Ramu NiCo’s road to destiny

RAMU NiCo – the developer of Ramu Nickel project – has built a metaphoric road to a great destiny and it invited all stakeholders to walk on that road to “reach our destiny”.
That invitation was made to the stakeholders by Ramu NiCo’s director and executive vice-president Gu Yuxiang last week during the company’s Christmas dinner attended by the Madang business community and interest groups at the Madang Resort Hotel.
Gu also said it was his dream to see to first historic export of Nickel from Basamuk nickel refinery plant and “I urge all of you to make it your dream too”.
He did not say when the first export shipment was due.
“I foresee that when the first shipment of nickel is on its way, we will all be proud of what we have strived so hard for, and we will also be proud that we have done our part to boost our two economies and improve our people’s livelihood,” he said.
Gu pointed out that the smooth load commissioning and operation of the Ramu nickel/cobalt project was critical and must be given priority to revenue.
He said next year would be an historic year for Ramu NiCo and all its stakeholders.
“The journey of thousand miles is almost completed,” Gu said and extended the metaphor of the journey of a thousand miles to say: “We Chinese say that if you want a community to prosper, you must first build them a road.” 
“Yes, Ramu NiCo has built that road and we invite you to join us to walk on that road to reach our destiny,” Gu said.
He said some years back during his visit to KBK and Basamuk he noticed people living a more subsistent lifestyle.
That had changed remarkably.
“Today, I am thrilled when I see local people having paid jobs, wearing good clothes, sending their children to school and owning a mobile phone. These are some improvements in their livelihood,” Gu said..
“However, I am saddened when I hear of some elders from our landowner villages passed away recently. They are leaving without having felt the full scale of benefits we would like to deliver. Should we keep on like this?”
He further said that it would be fair for the company to deliver the project on time as scheduled so that its financial obligations were met for the benefit of all stakeholders.
“While cultural differences and other underlying issues are there as challenges, we believe together as partners, we can make a difference by ensuring that the project start-up is successful,
“I am confident that the commissioning and production will commence soon successfully to get our project off the ground.
“On that notion, I be­lieve the landowner asso­-
ciations and their communities; government agen-
cies in particular will support our vision fully in executing this project on time,” Gu said.
He said Ramu NiCo, as a developer had demonstrated its ability in terms of total capital investment on this project and other community social-economic deve­lopment funding that the company was obliged to deliver as stipulated in the MoA.
“As part of our regulatory and corporate social responsibility, we will continue to do so in partnership with the state and Madang provincial government as our contribution to the economic growth of Madang and PNG as a whole,” Gu said.
“We are happy to announce that we succeeded in constructing an international standard mining project in just over two years while overcoming countless challenges.
“Even internationally, few mining project of our size and complexity has been constructed along such a quick timeline.
The speed and efficiency of the construction are a credit to our staff, both international and local who had worked tirelessly to see this project succeed.
“Our commitment to­-
wards environment protection is our utmost priority. We are committed to applying the best international environment management practices and commit to reduce any environmental risk to the best of our ability in operation,” Gu said.
“As a developer with strong sense of social responsibility, we have successfully completed and handed over the new houses for the landowners at Enikwai and Danagari relocation sites.”

“Ramu NiCo believes that such basic infrastructures are important to the sustainable development of local community.”
Gu said most of Ramu NiCo’s programmes and projects were localised to extend the benefits to as many people as possible.
“I assure you that Ramu NiCo is here to stay and will do its very best to bring much needed benefits to the impacted communities within the project areas.
Gu said Ramu NiCo was eager to deliver to its stakeholders and the impacted landowners their long awaited benefits.