16 Apr 2014

Vanuatu government withdraws airport motion

4:31 am on 16 April 2014

Vanuatu's government has withdrawn a motion regarding a loan from China's EXIM Bank for the country's proposed 350 million US dollar airport development.

The government will instead send all documents and information relating to the plan to a committee that has been set up to vet the plan which will report back to parliament on the 28th of June.

The opposition leader, Ham Lini, who threatened an opposition boycott of parliament to protest the way the government was dealing with the project, says he considers the move a victory.

"The way it is proceeding, we do not agree with that because it will cause a lot of burden for the people of Vanuatu if we had gone ahead and did what the government wanted us to do."

Ham Lini says there are a lot of issues surrounding the proposal, such as landowner rights, that need to be addressed before it can move on.