NEGOTIATIONS on multi-million kina oil, gas and gold projects are expected to be completed this year, Papua New Guinea Prime Minister James Marape says.
The projects include Porgera in Enga, Wafi-Golpu in Morobe, Papua LNG and Pasca gas projects in Gulf, and P’nyang gas in Western.
Marape in updating Parliament on key projects last week said the Government was committed to completing negotiations on all the projects by the final quarter of this year.
“I remain confident with the work done so far by the respective ministers and the state negotiation team,” Marape said.
“I can assure everyone and the people that we will remain focused on achieving a fair and equitable share of the benefits.
“We have analysed the financial models of all these projects and if we negotiate a better deal, the country will receive significant benefits over the next 20 years.
“The impact on our economy will be significant.
“Some of these positive impacts include; more money going to provincial governments and landowners; more revenue to the national government to finance our national investment; more investment in infrastructure, health, education and law and order and improvement in the quality of lives of our people; reducing the over-reliance on loans and borrowing to finance our budget which will reduce debt; storing foreign reserves to sustain competitiveness of our kina against major trading currencies; more jobs and income opportunities for our people; and, increased foreign direct investment in the country,” he said.
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