Landowners want issues sorted

By JUNIOR UKAHA
THE landowners of the proposed Pacific Maritime Industrial Zone (PMIZ) in Madang have called on the government to suspend all developments taking place on their land and resolve outstanding issues before further negotiations can take place.
The impacted landowners, through their umbrella company Kananam Investment Ltd (KIL), last Friday said issues such as outstanding project contracts to PMIZ contractors, legislation, equity participation, community services obligation and the benefits sharing packages needed to be reviewed.
“We call on the state to immediately suspend all activities and engage all stakeholders in an exhaustive dialogue regarding those issues,” KIL chairman Rudolf Ayu said:
He said his people were aware that the next phase of the project was scheduled to start in October and November and were issues relating to the project that would affect their lives had not been addressed well.
The multi-million kina project, which is supposed to see Papua New Guinea become the “tuna capital” of the world, started some years back but is running at snail’s pace.
The landowners’ claim many local contractors that were engaged in the initial development of the PMIZ were owed more than K20 million by the state.
They called on the Department of Commerce, former minister Gabriel Kapris and former secretary Anton Kulit to explain the situation to them.