10 Feb 2014

PNG development fund makes further gifts to communites near mine

2:09 pm on 10 February 2014

The Papua New Guinea Sustainable Development Program company has gifted further assets and projects to the Western Province community.

The chairman and former prime minister, Sir Mekere Morauta, says there is ample income from the Ok Tedi mine to finish the projects as well as all the others that PNGSDP has been forced to halt.

Last year, the government announced it would take over the fund, drawing an outcry from Sir Mekere.

Tensions between the government and the fund resulted in the deportation of the fund's media adviser Mark Davis.

At a ceremony in Kiunga on Friday, Sir Mekere handed over ownership of 5.5 million US dollars worth of housing and classrooms in Tabubil to the Mine Continuation Agreement representatives.

The PNGSDP also gifted its 100 percent equity in Western Power to the Fly River Provincial Government so a new operation can be developed.