Fishy business. The Social Impact of SST.pdf - Act Now!

therefore need to resettle villages that are near and around the air port to make way for thedevelopment. Land compensation is of the hindrances delaying the progress of it.• Murik Lake Resettlement program – the Provincial Government is looking at ways toresettle the people living around the Murik Lake area to make way for development. It isdangerous for the people settling there because of tsunami threats. We are planning to resettlethe people further in land to avoid possible affects from tsunami. The lake will only become afishing ground. We also have a lot of opposition from the people themselves but we will still goahead and do it because it is important for the province.• Expansion of the Wharf – with the establishment of the SSTC loinary plant ESP isattracting a lot of foreign fishing vessels. The overseas crews on these ships are bringing withthem money but we are unable bring them into our town because we don’t have an adequatewharf facilities to accommodate them so they are drifting on the sea and only come by littleboats to fetch some things from the market or shops and they are gone. What we need is a wharfthey can anchor and be able to come ashore and spend money on local goods and services. Thedredging process going on in front of the PNG Harbors Board is part of this plan to expand thewharf.• Two more Tuna Factories in Wewak - We are expecting two more tuna processingplant to be built in Wewak. The land behind the SSTC plant is been allocated to a companycalled Offshore Masters from Thailand to build a Tuna Cannery. The factory will actually makecanned fish and other products here like the RD Tuna in Madang. That has been approved bythe government and MOA already singed between the Provincial and National government andthe Investor and its only waiting for the project to start. It was speculated to start this year but Idon’t know where the holdup in but it’s soon to start. Another one is in the pipeline and will befinalized soon. It maybe too early at this stage to speculate details of the project. We have ahuge potential and we have major markets in Japan.• Urimo Cattle Project – this is one of the projects the government is looking to get it offthe ground and make use of the vast plains available in the Sepik region. It is a 100 hector landideal for such project and Sir Hugo is linked to this project. He will be responsible to implementthe project for the government.Yawasoro is the original is the original site the SSTC loining plant was to be built. All thenecessary ground work was done including signing legal documentation such as MOA with theparties concerned such as the Provincial Government, the Developer and the land owners. Theground breaking ceremony was done and the project was expected to kick off. However, thecompany and the government through the East Sepik Provincial Government came to aconclusion that the logistical cost of the plant in Yawasoro would be very much expensive thanto have a site close to the sea/ wharf.When you are dealing with fish you have to have better port facilities because it will determinethe supplies you get from your fishing crews. Everyday fish will come in from the sea andexport ready to be shipped to the markets overseas. It was rather expensive to think of the allexpenses involved and it was agreed that it was more convenient to build the factory at the sitewhere it is. The land is state owned that we had no hassles from the landowners to develop thispiece of land. It fact it was muddy and swampy but it was filled up and now you see a differentplace. It was not like this before.130