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

The Offshore Masters is going to be a real cannery, tuna, and they’re Thai and Malaysian,and what they do is they’re being given the deed to the land, given. What these companieswill do is the old government buildings will be redone and they’ll change the whole thinginto a new government complex. That’s the deal. The provincial government is an investorthen. But then others, too, Sir Hugo in behalf of someone else of course, he’s definitelyrepresenting someone, and they can give the deed away, they can do that, and he shouldknow they cannot treat people like that. The cannery will be even worse--.the smell.The original contract [for SST and its waste] was about building a pipe out to the sea, not touse boats.Petrus Sagom, the Prime Minister’s Project Officer:Mr Petrus Sagom is a Fisheries Officer with the Department of Livestock and Agriculture.Since June 2004, he’s been employed as the Prime Misters’ Project Officer in Wewak, attachedto the Prime Ministers’ Department. The ES Province will experience major developments inthe near future, some in the pipeline already include the Cocoa Project in Angoram and mineralexploration for Freida Mining. We will have a busy wharf, he says, but we also need toaccommodate many flights at the airport. We therefore need to resettle villages that are near andaround the airport to make way for expansion. Land compensation issues are a hindrance tothese projects, though.Some of the other projects being planned are:• The Turubu Road project – The National Government funded K100 000 for itsfeasibility study• Yawasaro Road Project – also counter-funded by the government and should beginsoon.• Yawasoro--The SSTC plant was originally planned to be built there but logisticalbrought it closer, to the wharf. If they had to build the factory at Yawasoro they’d haveconsider many things like wharf, transportation, etc. Also they have some landownerissues still outstanding so they moved to the present location. The company wanted todeal with the government, but then they were involved in landownership issues, so nowthey just lease the land from the PNG Harbors Board. At Yawasoro there are manyowners to the land and they made the issues complicated. At the present site – there is astill dispute. The principle landowners are from Kairuru Island, and half their family areat Meni village. But the people of Kreer also claim ownership to the land, so again thereare still complicated issues. The government did not need to ask them because this wasCrown land.• The Extension of the Wewak Airport –The National and the Provincial Government areplanning to expand the size of the airport to international standard size. This will meanthe CIS will be moved to some where we still looking for a suitable place to relocate theCIS.• 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. Itis dangerous for the people settling there because of tsunami threats. We are planning to57