withdrawn a court case over the land at Hides in which the LNG plant would be built.
Mr Honale, who was the plaintiff in the case, said he withdrew the case last week after ExxonMobil produced the social mapping done by Dr Laurence Goldman.
The mapping identifies Tuguba Aya clan, which is his clan, as the legitimate landowner of the LNG plant site.
Mr Honale said he was happy his clansmen and family members were properly identified in the social mapping landowner identification.
“The social mapping exercise by Dr Goldman is full of extracts from genealogy studies done by others previously.
“It has a lot of defects.
“But for the exercise currently underway, I guess this is sufficient enough,” he said.
Mr Honale had filed the proceedings on behalf of his clan, seeking compensation and rental money for the land identified for the plant facility at Hides.
He also sought seed capital funding from the State.
With the case now withdrawn, he said it was hoped these issues could now be addressed at the Licenced-based benefits sharing agreement currently underway at Hides before anything could start.
Mr Honale and his clansmen have launched the Hides Gasfield Corporation Ltd, their vehicle company for spin off businesses from the LNG project.
“Our company must be given fair share of the spin off businesses before any work begins at the LNG plant site, which is our land,” he said.