Plans to save Ramu

A SENIOR citizen from Bundi, Joe Koroma, is calling on four of the six Madang MPs to come up with a proactive plan on saving the mighty Ramu River.
Koroma stressed that the river was heavily polluted which was evident in the decline of fish and other fresh water de­licacies such as prawns and
eels which used to be in abundance.
“The four members of parliament, Governor Jim Kas, popularly dubbed as kwila blong Ramu, Anton Yagama member for Usino-Bundi, Tommy Tomscoll (Middle Ramu) and John Hickey (Bogia), who resides along the lower Ramu River,
all have a primary reason to look after the river,” Koroma said.
“The leaders should start early in attending to some of the big issues affecting the pro­vince.”
He said that major developments were taking place in the catchment area of Ramu, which included the Ramu Agri pro­ject involving sugar cane and oil palm developments where pollution obviously affects the river.
“The excavation and infrastructure work already carved up at the Kurumbukari Mountain for the nickel and cobalt extraction and soil run off is already filling up the streams and lakes and flows into the Ramu.
“Next is the copper and molybdenum mine at Yanderra in Bundi which will also empty its waste into the same river source,” he added.
Koroma suggested the MPs advocate for mining companies to include Christian principles and practices in how they dispose of their waste.
“If the past trend has been for multi-international mining companies to go for profit at the expense of environmental destruction and disadvantaging indigenous landowners, then a Christian approach will be to respect nature and bring more benefits for resource owners,” he said.
The Ramu River is the fourth largest river in the country and the mines and agro business all looking to make profit from minerals and commodity while ignoring those along the river is the core of Koromas concern as stated.
He said that there existed opportunities for these Madang leaders to set precedents in Madang and liquefied natural gas projects in the province and a more Christian approach to get better outcomes could make these lea­ders stand out from the rest both nationally and internationally.