New arrangement way forward

Letters

THE Government is trying to venture into a new mineral and petroleum arrangement to control the exploration and development of minerals and petroleum in the country.
Currently PNG is operating under the arrangement called the concession arrangement where the developer upon granting of the licences to explore or develop has the exclusive right and ownership over the minerals.
With this, the landowners and stakeholders such the provincial governments tend to be spectators at the negotiation table where the agreements are made between developers and the Government.
The new arrangement that the Government is trying to put in place is quite okay.
Under this arrangement, the state will transfer ownership rights to the state-owned enterprise, Kumul Minerals Holdings Ltd, which will be in charge of mining operations and Kumul Petroleum Holdings which will be in charge of petroleum operations.
Under this arrangement, the two state-owned enterprises will only engage developers as contractors based on their terms.
This arrangement is the way forward.
This arrangement should be adopted as soon as possible to cater for the backlogs of unpaid benefits and compensations over the past years.

E.Ulach
UPNG