PM wants data on resources taken out

PRIME Minister James Marape has called on the Mineral Resources Authority (MRA) to put together a registry of its asset base to show how much resources have been taken out.
Marape in his response to Rabaul MP Dr Alan Marat’s questions about the number of Papua New Guinean companies’ in upstream areas, admitted that there was no data in the government system.
“I will be the first to admit that our government statistics do not have the clearest data as to the number of 100 per cent PNG-owned companies that are participating in those upstream activities in highly specialised technical areas but we can’t give excuses for us not having capacity,” he said.
“Our government system is deficient in data. I’ve made this known to secretaries of State and government departments.
“We must harvest more for our country as far as the blessings and resources that God has endowed us with.
“My reference towards all investors meeting us and our law is a reference to some of our projects we have online coming up for review.
“We are not a nation to shift away from what is not spelt out in the law as we are today.”
Marape said the laws were tailored towards attracting investors to the country.
“We are no longer green in the areas of mining, oil and gas and all our resources,” he said.
“We are already established as a nation that is geared towards producing world class mining projects, oil and gas and the harvest of other resources in renewable sector like forestry, fisheries and agriculture.
“We have had enough mining projects since Bougainville copper in the 1970s to Porgera mine, Ok Tedi mining in the 1980s and Lihir in the 1990s and Ramu in 2000.”
Marape said it would be interesting to bring back to Parliament the exact number of Papua New Guinean companies who are participating in this sector.