by Vasinatta Yama – EM TV News, Port Moresby
Focus Gulf PNG Incorporation, is calling on the Government and its stakeholders to give updates of a No Pipe Line forum, which was held last year in Port Moresby.
Focus Gulf, a Community Based Monitoring (CBM) group of elites from Gulf Province, said that the forum was held to put a stop to Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) pipelines out of Gulf Province.
The call was made today at the launching of their monthly Newsletter, ‘Gulf in Focus’.
In September last year, the group held a forum and presented a position paper to the then Petroleum Minister, Nixon Duban and its LNG stakeholders, to have no pipeline out of Gulf.
This means that every stage from streaming to processing must be done in Gulf Province.
They say they haven’t received any updates yet.
The group was set up as a form of public oversight, ideally to increase accountability and quality of social services, environment impact on affected areas, and to contribute to the management of natural and physical resources of Gulf Province.
Their focus is to pressure their Provincial and Local Level Government to bring change.
The group said that a lot of issues are not heard. Many are raised through the Social Media, and those in the rural areas are left out.
One of their tools to bring change and disseminate information to the silent majority in Gulf Province is through the Newsletter.
The newsletter will contain their local news, LNG updates, and sports stories.
This group has successfully hosted key forums and a cultural festival.
Meanwhile, they are appealing to Gulf Provincial Government and LNG stakeholders to work alongside them.
They will hold a follow-up forum in two months’ time, to get the Government and its stakeholder’s response, on the No Pipeline Policy.
