Work on the Ramu 2 Hydro power project will still commence to supply the much needed energy supply to both Morobe and the Eastern Highlands provinces, and parts of the Highlands region.
Prime Minister (PM) James Marape gave the assurance to this in Parliament this morning during question time.
PM Marape said the government is in full support because of the huge benefits the project will unlock for the people in the two provinces.
“The project will unbundle clean and hopefully, cheap power to the most populated areas on the grid, ” said the PM.
“We’ll have close to 4 to 5 million Papua New Guineans within reach of this project.
However, the PM said that the delay to the start of the hydro project was on the part of the Treasury department because the department wants to ensure that the agreement signed for the project, will benefit the people, the landowners and the provincial governments. Both provincial governments will receive 20% each from the project as per the arrangements.
The funding from that will also cover the project impacted landowners.
Marape then said that he will request for the Treasury, Kumul Consolidated Holdings (KCH), PNG Power and the project developer to look into this matter right away, so to start the work on the development of the Ramu 2 Hydro power project.