The Lae Port may have reopened butthe debate overthe possible new player inthe Morobe’s stevedoring industries continues.
Clear lines have been drawn between those For and those Against. And parliamentary politics from Port Moresby betweenthe Opposition andthe Government is been played out in Morobe.
Deputy Opposition Leader and Belolo MP, Sam Besil, threw his support behind Union workers andthe faction of clans fromthe Ahi and Labu who have family members working atthe Port.
Besil’s response comes after Lae MP Loujaya Toni appeared on EMTV News on Wednesday night backing a proposed fifty-fifty ownership arrangement betweenthe principle landowners inthe Betibam village andthe Australian’s Stevedoring Company, Patricks.
Toni’s argument is thatthe arrangement will help up-skill Morobeatn youths and provide better return for landowners. She says it will also breakthe existing monopoly.
Besil, meanwhile, argues that he will backthe monopoly of stevedoring industry controlled by Morobeatns. And, he is willing to make that happen with backing from his people of Belolo.
Besil says ifthere is to be a monopoly inthe port industry in Morobe; it must be by Morobeatnsthemselves.
He also saidthe Australian Stevedore company, Patrick’s, wont set foot in Morobe nor will it take away business fromthe locals.
Whilethe political tussle continues, Besil and Toni appear at least to be in agreement with one point. They both want Morobeatns to participate in a big way in Lae’s growingIndustries.
At least that’s a point of compromise; butthe details on how to go about making that happen are a long long way from being resolved.
https://youtube.com/watch?v=sPEdxphD1Qw%3Ffeature%3Doembed%26wmode%3Dopaque%26showinfo%3D0%26showsearch%3D0%26rel%3D0
