Papua New Guinea's Purari Developing Association Inc (PDA) has supported the call by Prime Minister James Marape to review all project agreements, including the Papua LNG gas agreement, saying it was rushed and poorly negotiated.
General-secretary Roy Evara Jnr said yesterday that they had sighted the gas agreement and it did not serve their interest as landowners.
He said other reasons includes:
President Roy Evara Snr said they believed the landowners were losing a lot, including the country, from the gas agreement.
The Papua LNG project gas agreement was signed between the State and the developer Total including joint venture partners ExxonMobil and Oil Search Ltd in April.
“We are encouraged by Marape’s vision to make Papua New Guinea the richest black Christian nation,” Evara Snr said.
“That was a key message we want to hear and foreigners should not take us wrongly.
“We are fixing our country which was burdened by colonial laws that we accepted and our people must change these laws.” Evara said laws were important.
“Six feet below the earth belongs to the State and the foreigners, six feet above the earth belongs to us. What do I get from this? Nothing,” he said.
“So the law is very important.”
The association is calling on Marape to defer the Papua LNG project indefinitely until such time all proposed changes to resource laws in the country are done.
PDA is the umbrella association representing the eight tribes from Baimuru sub-district of Gulf. The National/Pacific Mining Watch
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General-secretary Roy Evara Jnr said yesterday that they had sighted the gas agreement and it did not serve their interest as landowners.
He said other reasons includes:
- Agreement was signed without conforming to several critical pre-conditions stipulated under the Oil & Gas Act 1998;
- resource owners rights stipulated under the Organic Law on Provincial and Local Level Government 1998 was not complied; and,
- The agreement was dictatorial, directs ministers of state and parliament to change the country’s laws where required to suit the terms and conditions of the agreement which favoured the foreign developers.
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| PNG Prime Minister Marape wants review in Oil & Gas agreements |
The Papua LNG project gas agreement was signed between the State and the developer Total including joint venture partners ExxonMobil and Oil Search Ltd in April.
“We are encouraged by Marape’s vision to make Papua New Guinea the richest black Christian nation,” Evara Snr said.
“That was a key message we want to hear and foreigners should not take us wrongly.
“We are fixing our country which was burdened by colonial laws that we accepted and our people must change these laws.” Evara said laws were important.
“Six feet below the earth belongs to the State and the foreigners, six feet above the earth belongs to us. What do I get from this? Nothing,” he said.
“So the law is very important.”
The association is calling on Marape to defer the Papua LNG project indefinitely until such time all proposed changes to resource laws in the country are done.
PDA is the umbrella association representing the eight tribes from Baimuru sub-district of Gulf. The National/Pacific Mining Watch
Next :