Governor for Enga Province, Sir Peter Ipatas has asked the Government to continue the consultative process on reopening the New Porgera Mine in Enga Province and not elsewhere because the mine is in Enga province.
He clarified that the current tribal fight taking place in the province does not mean widespread lawlessness within the province.
This followed the Mineral Resources Authority’s (MRA) announcement in the media last week that further consultative meetings on the Mine will take place in Alotau, Mine Bay Province, on the 29th of this month.
The Governor expressed that it should be corrected if Government authorities had taken the current tribal fight related lawlessness as a reason to take the meeting to Alotau.
He asserted that the fighting is confined to parts of the Wapenamanda,
Kandep and Porgera districts, assuring that it did not affect others in the province and will not affect the visitors.
Sir Peter accredited that the province had recently hosted the national senior education officers conference (SEOC) successfully, and had hosted the 29th Enga Cultural Show along with the opening of the Porgera Development forum, despite speculations on the tribal lawlessness.
He strongly stated that if the Government insists on taking the meeting to another province, his Government will not attend as it seemed insensitive and irresponsible for the government to run away from the people’s domestic problems.
“I am not speaking for the other stakeholders. They can attend wherever the consultative talks are being held. But my Government will not attend as we view this forum as a significant, once in a lifetime opportunity for my people and our government to negotiate the future of our people and province and it would be better done in our province,” he expressed.
The Governor expressed this after Prime Minister James Marape and Mining Minister Sir Ano Pala officially opened the New Porgera Mine Development Forum last week Tuesday in the Enga provincial capital of Wabag, on which the Prime Minister Marape also publicly supported the idea.
The Enga Provincial Government has finalized its Position Paper following the presentation of the State’s proposals last week and is looking forward to present it to the State team in Wabag this week.
