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Landowner protest slammed
By
Eddie Moses
Members of a clan (named) who staged a sit-in protest at the power plant site outside Tari have been condemned for their actions by the Chairman of the Hiwa Koma tribe and the Hides PDL 1 Peoples Association Inc, Mr. Andagali Kurubugo. Mr. Kurubugo said the compulsorily acquired plant site land in question has been surveyed and the lease-lease back agreement between the state and the Hiwa Koma tribe is already in place as of of January17, 1998. He said the clan that staged the protest had no problem because all clan members in Hides are members and beneficiaries of the Hiwa Koma tribe. He said this clan's application in O.S. No. 159 of 1999 was dismissed by the Waigani National Court on the 13th of April 1999 when they failed to provide any evidence in court to prove that Hiwa was not Hiwa and is not the customary land title holder of the Hides Gas Project lands. He said the reason for the clan's protest was to solicit 18 years of land rental payments for the plant site which was a way to force the government to survey the plant site land and transfer the title to the clan as compensation for failing to give them 2 % equity in the project. He said it was also the clan's intention to get K20 million out of the K48 million MOA funds recently released to the Department of Petroleum and Energy. Mr.Kurubugo said failure to get the 2 % equity in the Hides Gas Project is a self inflicted loss which our past leaders failed to negotiate for us from day one. He said the K48 million MOA funds is done on the strength of each project submission in accordance with the Expenditure Implementation Committee guidelines. "If we don't have a good project proposal, you lose." he said He said it is criminal to get MOA funds by using threats against the state and the developers. "The Hiwa tribe and the Hides PDL 1 Peoples' Association Inc has taken steps to control the blatant misuse and abuse of MOA funds by getting the EIC guidelines in place first and soon major announcements and ground breaking ceremonies shall be made to control the MOA implementation side of the matter." he said. Mr. Kurubugo added that the State and the Developers should strengthen project safety and not give in to thugs. "The Hiwa Koma and the Hides PDL 1 Peoples Association Inc does not give into thugs, threats or bribery and it is more than capable of getting such thugs arrested and put behind bars." he said The Chairman further made a call to the Department of Petroleum and Energy and the developer to get the thugs arrested for disturbing project safety because they did not own the land in question. |
NEWS
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