Locals fight geothermal proposal

MATUPIT landowner clans in East New Bri­tain are seeking a court injunction to restrain the Minister for Petroleum and Energy from entertaining a proposal from Broker, Jack Pidik and developer RG Pacific Ltd to establish a geothermal plant on the island.
The proposed pro­ject would use thermal heat from Mt Tavurvur and is expected to have the potential to gene­rate 51MW of electricity to household utilities on Matupit Island.
Chairman of the landowner clans, Thomas ToBunbun, said they were justified in taking the action.
He said Pidik had no authority to act as a re­presentative to negotiate and sign any memorandum of understanding document on their behalf.
Two clans have decided to institute legal action for matters considered criminal in nature with regard to land dealing by Pidik.
ToBunbun said the proposed injunction would be based on the premise that the country had no policy in place for geothermal development there it should shelve the proposal indefinitely.
He said all landowner clans had to complete the process of social mapping and land investigations – important prerequisites that must be completed to enable all clans form an umbrella landowner association to represent their common interests in ventures of any sort.
“We welcome any development but must caution that Matupit landowner clans desire total ownership of any deve­lopment.
“Equity partnership and benefits sharing are outdated systems as ne­gative outcomes arise that fail to promote social well-being of our people to any satisfactory level,” he said.
ToBunbun said real and effective development would only arise where Papua New Gui­neans owned and developed their natural resources and the global market of technology, expertise and finance would easily be accessed as these were on offer to anyone.