The landowners from upstream Petroleum Development License (PDL) areas, must really organise themselves properly so to benefit from the funds from the PNG LNG project, which are still sitting idle in trust accounts for several years now.
Prime Minister (PM) James Marape stressed this recently when stating that only by doing so, the concerned landowners can access the over K1 billion worth of royalties and equities that are still sitting in trust accounts.
He said landowner direct royalty and equity entitlements from what was signed in the Umbrella Benefits Sharing Agreement (UBSA) at Kokopo and split by percentage at all the Landowners Based Benefits Sharing Agreements (LBBSAs), need their help to be released for their use.
“This fund is now over K1 billion that is sitting in accounts held by both Government and Mineral Resources Development Company (MRDC) at Bank South Pacific and Central Bank,” Prime Minister Marape said.
“I encourage landowners to assist the Department of Petroleum in resolving all outstanding issues. This will allow for their rightful entitlements to flow through like what the landowners of Papa-Lealea in Central Province are presently receiving.”
PM Marape also informed landowners that whatever else was owed, as per UBSA and LBBSAs, would be verified and settled.