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Landowners welcome decision to shelve project
THE Hides gas field landowners have welcomed the decision by PNG Gas Project partners to suspend further work on the project and process gas resources .
Chairman of the Hiwa Tuguba Hides Association — the mouthpiece of all the landowner groups in the Hides gas project — Libe Parindali said the decision was a confirmation of their stand that the multi-billion kina pipeline project was uneconomical and was not in the best interest of the country. “This is a win for us the landowners and for those that have continuously stood behind us as we put up the fight to process our gas resources in the country,” Mr Parindali said.
“We would like to thank Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Transport and Civil Aviation Don Polye for standing behind the landowners and arguing that the PNG Gas Project was uneconomical.”
Mr Parindali said at the same time the landowners congratulated Oil Search Limited and ExxonMobil for their decision to process gas in the country as it would benefit both companies as developers, the landowners and Papua New Guinea as a whole.
He said the landowners had continued to pray so that their gas would be processed onshore and they would get better returns and their prayers had been answered.
“We will still stand by our decision to give back 10 per cent of our share of the benefits to promote the work of the churches,” he said.
“And with the amount of benefit that will be flowing to the landowners when our gas is processed onshore, that 10 per cent to churches will be even bigger.”
He said it was a divine intervention for the gas pipeline project partners to make a decision of this magnitude and he called on all the landowners to put their heads together and support Oil Search and ExxonMobil as they spearhead plans to build infrastructure worth another billions of kina in the country.