The Gulf community in Port Moresby organised a special forum today to discussthe state of affairs inthe province andthe future.
The main issues of concern were onthe future ofthe second LNG Projectotimber resources, landowner concerns, and lLeadersip in Gulf.
It was a small gthering in Port Moresby today but those gthered were strategic and educated elit’s fromthe Gulf Province. They decided thatthe wait was over andthey needed to takethe lead as responsible people of Gulf origin.
They organsliedthemselves and invitedthe Papa-Lealea landowners Group to helpthem understandthe impacts ofthe currenPNGLNG Project. Gulf province is seeing 2 critical projects;the condensate project andthe natural gas project…both are supposedly to be developed inthe province. The shared view in this group is thatthey wantthe Projects to be developed inthe Gulf Province.
Alreadythe landowners have a registered group and have set up businesses to helpthemselves.
This forum does not believe however, thattheir provincial government has clariflied whatthe people are entitled to. They are concerned aboutthe incomplete social mapping process and landowner identification process. They want to know Gulf provinces’ position on national contentodevelopment benefits andthe contractsthe landowners will get.
The group is organizing itself for an awareness exercise to be carrlied out soon in Kerema town.
