Papua New Guinea's deputy opposition leader, Sam Basil, has commended the mining minister Byron Chan for his determination to reform the mining industry.
Mr Basil says the concerns of the landowners and the affected communities that he observed in consultation workshops he attended were about benefits, including equity participation.
He has told the Post Courier newspaper that this is a growing concern that has been captured by the Mining Ministry, and this must be reflected in legislation and policies.
Mr Basil says moves to increase royalty and equity shares of landowners and provincial governments from 2.5 to five percent is acknowledged as the way forward including local participation to 50 percent.
He asked Mr Chan to include district administration in the five percent royalty and free carried equity as local level governments and districts administration are faced with dealing with the mining issues on daily basis, such as landowner disputes, infrastructure development and environmental concerns.
Mr Basil says the Mining Minister should bring the legislative and policy programmes to Parliament this year.
