PM right to tick off BHP Billiton

I REFER to your report “BHP Billiton asked to leave PNGSDP alone” (Nov 29).
The call by Prime Mi­nister Peter O’Neill to  BHP Billiton, which  gave up ownership of the Ok Tedi mine 10 years ago,  to stop influencing the board of the PNG Sustainable Development Program (PNGSDP) is welcome news for Western.
It has the potential to hinder the long-term de­ve­lopment projects the PNGSDP has lined up.
They include the up­grading of the Daru Airport, the telecommunication roll-out project, the Daru deep sea port, the Star Mountains Institution of Technology, the roll-out of rubber project and the proposed corridor door pipeline to facilitate for the downstream processing of the oil and gas, just to name a few.
With the blanket cover, the insurance and protection that the company
has from parliament and po­liticians, most of these pro­jects were able to get
off the ground, and a re­view to change this has a pos­sibility to hinder their progress and completion.
I call on the prime mi­nister to explain to the people of Western in de­tail the reasons why it is deemed fit for the chan-ges to be made on PNG­SDP.
He ought to remember PNGSDP is very sen­si­-tiv­e to the people of Wes­tern as the company was created out of the environmental da­mage caused by BHP Billiton on the Fly River and its surrounding en­viron­ment.
Any amendment to the PNG­SDP must be taken se­riously and with great consideration.

Israel Mulake
Port Moresby