Landowners must benefit from project, says Yama

MADANG Governor Peter Yama says hundreds of millions of kina have been spent on the Pacific Marine Industrial Zone Project but there is nothing happening on the ground.
He said the concerns of the people and landowners had not been considered.
Yama said he could no longer allow this to happen and suggested that all project funding be controlled in Madang rather in Port Moresby.
“As much as possible the landowners, communities living along the project area coastline, the diverse community of Madang and the provincial government of Madang must fully benefit from spin-off benefits,” he said.
“They must have direct influence over project negotiations, development, and completion and implementation stages.
“I appreciate the fact that the loan negotiation is in its advanced stage, and funding is now in place, as alluded to by Prime Minister (Peter) O’Neill in his recent speech at the Pacific Tuna Forum.”
O’Neill said recently the Government would continue to pursue the PMIZ project in Madang to create a regional tuna processing hub for the Pacific region.
He said funding arrangements were now in place and construction would begin soon.
The China Exim Bank had agreed to fund the new project plan with a K350 million concessional loan. The project will be developed over 215 hectares of land of which around 100 ha would have canneries and 115ha for residential and commercial purposes.
The Government expects the project will generate 30,000 jobs. Once fully developed, it will have 10 processing plants for tuna caught in PNG and the Pacific.
Yama said landowner groups and the people of Madang must fully benefit from the project and not foreign investors.