Landowners fly to Australia to check investments

A GROUP of landowner leaders from the Ok Tedi mine impact area in Western left Port Moresby on Friday to visit investments their royalty monies had made in Australia.
According to them, the visit was the first in 13 years.
The leaders representing 10 mine villages will spend a week to visit their assets, including hotels and properties in Brisbane and Cairns as the beneficiaries with the second and third batch expected to visit other assets in Cairns, Sydney and Madang.
The trip was organised by Milum Group of Companies.
Milum group chief executive Aubrey DeSouza said they had been investing for the landowners since 2006.
“Besides property assets, we also got shares, cash and treasury bills,” he said.
“Our value of investments is around K150 million.
“Every year, we go to Ok Tedi mine and brief the beneficiaries, 5,000 of them, on their investments.
“After two years of planning, the board and management decided to take representatives to observe.”