Although Prime Minister (PM) James Marape welcomes foreign investments into the country’s energy sector, what he wants to see in the future is major companies in Papua New Guinea (PNG) tapping into this area by making investments as well in electricity production.
It was this that prompted him to make a call during his keynote speech at the Edevu Hydropower Reservoir Impoundment ceremony held in the Central province recently, to PNG companies to consider this in the future.
“I call on those of you who have capacity in our country, including those superfunds to be adventurous. We have superfunds with K5billion, K6billion and over K7billion assets. We have MRDC (Mineral Resources Development Company Ltd), our landowner companies in our country, they have potential to move in the clean energy space,” said Marape.
The PM gave the example of the developer of the Edevu Hydropower project, PNG Hydro Development Ltd, saying that the project was all done through their private investments with not much help from the state, but within 15 years the company has accomplished a milestone project that would benefit the country and the people.
He said that this should set the precedence for other investors, including local investors to follow. The country’s energy demand is increasing due to major developments taking place in the oil and gas space and agriculture; therefore, there is a need to supply energy in the form of electricity to these emerging industries.
The PM said the key to this, is by making more investments in the energy sector. It’s not only that, Marape said more investments in the energy sector should also lead to the government achieving its national goal to have 70% of the country have access to cheap and reliable electricity by 2030, which is only 6 years away.