Life slowly changing in Foe land

LIFESTYLE

Association channels benefits of oil and gas to impacted communities of Nipa-Kutubu, Southern Highlands

By JAMIE HARO
A SHAREHOLDER from the Petroleum Resource Kutubu (PRK) group is prepared to bring in more services to locals in Kutubu, Southern Highlands.
The Foe Association is one of the principle signatories of a signed memorandum of agreement (MOA) with PNG Liquefied Natural Gas (PNG LNG), through its Umbrella Benefits Sharing Agreement (UBSA) and Licensed Based Benefit Sharing Agreement(LBSA) and acts a trustee of Kutubu’s stake in PRK.
This association represents all interests of the Foe region covering parts of the Petroleum Development License (PDL2) area oil and gas projects in Southern Highlands.
There are two tribes in the Nipa-Kutubu electorate, the Faso and Foe.
The Faso tribe owns lands within the borders of Western and Hela and formed a group called Nepago Landowners Association.
The Foe tribe, however owns land that borders Nipa, Poroma and Kagua-Erave and towards the border villages in Gulf.
Generally, the Foe Tribe is divided into two zones which are the Upper and the Lower Foe with a population of about 40,000 people.
In 1999, then leaders of the Foe tribe came together and formed Foe Association Incorporated (FAI).
According to FAI’s current chairman, Johnny Yawari, back then most of the people in the Foe tribe never knew they owned customary lands where the petroleum projects were based as the PDL boundary was set by a then oil and gas company in 1993.
He said most of the people who spoke the Foe language lived outside of the PDL boundary and did not benefit from the oil and gas benefits (royalties and equities), however a few clans that lived around the vicinity of the Lake (Lake Kutubu) were fortunate as half of their land was within the PDL boundary.
“My late dad who was chairman of FAI and director of PRK then saw this and established almost 100 incorporated land groups (ILG), so that the people of the Foe tribe living in and outside of the PDL boundary will benefit equally from the shares,” he explained.

He said since the establishment of the ILGs they have so far incorporated almost 141 ILGs to date.
“We now have 141 ILGs which come under FAI chairman, about 45 from the Lower Foe and 96 from the Upper Foe. These are all impacted ILGs, and they’ve
benefited through the oil and gas project,” Yawari added.
He said the Kutubu oil and gas project which was signed by his late dad, gave the Foe people (141 ILGs) 10 per cent of the shares while the other 90 per cent was given to the other shareholders.
“The challenging part was that since the oil flow in 1993 to the present day, we have been paid royalties while PRK pays dividends to the provincial government which they partly own.”
However, Yawari said being a leader since his late dad passed the responsibilities to him, he has come up with a plan to revive services in the Foe tribal areas by investing using the royalty payments received.
“We managed to do a few projects on the ground, get the ILGs to participate and make them part of the organisation. It is something our forefathers have done and we are continuing on that path and the same must be done when someone takes over in the future.”
“The 141 ILGs also have sub-clans, some of the locals there speak languages from the Gulf and Hela while others speak the native SHP language from Mendi, Nipa, Kutubu and Kagua-Erave,” Yawari dded.
He said under the association’s development plan to leave no child behind, a lot has progressed in terms of infrastructure developments for the Foe tribe.
“FAI intends to disseminate via this medium impact projects and social services rolled over the years for the benefits of stakeholders and the general public. It further wishes to exhibit sectoral development strategies that form its 15-year development plan called Foe Association Strategic Development Plan 2022-2037.”
He said with the development plans, such established projects as the Gesege projects have made a major impact in the region.
“Before the project became a reality, there was no access to the nearest schools for our children, they had to paddle from one end of the lake to other end of the lake, which is almost 30-40km and for them to continuously do that for too long, while right across the lake, developments were taking place, something had to be done.” he said.
He said, as a leader of his people, he had to do his part by engaging the association and its executives to put the royalties to use.
“Let’s try to invest in something that will benefit the future of our children. So we started our project back in 2018. Due to the earthquake that struck the provinces in the highlands, we had to rebuild again including the teachers houses. With the effort of our people at home and our company and our leaders, we managed to put the building back together and by 2020 September, we officially opened the new Gesege Primary School.”
Yawari said the rebuilding effort included a four-in-one classroom building, a staff house and a double unit for the staff. It is an investment of infrastructure that is sitting in the jungle of no man’s land.
In addition, he said despite the difficulties faced in transporting materials, and bad road conditions, they managed to get the job done and were now looking forward to building a four staff units that have already been approved for construction in December.
Another f FAI’s investments includes the donation of a new ambulance to the Inu Health Centre.
Yawari said in the past patients, especially pregnant mothers found it difficult to travel the distance to seek attention since the road conditions were not good. Relatives had to bring them to the nearest health centre in Inu by paddling through the lake.

“It is because of this situation that some mothers gave birth during the trip whilst others passed on, so we bought a brand new ambulance in 2021 and presented it to the Inu Health Centre. Currently, the ambulance has been assisting in every way possible.
“When you give something with your heart, it will not be ruined quickly but will be used in a good way,” Yawari said.
As an added bonus they have purchased four small boats which can be used as sea ambulances so that people living up at the Raun Wara can have access to the nearby clinics.
“We also presented a scanner to the Pimaga Rural Health Centre to benefit pregnant  mothers while we try to build more infrastructure for the health sector in the area.”
He said through the help of PRK which is managed by the Mineral Resources Development Company (MRDC), they also donated a 165kVA generator set to Kutubu Secondary School, the only school in Kutubu that has not been provided electricity as their genset has been out of service for almost three years.
“Currently we are working on our latest project which is in Tanuga and is part of the Pimaga headquarters (government station of Kutubu), which also received a 165 kVA gen set.”
“In Pimaga, we are currently working on building the Tanuga classrooms that are steel-framed buildings and are the first to be built out of steel in the
Kutubu area as all buildings in the area are made out of bush materials.
He said all projects have been fully funded by PRK and managed by MRDC through FAI’s 10 per cent share through the PRK trust.
“We also have a new school outside of Moro (company station) which is Kei Point Community School. A low-set double classroom and a staff house have been built while more funding has been set aside for another double classroom for the new primary school.
Two new schools are to be opened, one is Tanuga and the other is in Kei Point while teachers have already been posted to the new school in Gesege.
“Making sure no child is left behind” is the phrase used to ensure we invest in our children,” Yawari said.
“We have to get the basics right, this is the difference we are trying to make- to give quality infrastructure to children back in the village as the same in the cities.”
A two-year scholarship has also been approved (MRDC-PRK scholarship) for students from the Foe tribe attending schools in the Kutubu area when they are accepted to colleges anduniversity.
“The whole idea is to raise these local kids up in these schools so when they leave they get the type of education that they deserve and when they return to their village, they will come back and develop that village.”
Yawari said, the future looked promising, given the transformative effects of the projects brought to the people.
This has compelled the FAI to celebrate and be passionate to do more and objectively embrace projects that hold immense potential to add value to the people. Yawari has extended his appreciation to MRDC Managing Director Augustine Mano and PRK Chairman John Kapi Nato for their unending support thus far.
“Also, the people of Kutubu profoundly appreciate the support rendered by strategic partners including the PNG Government, Department of Petroleum and PNG LNG stakeholders and look to work with all development partners going forward,” he said.