Landowners live in tents, fed rice and tinned fish

RESOURCE-rich landowners are living in tents, and eating rice and canned fish, while awaiting relocation promised by the state and ExxonMobil.
Juha landowners umbrella company chairman Hengebe Haluya said the situation was a major health risk for the people with the spread of cholera and malaria.
He said Southern Highlands Governor Anderson Agiru had disclosed that he had seen the plans of the houses and that relocation would begin before early works under the licence-based benefits sharing agreement (LBBSA). “Now we are four months into the early works on the LNG project, and landowners and their families are living under canvas tents and fed rice and canned fish,” Haluya said.
“Agiru should come up with the building plans as the living conditions are posing a health risk to the people.”
He said the landowners supported the project but they did not want to live in tents.
He also raised concern that employees of Hides Gas Development Company, an umbrella company for landowners, were now complaining as the promised K10 million for capacity building promised by ExxonMobil has not been delivered.
“Twelve huge excavators are sitting in Komo to do contract work for the project while landowner companies are still awaiting seed funding to buy equipment to participate meaningfully.
“Landowners must buy these machines but the government is withholding our seed funding and, as a result, the landowners are getting nothing while money is going to the foreigners,” Haluya said.