Pending land issues held up at AG’s office

DELAYS by the Attorney-General’s Office are hurting the Ramu NiCo project and other multi-million kina projects awaiting the resolution of land matters, a senior manager of the Institute of Public Administration said.
This was revealed last Friday when The National enquired about the status of the now fully- furbished and completed Institute of Public Administration building at the Madang headquarters area.
Pleas by the Lands Titles Commissioners office for funding to “sort logistics and administration” matters at the beginning of the year were shouldered by the Minerals and Resources Authority.
Renovation work for the IPA building began after delays by the LTC when funding approved for work to be carried out was not released by the Department of Finance.
Attempts to talk to LTC commissioner Benedict Batata and registrar Pius Kingal last Friday were unsuccessful.
Attorney-General Sir Arnold Amet was also unavailable last Friday but a highly placed source said the process of  appointing the commissioners was completed and they should be sworn-in “sometime this week”.
Sir Arnold was also unable to comment yesterday as he was preparing to travel overseas.
A senior manager, clearly disappointed with the delays, said: “When is the AG’s Department going to get on with appointing and dispensing some outstanding matters?
 “The Ramu NiCo pro­ject is a government-approved project that should be seen to be progressing.
“Why is the government paying lip service and not doing what it is supposed to be doing? Does it want the mine operating?” he asked.
Hinging on for almost a decade is the Ramu NiCo Review which is very much dependent on the speedy commencement of the LTC with another hurdle being the Deep Sea Tailings Placement decision on July 26.
 “Why is there a delay? Work has been stalled now for almost five months since the announcement and despite Mining Minister John Pundari’s an­nouncement that the pro­ject is important to the state; what is the state doing about it?” he asked.
The LTC comes under the Attorney-General’s Department and has been liaising with MRA for funding assistance.
The authority is willing to assist for the next three months after occupancy of the building.