The Central Lime and Cement project will greatly support and improve the living standards of the people of Kido and also ReaRea in the Central province thanks to the agreement made between the landowners and the developer, Pacific Lime and Cement.
Mr. Paul Mulder, the Managing Director of Pacific Lime and Cement (PLC) held a press conference on Monday 4th August in Port Moresby city following the official launching of the project and the announcement of its Final Investment Decision (FID) last week Friday.
The press conference was to give further details to the Central Lime and Cement project, where he also revealed the background to agreements with the landowners and what is in store for them in terms of spinoff benefit.
Mr. Mulder said the agreement is unique in that the company and the landowners work in a joint venture partnership structure in establishing the companies for the landowners with funding and training of the work force provided by PLC, to support the operation of the major Lime and Cement project.
The sort of services that the landowner companies will be providing are both assets based, and services based. Assets include equipment, vehicles and earth moving equipment while services include things like security, catering and logistics.
Mr. Mulder said the local benefits and business spinoffs are captured under the Community Development Agreement, which resulted from a consultative forum that was held with the landowners.
“As part of that, there were commitments made and approved through the department of labor, department of commerce and industry in relation to these local benefits and spinoffs.”
He said with that in place, there is no reason why anyone will be without a job because the lime and cement operation, is a labor-intensive work that requires a lot of skilled manpower.
It’s not only the spinoff benefits the landowners will be enjoying, but also the establishment of infrastructures like a road and bridge connecting the island to mainland Central province.
“The first port of call for us is constructing the road, connect the people and make sure that people have connectivity. Getting those key utility services in to improve living standards, is the first priority.”
Mr. Mulder expressed that Kido is close to the PNG LNG Plant site in Central province but yet so far, highlighting its non- connection to the mainland. But now with the focus on infrastructures thanks to the Central Lime and Cement project, this should be a think of the past for the people of Kido.