Two sides to Hela issue, says official

HELA provincial administrator William Bando says there are two sides to the landowner dispute now affecting operations of the PNG LNG Project.
He said while the landowners were somewhat demanding, the Government had in many instances failed to live up to its side of the bargain.
“Some of the (landowner) issues are genuine, while for others, they need to blame themselves,” Bando told The National.
He said these included infrastructure development grants, business development grants and others which were still before court.
Bando, however, said the “landowners had a point on some issues”.
“These included the road-sealing projects which had been awarded a long time ago. It’s about time we see machines working on the roads,” he said.
“Mobilisation hasn’t even started. Our gas is gone and we are still driving through craters that are big enough for fishing.
“We are still fighting. Our gas is being piped 24 hours. We are killing each other, and our roads are falling apart. Every other place has second, third (road) sealing, ours has no sealing.
“Ours has no office, ours has no accommodation for public servants, and yet they (people) demand too much from public servants. I am a very worried and tearful person.”