PNG Sustainable
Development Program today supported recent statements by Community Mine
Continuation Agreement leaders rejecting the Government's proposed expropriation
of Ok Tedi Mining Limited.
PNGSDP CEO David Sode said
the CMCA leaders were right and were entitled to their expressed views: the
Government takeover of a mine owned 100 percent by the people of Papua New
Guinea, without paying them compensation, is unacceptable, not only in PNG but
anywhere in the world.
"Any such takeover
strips away the right of the CMCA people to have the final say in whether the
mine continues or not, and threatens their involvement in decisions on the
appropriate level of compensation for environmental damage," he said.
"It also puts at risk
the receipt and management of their rightful share of dividends from the mine,
and the social and economic development that is provided from those dividends.
It also takes away their rightful share of dividend flows from the mine."
Mr Sode said it was
important that full consultations should take place as they had for every other
major decision on the mine, including the Ok Tedi Mine Continuation Ninth
Supplemental Agreement Act 2001, the 2006-2007 Review of the CMCA and just last
year the Mine Life Extension proposal now before the Government.
It is apparent that The
CMCA had not been fully consulted in this case until the leaders took matters
into their own hands and insisted that the Prime Minister meet them in Tabubil
in August. The Prime Minister has not responded to the concerns expressed by
the CMCA leaders at the Tabubil meeting.
"The Prime Minister
has a moral as well as legal obligation to consult the people who own the
resource and are the only people in the country affected by any environmental
impact from the operation of the mine," Mr Sode said.
"Why has the Western Province in general and the CMCA
communities in particular not been consulted?
"The Government's proposals change everything, yet there has
not been one bit of consultation. There needs to be full consultation with all
Western Province people before any decision can be made."
He said PNGSDP, as
custodian of the Western Province people's shares in OTML, shares CMCA concerns
for the future well-being of the mine-impacted communities, including mine area
landowners."
PNGSDP supports the
continuation of the PNGSDP-CMCA arrangements.
PNGSDP has a clear legal
and moral duty to protect the interests of the CMCA communities and Western
Province and to protect the value of the assets that it holds on their behalf, Mr
Sode said.
He pointed out the
dangerous precedent being set by the Prime Minister and members of Parliament
who vote in favor of such expropriation bills in attempting to exercise
improper use of the legislative powers to steal the Western Province’s
inheritance.
"Is he going to get
away with this and is it going to be repeated elsewhere?
"Resource owners throughout
PNG should be aware of the precedent being set and stand up for their rights
and support the CMCA leaders."
David Sode
Chief Executive Officer
Chief Executive Officer
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