Mapiria hits out at landowners

Business, Normal
Source:

The National,Friday20January 2012

HIDES Special Purpose Authority chairman Lemson Mapiria has appealed to landowners not to block the operations at the PNG LNG project and the gas-to-electricity plants.
He said they were doing this illegally and they should stop immediately.
Mapiria said there were proper procedures to follow if landowners had issues with the project developer or the national government and these avenues must be exhausted before landowners resort to disrupting the project.
“I call on landowners in PDL-7 And PDL-1 to show leadership and take the issues up with leaders like myself who will assist them find a proper solution rather than stopping the PNG LNG project.
“The stop work is illegal.
“Stopping the project will not do any good to the landowners as they would only delay the payment of benefits from the project.
“If we want to receive royalty and equity immediately or by 2014, we must allow the project to go ahead,” he said.
Mapiria also called on the project developers of the LNG project and the gas-to-electricity project, ExxonMobil and Oil Search Ltd to work with respective leaders at Hides so that solutions to issues could be found.
He said the landowners must also respect the Government of the day and its agencies must also listen to the people and attend to their issues.
“One of the biggest problems is that we do not have government representatives from the departments of Environment and Conservation, Petroleum and Energy, Lands and Physical Planning and others who should be the first point of contacts for the landowners when they have issues,” he said.
Mapiria said he was prepared to take government representatives to Hides and the surrounding project areas so that they could see first hand what was lacking on the ground and facilitate dialogue between them.
“I am also calling on the government to make any outstanding payments to those who have submitted their claims and continuing to delay the payment would only prolong the problems landowners are facing.
“Starting this year, the government must work with the Hides Special Purpose Authority as it is the legitimate authority on the ground and all future payments should be channeled through the authority and all payments will be made on the ground and not in Port Moresby,” he said.