Vice minister wants addressing of landowner issues to be priority

By DALE LUMA
NEWLY-appointed Vice Minister for Mining Jimmy Uguro, pictured, says addressing land ownership issues needs to be a priority for current and future projects.
Uguro said this during his official welcome ceremony yesterday by Mining Minister Johnson Tuke and the staff of the Mineral Resources Authority (MRA).
He said the mining industry was a business involving of resources on people’s land and this deserved special consideration because of the importance land was in Papua New Guinea traditional society.
“Remember we are extracting soil from someone’s land so it is how we communicate with our people that makes our jobs easier and the government’s visions and aspirations possible,” he said.
Uguro said the country had more resources to be discovered and developed but land ownership and benefits sharing would be the biggest issues challenging the state.
“If we don’t do the surveys well in the beginning, it will be hard to deal with the landowners. If we don’t do the social surveys properly, it will be very difficult to find the true landowners,” he said.
“And if you don’t find the true landowners, the fair and equitable distribution of wealth and services to our people will be more difficult.
“So it is entirely up to all the stakeholders such as landowners, statutory bodies or the state, development partners and the developer itself to be aware of this.”
Uguro also said that the type of tax and the benefits that the people and the government received needed to be explained well in order for them to accept it.
Tuke welcomed Uguro as vice minister and agreed that there were many “hurdles” ahead for the government and developers needed to address for the benefit of all stakeholders.