State under fire

 By JEFFREY ELAPA

CONCERN was raised in Parliament yesterday over the haste in approving multi-million kina projects such as the PNG LNG project without careful evaluation of its benefits to the Government and people.

The debate was sparked off by a ministerial statement on the petroleum and gas industry from Minister for Petroleum and Energy William Duma.

Attorney-General and Justice Minister Kerenga Kua said the Government would soon amend legislation to ensure that all resources were fully owned by the State.

Kua said the State owned resources under the ground but that ownership was transferred to the developer or investor as soon as a development licence was issued.

“The state should be owning the resources and not giving them away to investors,” he said. 

“This is a property shift and payment shift. We get nothing out of it and this is unacceptable and we must constitutionalise ownership because there is no provision confining state ownership. This must take place quickly and must be seen on the benefit we share.”

There was concern by some MPs that the PNG LNG project was rushed and sold cheaply and urged the State to suspend all negotiations on new petroleum and gas projects.

Minister for Commerce and Trade Richard Maru said the country would only receive K1.5 billion in revenue from 2015 while the Government had incurred a lot of commitments.

He said the Government had given away many fiscal incentives, leaving it with nothing, and should not rush into any more projects of such magnitude.

“We should get far better package for our people. Let’s see the lesson learnt and make improvement in other (future) projects,” he said.

Koroba Kopiago  MP Philip Undialu said the state should not engage foreign consultants as it did in the PNG LNG project because their report would not be in the best interest of the State and the people.

Goroka MP Biri Kimisopa said the PNG LNG agreement was presented to parliament so that every member had the opportunity to know its content such as the fiscal incentives in the agreements.

“Time will only tell us if we have done the right thing,” he said.