Where does truth lie? O’Neill claims PNG doesn’t want Rio’s shares
12 January 2016
KEITH JACKSON
PAPUA New Guinea prime minister Peter O'Neill, who yesterday appointed himself minister for Bougainville, claims his government has no interest in owning the Panguna mine on Bougainville, according to the One PNG website.
Mr O’Neill said that any decision to re-open Panguna mine will be up to the landowners and the people of Bougainville.
"We have no interest in owning the mine or reopening the mine,” he said. “We will remain focused on delivering the better education and healthcare, rebuilding infrastructure and improving the economic opportunities of people on Bougainville.”
The statement follows revelations by Bougainville president John Momis last month that two PNG government ministers had approached him about the sale of Rio Tinto's 53.83% equity in Bougainville Copper to the PNG government.
One of them, Ben Micah, told Dr Momis that, following a series of meetings with Rio Tinto, PNG wished to purchase Rio’s equity and was seeking the agreement for the deal from the Bougainville government.
Dr Momis said he had strenuously rejected the proposition and soufht reassurance from Rio Tinto that it was not considering selling its equity to the PNG government.
In his statement, Mr O’Neill also said his government was “committed to improving the delivery of basic services to the people of Bougainville as a top most priority.”
Dr Momis has also disputed this claim, threatening to take the PNG government to court if it continues to fail to meet its financial obligations.
In a lengthy statement to the Bougainville parliament, Dr Momis said his government estimated that PNG had underpaid Bougainville at least US$33 million dollars last year.
He also said Bougainville was owed another US$207 million under the restoration and development grant.
Furthermore, Dr Momis said the national tax was is also failing to hand over taxes collected in Bougainville.
If President Momis and the ABG Government in its wisdom feels that they will get a better deal if they team up with the Chinese, Australians, or directly with Rio Tinto, etc.. they have a choice depending on how they intent to effectively participate in the mining project. But given that Bougainville in general will struggle with direct equity participation, I guess the second best option for ABG should be to allow the PNG Government become a majority shareholder and thereafter freely off-load equity to ABG. This to me makes more economic sense than allowing the Chinese, Australians, Indians, etc. to participate in mining activities in Bougainville.
The PM assuming the Bougainville Affairs Ministry is long overdue. Minister Kama has been playing politics with ABG issues including draw-down of powers arrangement with the National Government. Minister Kama wasted so much time and effort and I am grateful he was removed. The PM knows what he is doing because National Coordinating Office for Bougainville Affairs (NCOBA) and Joint Supervisory Body (JSB) meetings and issues have not been delivered on time and within budget. NCOBA is a white elephant and PM needs to move in and implement constitutional obligations imposed on the State through the 2002 Bougainville Peace Agreement.
Posted by: Peter Pirape Anage | 12 January 2016 at 03:45 PM
Either Mr O'Neill is being thoroughly disingenuous or this is a case of the left hand not knowing what the right is doing?
The decision to appoint himself as Minister for Bougainville seems rather sudden, which suggests that O'Neill's ministers could have been "freelancing" with Rio. This would fit with their sometimes hazy understanding of cabinet government.
If this is true, then the Prime Minister is right to step in: Bougainville is far too important an issue to be left to anyone else.
On the other hand, if the reported negotiations with Rio enjoyed full cabinet backing, you'd have to wonder at O'Neill's sudden disavowal of any interest in its shares.
One possible inference is that, having thought about buying the shares, the recent deterioration in commodity prices associated with China's emerging economic problems may have caused a major rethink on the wisdom of owning a defunct copper mine.
Either way, O'Neill's statement should help reduce tensions over what remains an incredibly difficult issue for the future.
Posted by: Chris Overland | 12 January 2016 at 07:40 AM