Mineral Resources Development Company (MRDC) Managing Director Mr. Augustine Mano has applauded the successful conduct of the recent election of landowner directors in the PNGLNG Plant site.

The elections were the first of its kind in any PNGLNG Project area since the project started. Through the process, four new landowner directors were elected to represent the PPFL2 landowners on the board of their new company Gas Resources PNGLNGPL (GRPNGLNGPL).

MD Augustine Mano (left and Department of Petroleum and Energy Secretary Kepsy Puiye, right, welcoming Dikana Igo, center, as Director elect for Reareea the first of thee four LNG Plant villages to elect their representatives.

Mano said the election of directors paves the way for all other clan beneficiaries in the PNG LNG Project. Mano was impressed with the election process and the manner in which it was done. The same process will be followed for the upstream areas from Gulf province to the Highlands.

“You did not dispute the Ministerial Determination, there was no court case. This shows the maturity and leadership that this country needs in terms of defining benefits. I want to thank the four villages for providing that leadership,” Mano said.

As custodians of the people’s wealth, MRDC had heard the cries of the landowners from the gas fields to the plant site but was unable to do much due to ongoing disputes.

“We can only act when there is no dispute and when there is order and co-operation then we will act,” Mano said.

Mano said it had been a long journey for the PNGLNG project landowners since the first shipment of gas in 2014. He described the decisions by the Petroleum Processing Facility License Two (PPFL2) landowners in electing their representatives as commendable saying it’s a step closer to seeing the benefits of the PNGLNG Project.

“I would like to thank the 94 clans of the whole plant site and the 79 clan representatives who voted for the trustee directors in Gas Resources PNGLNG Plant Ltd.

The election process was run in compliance with the Ministerial Determination published in the National Gazette No. G692 dated 23rd October 2015. The Electoral Commission carried out the elections facilitated by MRDC and witnessed by key stakeholders including the Department of Petroleum and Energy, Exxon Mobil, and Kumul Petroleum Holdings.

The election of directors of GRPNGLNGPL is the first of its kind, giving directors a term of four years before seeking re-election.