by Stanley Ove Jr – EM TV, Port Moresby
Landowners at the Pacific Marine Industrial Zone (PMIZ) in Madang do not agree with the title “Project Impact People” as labelled by the National Government.
People from the Seg Clan, of Kananam Village, north coast of Madang, protested over the title and many other issues yesterday.
Men, women, and children from the Idowan Island went out in more than 20 canoes in front of the PMIZ project site to protest. Another protest was done at Mozdamon village, near the PMIZ fenced area.
Landowners said their land was taken from them cheaply by missionaries and now the PMIZ has made them drifters in their own land.
They said they are being denied their rights as principal landowners.
Meanwhile other issues were protested including waste, from a nearby fishing company, that is being dumped into the sea as claimed by the locals. The social issue of women and young girls being used for “sex for fish” trade is also a growing issue.
The landowners said the National Government’s PMIZ project will make all these issues worse.
