PM willing to fight for fair slice

By ZACHERY PER
PRIME Minister James Marape re-affirmed his position to fight against foreign multi-million investors coming to PNG to reap the country’s natural resources.
He made this known in Goroka, Eastern Highlands, this week when he travelled to declare Aiye Tambua his Pangu Party candidate for the Goroka by-election.
Marape was referring to his current tussle with Barrick Niugini Ltd (BNL) over the Porgera Gold Mine.
“No past Papua New Guinea prime minister has stood firm to fight off multi-national foreign interest but instead succumbed to foreign interests,” Marape said.
“The current Pangu-led Government is against multi-national interests bringing their money to harvest our resources without helping us with services.
“You can get your profit and we must get our share too, the small amount we are getting is not enough as resource owners.”
Marape said the Government should think beyond the ordinary as PNG was blessed with natural resources such as oil, gas, copper and gold and timber, fish, coffee and copra.
“Over the past 10 years, PNG has lost the plot as the Government goes on borrowing spree, in seven years under O’Neill government, he went on borrowing spree,” he said.
“I told him to stop borrowing, repay to get more loans and he did not listen.
“On May 30, 2019 when I was elected prime minister, I promised PNG that people will get more benefits and the country can also get more benefits and I live to the promise to take back our resources being exploited by foreign interests.” Marape said the benefits obtained from resource development would be equally shared among the provinces, including the Autonomous Region of Bougainville (AROB).
He said the Government was carefully considering all resource development projects to allow local participation as much as possible to pave the way for Papua New Guineans to get maximum benefit.