The Mining Act will be reviewed with the view to increase landowner participation in mining projects in the country, Deputy Prime Minister Belden Namah has promised says the Post Courier.
Speaking at a meeting in Parliament on Wednesday in which Department of Mining officials made presentations to highlight impediments the industry would face if the Boka Konda Bill became a law, Mr Namah led a chorus of calls from MPs and other participants at the meeting for increased landowner participation.
Mr Namah said he would support the bill and called on proponents and critics of the bill to work together so the final form that goes to Parliament is acceptable to all the players.
“A review of the Mining Act is long overdue.
“Landowners should not be mere rent and royalty takers. They should be a major partner in the extraction of resources from their land. This can be achieved through the production sharing arrangement that is working well in many countries,” Mr Namah said.
Mr Namah said the notion that the Bill would scare away investors was nonsense.
He gave Trinidad as an example, where oil giant BP protested the introduction of production sharing arrangement and left, warning no investors would go to invest there under that regime.
The Chinese and French moved in, and the country is now enjoying the benefits of the production sharing arrangement.
“People say the bill would scare away investors. Those who want to leave can leave. There will be others lining up at the door to replace them,” Mr Namah said.
He urged MP Boka Konda to look at 49/51 production sharing arrangement, with landowners taking up 49 per cent with the support of the Government.
He said the issue of exploration and sunk costs should not be considered impediments, as that would be shared by all partners.
Mr Namah, who is Minister for Forest and Climate Change, said similar change to increase landowner participation would be brought to the forest industry.
Mr Kondra has three bills on the Notice Paper. They are the Mining (amendment bill) Act, the Land (amendment) Bill 2012, and the Oil and Gas Amendment Bill 2012.
This proposal is so short sighted and unjust for most land owners in PNG.
These Ministers proposing the creation of a special class of PNG peoples are a disgrace.
The government has always been able to take a 30% interest in any project but it has never even bothered to use this mechanism to date, save in the case of the recent Solwara Project.
Nor does Namah have a clue what he is talking about.
The Trinada Tobago governments have moved away from this policy and are doing everything they can to divest themselves of State participation because they discovered it just can not work efficiently for the state.
Mind you, Trinidad-Tobago is a highly developed society and a far call from the chaos of PNG.
South Africa has also rejected Namah and Kondras ideas and if any nation migh be in a good position to consider teh pros and cons of such a policy it would be South Africa.
It seems that only failed of failing states seem to go for this quick fix solution, which of course, will end up a disaster.
Of couse Namah and Kondra won’t be there to take the blame……..
And how about te tax reform that is needed to go with such a scheme?
And who would manage the land owner interests?
Waigani?
Oh yeah!
One can just start to imagine the temptation for those in Waigani.
Then comes the chaos………and te questions from te land owners
Wheres our money??
The Miner would then be blamed and the entire thing would fall flat on its face.
External investors would look at the state run chaos as you or I would a shoe with dog poo on it!
This recent announcement only goes to show that the O’Neil government is not a unified party and is likely to fall apart any time soon, leading to more chaos.
Like wise O’Neils recent advice to te international investing public is a pack of lies.
They guy should be hung drawn and quatered ……
What a joke!