Treasurer says Wafi-Golpu signing good for investment

By HELEN TARAWA
THE Government is optimistic that the signing this week of a memorandum of understanding between the Government and the developers of the Wafi-Golpu mine will enable early investment flows.
Treasurer and Deputy Prime Minister Charles Abel, pictured, said the Wafi-Golpu and Papua LNG projects were the two most important for the country.
“There are some good critical timelines that will enable some early investment flows so that it is a give and take around taxation and a better take to the State as well,” he said.
“There are some good critical timelines so that construction on early work can begin on Wafi-Golpu and Papua LNG. (It will) stimulate revenue, foreign exchange flows and create employment,” he said.
Abel said it was part of the Government’s attempt to deliver projects in a timely manner.
He said the signing on Tuesday was a non-binding document which “tries to bring some focus and clarity on the timeline”.
“If the negotiations turn out unfavourable, then we have other important stakeholders like landowners and provincial governments which play an important role,” he said.
“The Government’s role is to facilitate the process as much as possible so benefits can be released quickly.
“The two projects are very important in the economic profile going forward.
“It’s not that we want to rely on extractive industries but we need some of these projects in the meantime and we need to utilise the benefits from those projects to continue our drive in the non-renewable sector.
“Our non-resource revenue streams are growing to the resources so we are becoming less dependent on these sectors. But in the foreseeable future we still need the investment flows and jobs and the revenue from these sectors to drive our development.”