A proposed Yaganon hydro power supply project in Saidor Local Level Government (LLG) in Rai Coast District is a huge impact project which all local landowners in the impact communities must agree to work together as a team to realize their dream come to fruition.
This was a direction issued by the Governor of Madang Ramsey Pariwa, when addressing over ten thousand people from the Yaganon census division in Rai Coast District last week at Dein Primary School.
The governor’s first official visit to that part of Rai Coast received a rousing welcome with a procession comprising traditional dancers which took him from the heli-pad about a kilometer away to a grand stand at Dein Primary School to address the excited crowds of people who converged on to the venue from both the hinterlands and the coastal villages and hamlets in the Yaganon census division.
The governor allowed his First Secretary, Francis Tavatuna, to be carried on a makeshift chair by the people to the venue where he delivered his address.
Governor Pariwa admitted that since after taking office in 2022 he has been approached by a number of groups claiming to be the so-called landowners of the Yaganon hydro power project and he was confused who were the genuine landowners to work with.
“I am confused as to whom to assist as I am for you all, and one group should not force me to accept its position and overlook the others. That is not right.”
“You are all my people, and I don’t want to create divisions amongst you.”
“I am your leader, and I am for you all, so I want you to regroup and agree to work together for a better way forward.”
He said the people can be excited with the project and continue to talk about it every now and then, however, the actual magnitude of the hydro power project is huge and the amount of work to be carried out is enormous.
It is on that note that all parties must sit down and agree and not form their own groupings with vested interest just to gain from the project.
Many local leaders including the LLG Presidents from Saidor and Astrolabe Bay who spoke during the occasion expressed their desires in seeing the project get off the ground because it has taken them over twenty years since the idea was hatched to have a hydro power built at the Yaganon River which sits adjacent to the Basamuk Refinery Plant of the Ramu Nickel Project in Rai Coast District.
Meanwhile, Chairman of the Yaganon Landowners Association, Wilas Weta, who was instrumental in organizing the gathering at Dein Primary School admitted that he had been to Port Moresby to seek assistance to the project.
However, he was advised to go back home and organize his people, and all must come to an agreement in order to see the project get off the ground.
In addition, Governor Pariwa in his address assured the people of Yaganon census division that the Madang Provincial Government stands ready to support the project and has already earmarked K5 million for the feasibility study for the project.
He explained that now that the landowners have expressed their intentions to work together then they must follow the policy and direction of the Madang Provincial government.
He assured the crowd that he stands ready to support the hydro power project going forward due to legacy issues of electricity supply outages currently faced by the province and the country with the exciting grids.
Furthermore, Governor Pariwa officiated the ribbon cutting ceremony for the first phase of feasibility study to commence in November with the support of his government going forward.
