NEC approves Yalu dairy farm project in Morobe

The National Executive Council (NEC) has approved the Yalu dairy farm project in Morobe and hopes to launch it by March, says National Planning Minister Richard Maru.
He said he would be meeting with the Morobe government and landowners at Yalu this week to discuss equity in the project.
“We are hoping that by next week, the Government will release K10 million to Kumul Consolidated Holdings (KCH) as the initial investment to get the project off the ground,” Maru said.
“It is the desire of the government for this important economic project to get off the ground by March.
“I am giving both my teams, and the Morobe team, the next three to four weeks to finalise the shareholder agreements so we can get the project off the ground.
“We are on our way to replace all the dairy imports that had cost this country K400 million a year and thousands of jobs.
“We will now make sure that the landowners are happy by being investors, and not spectators like in the past and provincial government to be investors and not spectators in a project in their own province.”
Maru said companies were keen to support local Yalu landowners who owned the plantation that the farm would be on.
Morobe government will be shareholders in the project, while KCH and Innovative Agro Industry (IAI) will be shareholder partners.
Maru said while in Lae over the next two days, he hoped to strike a commercial deal that was acceptable to both Morobe government and Yalu landowners.
“We want both the Yalu landowner company and the provincial government and its business arm to be made equity partners in the Yalu project,” he said.
“I met with KCH and IAI from Israel, who are also shareholder partners, and one of the superfunds to also partner.
“They (super fund) will confirm their participation in the project.”
Maru said demand for the Ilimo dairy products, produced in Central, were increasing which justified a second dairy in the country.