**** LNG Road will be state asset **** The road link used in the LNG project between Kikori, Western Province and Juha, Hela Province will become a national road, says Prime Minister Hon. Peter O’Neill. Prime Minister O’Neill, in response to questions raised by Member for Koroba-Kopiago, Philip Undialu on the accessibility of the road by the public, said people would be able to access the road once an agreement was reached between the State and other stakeholders. Mr Undialu asked that the government intervene to allow for the road to be used by the people as it was a more cost efficient business trading route. Can the Government intervene and make that road accessible to the public so we can carry out trade and transport cargo instead of travelling all the way from Lae, Mr Undialu said. Mr Undialu said the distance from Lae to his area in Koroba-Kopiago was about 800km whereas the project road was just over 300km so the latter would make a better route to cut down on freighting costs faced by his people. Prime Minister O’Neill assured Mr Undialu and his people that discussions with Exxon Mobil have begun to have the road accessible for public usage. Prime Minister O’Neill said Exxon Mobil, as the project developer, had agreed for the road to be used by the public but the delay was due to conditions set by financial institutions that lent money for the project to be carried out. When the financial institutions lent us the money to finance the project one of the conditions they put forward was that that part of the country will have no logging and no settlements so the environment can be retained and as a result this agreement was put in place that the public was not to utilise the road, Prime Minister O’Neill said. As a Government we are saying that we will agree to no logging in that area and we will agree to no settlement in that area but that road must be opened because our people need that road to get services and get access to the coastal area. Prime Minister O’Neill said further discussions would be undertaken with Exxon Mobil and the financial lenders to have this matter settled so the people could start using the road.
Posted on: Thu, 28 Nov 2013 00:54:52 +0000
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