The US$8 billion (K26.5 billion) Sepik Development Project at Frieda River is a worrying project for many people from East Sepik Province.
by Emmanuel Narokobi
The US$8 billion (K26.5 billion) Sepik Development Project at Frieda River is a worrying project for many people from East Sepik Province.
The truth is, there is no such thing as a clean mine and we have seen with our own eyes what happened at OK Tedi when you dump a mountain into a river.
Even the much touted K90 billion over 40 years means nothing because we have seen numerous mines developed in PNG and not one has truly uplifted and improved the lives of the communities around any of those mines.
Look at every single mining operation around PNG and they are all still surrounded by villages without basic services.
The National Government is of late stating that the project is going ahead but Governor Bird has stated the following legal status of the project:
"There is a long way to go yet. Impacted provincial governments also have to agree.
So far, our work has revealed a serious technical flaw with the EIS that needs to be rectified.
In its current form, the EIS is defective. Any approvals or wardens hearings based on this EIS would be grossly negligent.
CEPA may be incompetent however, PANAUST is not incompetent. They have been unusually quiet since we published our report.
I feel that they also wanted more time but had they not submitted the EIS, they would have lost the EL by operation of the law.
Hence the ESPG decision, allows them to extend their EL and work on a new EIS.
To my mind, if everything was fine, then it would be smooth sailing for CEPA to go through the motions like they usually do. This situation is starkly different.
It's the first time a Provincial Government has reviewed an EIS and sought its people's opinion independently. As required by Law.
You also have a provincial assembly decision which in my view will be fully upheld in a court of law.
The fact that we have a scientific review based on facts makes it very difficult for professionals to ignore."
Agriculture is the true renewable resource from the ground that we must focus on and make use of to develop our economy.
The National Government is of late stating that the project is going ahead but Governor Bird has stated the following legal status of the project:
"There is a long way to go yet. Impacted provincial governments also have to agree.
So far, our work has revealed a serious technical flaw with the EIS that needs to be rectified.
In its current form, the EIS is defective. Any approvals or wardens hearings based on this EIS would be grossly negligent.
CEPA may be incompetent however, PANAUST is not incompetent. They have been unusually quiet since we published our report.
I feel that they also wanted more time but had they not submitted the EIS, they would have lost the EL by operation of the law.
Hence the ESPG decision, allows them to extend their EL and work on a new EIS.
To my mind, if everything was fine, then it would be smooth sailing for CEPA to go through the motions like they usually do. This situation is starkly different.
It's the first time a Provincial Government has reviewed an EIS and sought its people's opinion independently. As required by Law.
You also have a provincial assembly decision which in my view will be fully upheld in a court of law.
The fact that we have a scientific review based on facts makes it very difficult for professionals to ignore."
Agriculture is the true renewable resource from the ground that we must focus on and make use of to develop our economy.
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