A landowner in the Juha area of the PNG LNG project says the landowner identification process failed before the UBSA and LBBSA was signed in Kokopo.
Herowa Agiwa said the Department of Petroleum and Energy failed in this process, resulting in court sanctions and tasking Judge Ambeng Kandakasi to continue the process.
Agiwa made this statement following the recent shutdown and demands by landowners following outstanding benefits and royalties.
The Juha leaders expressed dissatisfaction, stating the clan vetting process has failed landowners in receiving what they deserve in royalty and high impact projects.
They say the government failed its part in completing this process resulting in the ongoing landowner grievances.
“The government should have completed this process before signing any agreement,” said Agiwa.
The Juha leaders say with the mounting court battles over land ownership and clan identification, it is critical to learn from this lesson and move forward.
This week landowners in the PDL 1 and 7 area of the LNG Project in Hela protested peacefully forcing two processing plants to shutdown.
Komo Magarima MP, Francis Potape, said the government must now hand over the benefits to landowners and stop making promises.
For now, Judge Kandakasi is leading the Alternate Dispute Resolution team to complete clan vetting process, but has been halted due to funding issues.
