PETROLEUM and Energy Minister Nixon Duban says the payments for landowners of the PNG LNG Project in Central are ready.Duban denied claims that the Government did not have the money to pay landowners in the project-impacted provinces.
He said yesterday at the Hides in Hela that the Alternate Dispute Resolution process was delaying payments to landowners.
“We can run all cheques tomorrow. I am ready to pay (landowners in) Central. Then I want to go to the pipeline areas because they don’t have any issues,” he said.
He said Minister for Finance James Marape had advised that payments for all other provinces should await the completion of the clan-vetting process for Hela.
“We (Government) will not pay anybody yet,” he said.
“Instead, we will allow a State team to come to Hela on Friday to set a time-line on the clan-vetting process and payments of royalties and the 2 per cent equity held in the Mineral Resources Development Company.”
MRDC managing director Augustine Mano assured locals in Hela that the company was still holding onto their 2 per cent equity – now valued at K200 million.
He told the landowners that once the clan vetting process was completed, they would receive the funds, plus the K135 million in royalty held by the Central Bank. The National