Transcript
ANTON YAGAMA: It will now progress. We're hoping that it will be started up before we go for elections - our elections are next year, April. We're just waiting on the funding now, to get the money in, regarding Chinese government funding. So as soon as the funds come in. see, I'm the vice-minister responsible for it so... the minister has instructed that it must be up and running. We've got some foundational work done. The contractor is on site waiting for the funding to come so that things will happen, so that should happen. Despite the criticisms... the criticisms are not well-founded because this PMIZ is not a national project, it's an international project. Initially when it was thought up it was thought up to be an international project. It's in my province, it's in Madang province. And this is unlike the mine, unlike the agricultural products, this one is an international project because it involves all the Pacific nations. So what we are trying to do is get all the Pacific nations where you take for example Tonga or Tuvalu, those nations they don't have land to put a factory on if they want to. So we're telling them, look, come and put your factory here in Madang and be with the PMIZ. So, you know, if you catch your tuna, you come and process it here.
KOROI HAWKINS: And is there interest from other Pacific nations in this?
AY: Oh yes, there is interest. It's just that we haven't promoted it. So what we're now trying to do is start it up and say here it is, you come and have a look at it, and this is what we can do. So you have your factory, let's say Tonga has its factory in Madang.
KH: And how much funding will be needed to start this, I understand you're aiming for ten canneries in total?
AY: That's right. But these canneries, they will be different. It's not one company. It's going to be different companies. So the idea is that all the fish that is caught in the Pacific, we must process it, because when we process it, it's value-added. Now, people catch it and they're taking it off (for processing abroad) and we're losing value. And this is one of the topics that affects all the Pacific nations.
KH: So the funding to start it off, what is that funding for, for administration and for the project?
AY: Yeah, we'll have to start in Madang, we'll have to start with one of the factories down there, get it up, it's running, and so then we can tell other nations they can do that, the land is available here, you want to do it, get your fish there; instead of selling them raw tuna, you come and process it (here). That's the idea and it ties in nicely with what the Pacific Parliamentary Forum (is about) and the Pacific leaders, this is another thing, now we're going down to the business level, we can get that connection going.
KH: How many kina are you expecting, to start this?
AY: Looking at probably five million kina to start the project going. But there's about one hundred million kina that's on standby.