AFTER 27 years of waiting, the Panguna landowners in Papua New Guinea have finally been promised to be paid what they are owed.
The landowners received the news during the Panguna landowners’ community review conducted recently by Bougainville Copper Limited and the Autonomous Bougainville Government’s Panguna negotiation office.
The Bougainville crisis ended 27 years ago.
Acting director of the Office of the Panguna Negotiation Bruno Babato thanked the people of Central and South Bougainville for welcoming officers from the ABG and BCL.
Babato said the aim of the programme was to verify and confirm the list of landowners with their account numbers so that payments could be made.
Bougainville Copper Limited’s consultant Justin Rogers said BCL has pledged K13.9 million to them as an outstanding payment for 1990. That payment ceased then because of the crisis.
“The amount that was given by BCL is for the year 1990 to 2013,” Rogers said.
Rogers urged the landowners to cooperate with ABG and BCL to settle that issue and focus on other programmes or developments. The National/ Pacific Mining Watch