PPL holders owe K10mil

THOSE holding onto petroleum prospecting licences (PPL) owe the State around K10 million, according to outgoing Department of Petroleum and Energy secretary Lohial Nuau.
This was discovered when the department carried out due diligence on the licences, an exercise which began in 2015 but had not progressed much.
“We considered 70 PPLs again for further review for the purpose of compliance with respect to their annual rentals,” he said in Port Moresby yesterday.
“It was determined that 40 licences were in default.
“Seven of them have been sent default notices with rental arrears including penalties amounting to K1.8 million.
“Based on the due diligence carried out by our licencing section, the defaulters owe the State (about) K10 million plus an excess of K4 million that needs to be recouped from past defaulters.”
Nuau urged his successor David Manau to ensure the defaulters were penalised.
“It is my recommendation that all petroleum licences under this regime must be subjected to review and defaulters must be penalised provided the department gives a fair and reasonable opportunity to them to be heard,” he said.
Nuau further said the department would have a corporate plan this year.
He said a corporate plan “provides avenues for economic growth.”