Pasca A talks to resume: PM

THE Government will resurrect negotiations on the Pasca A project, Prime Minister James Marape says.
Marape said that they would start dialogue with them after negotiations had been stalled for months.
“I assure resources licence holders for Wafi-Golpu, Pynyang, Papua, Pasca A and Porgera that to enjoy the benefits of the current regime, we need to work together to make investment decisions on their current license now,” he said.
“We continue to work closely with them to get to that point that they make investment decisions. Our intentions are clearly demonstrated in the deal that we have agreed to for the new Porgera mine.
“We have gained more on the different benefit streams for the Papua New Guinea stakeholder, and provided much respect to the interest of the investor,” he said.
Marape, said that the Government was also committed to seeing that current projects on the pipeline were progressed.
“Porgera is the lowest-hanging fruit.
“Papua LNG goes into Feed (front end engineering and design phase) soon.
“We have a very good agreement with ExxonMobil on P’nyang and we will progress it in sequence with Papua LNG.
“Wafi-Golpu is undergoing negotiations but a landing is in sight.”
Marape said that the Government would also review the revenues from taxation and equity from resource projects.
“We have been fortunate to be part of the high prices in the last couple of months, which is likely to yield enormous benefits from both the taxes and the equity.
“We must make sure that projects are not disrupted in any way.
“We must finally settle all our commitments to landowners, and also ensure that the Sovereign Wealth Fund commences. We owe it to our future generation,’’ he said.