Porgera mine launches fund facility programme

THE Porgera Chamber of Commerce and Industry launched the revolving fund facility programme last week to promote agriculture, business and support activities which can benefit the people.
The chamber came up with the idea to help landowners who have been missing out on the spin-off benefits in the past 30 years at the gold mine in Enga.
Chamber president Nickson Pakea said facility was set up by farmer groups in the Laiagam-Porgera electorate.
He said the farmer groups were members of the chamber.
The plan is to strengthen and help the farmer groups build the industry to sustain the economy before and after the closing of the mine.
“We are privileged to witness the birth of the Revolving Fund Facility program that we have facilitated in the last two years,” Pakea said.
“We understood that the mine was operating on a narrow box and the benefits jumped over to PNG and Enga rather than to the Porgera-Laiagam electorate.
“Therefore, we facilitated the revolving fund facility programme that will tactically broaden the mine into the wider Laiagam-Porgera electorate especially with the business spin-offs from mining.”
Pakea said the Porgera Joint Venture, the developer of the mine,
had been the main force behind such programmes to help the people.
“PJV had the system to capture locals through local procurement policy but we didn’t realise the importance of this system until outsiders took advanced of it,” he said.