The Autonomous Bougainville Government will not make any decisions relating to the Panguna Mine reopening as stated by President Chief, Dr. John Momis. It’s the call for the Panguna landowners and Bougainvilleans, due to the political history that caused the crisis.
President Chief Dr John Momis, in his ministerial speech during the Bougainville House of Representatives sitting, clarified that the ABG had no power to reopen the mine.
During the Prime Minister’s goodwill visit to the autonomous region in January, Mr O’Neill pointed out that the National Government’s interest was to rebuild infrastructures and restore services.
Momis said that it has always been wrongly perceived that the ABG has the sole power to reopen the mine. However, the ABG established a framework assisting with negotiations, coordinated by the Panguna Office under the Bougainville Constitution requirements and legal boundaries.
The Bougainville Executive Council established this entity in 2012. Momis said the entity is also responsible for the consultative forums and instrumental in securing the annual five million kina support grant for the negotiations program.
Momis said Panguna is still the autonomous government’s focus, but that will depend on the negotiations aftermath.
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