191112Panguna forum
by Aloysius Laukai

The first Regional forum on Panguna negotiations for the North Bougainville districts of Buka island, Atolls and Nissan district is scheduled for Wednesday November 21st,2012 at the Hutjena secondary school.

The two-day forum is the first of a number of forums to be held in North. Central and South Bougainville.

For North Bougainville. there will be a second forum for mainland Bougainville of Selau/Suir, Kunua and Tinputz at a date to be set.

These forums are being organized from the office of the newly appointed Director for Panguna negotiations RAYMOND MASONO.

According to the programme the forum would be both informative and consultative in which presentations would be made by ABG officials and members of the house of representatives.

New Dawn FM will carry live some of the important sessions of the forum.

ends

Comments

[wes]

Good comments olgeta. Hope the mining nego. team and ABG come up with the best way forward in dealing with the mining issue. Though we may have different views, opinions, ideas etc, etc..the bottom line to me is that we as Bougainvilleans and our aspirations that is embedded on ABG constitution need "economic" stability, growth and independence. Unfortunately, in my opinion, the very thing that got us into this mess is also the means to a large extent that can provide economic stability for Bougainville. Thus, ABG/Mining team and Bougainvillean means deciding best mining deal, best way forward,,,that benefits all.

[AndrewT]

Very good comments from all wantoks. I personally agree with Mr. Kameata on a Base Line study of the remains of the mine. We Bougainvilleans need to know the value or worth of "Our Product" first before we market it to the developers. Landowners must be better informed about everything before we start working the mine.
I still stand by my previous comments that Bougainville must first train people to be able to develop sustainable resources on Bougainville before we can go on to mining. We have been getting so much money from the PNG Govt. and spending it on projects that don't have maximum benefits for all Bougainvilleans.
Mining will be here today and gone tomorrow but sustainable resources like fishing, Agriculture and other commercial products which are so abundant in Bougainville will be there forever as long as we stay focussed in maintaining them.
Much effort must be put into Sustainable Development and Human Resource development in Bougainville if we are going to progress at all. Let's not be deceived by quick big money mentality which only get spent recklessly and quickly. Tingting blong mi tasol. Hope it makes sense and some leaders are reading all the comments being raised.

[Rodney Kameata]

I have been observing the process, and my thoughts are that, we starting the consultations without really knowing a financial picture of the Panguna deposit, ie the mine value at this time, and taking a stock take of what's up in Panguna at the moment, a proper baseline study is required, but instead ABG seem to have jumped the gun and is talking about negotiations of a new deal with Panguna, we need to firstly know what it is worth at the moment, and also plan for how best it could be developed based around current technologies etc. This is based on some of my work in other mining and oil and gas projects. We need to be properly informed, before we start talking negotiations etc, ie based on what is Bougainville going to negotiate. Im abit scared that we already talking about negotiations when the focus should be on what is left over, and how could it be developed, and what are the options for Bougainville. The consultation processes can happen later, when above is undertaken. This I see as best way forward.

[Selinah Tusalah]

Samuel, i agree with your comment. Currently we still dont have the capacity to strictly manage the public services workforce.
We need our unversity institution to develop our own human brains to replace the ageing workforce. so offer courses like teaching and nursing .Develop our human resource before you talk about mining that will destroy our environment.Please politician be mindfull of your priorities

[NO MINING]

Westim taim stret! There will be no large scale destructive mining on Bougainville, period! PNG, Rio and ABG should not push their agenda on the people of Bougainville. What do you mean by informative and consultative meetings? Stupid olgeta!

[White Coyote]

Before making any agreements with the new company the first thing that must be demanded is that Rio Tino pay their full share of war preparations and demand the prosecutions of those in the company responsible for the deaths of so many innocent people.

[Mara meng]

The Legislators must ensure that all sectors and bits and pieces of social,environment,human,economic and political aspects entailed in mining be addressed adequately.Those that were missing in the previous eras.My opinion is,, Invite BCL,RIO TINTO/CRA to return, they are the largest on Earth,,BUT...Our government Must ensure that appropriate policies are in place. Our Conditions must be met.They have learned their lessons and mistakes and am sure that they can build better strategies in future that addreses the problms.Bringing a totally new company may possibly result inrepeating the same stuff if ABG is not carefull. Ting ting tsol

[Samuel Tororia, MLLG Research]

Another forum. Another twist. Another Party. More and more groundless tails to share regarding Panguna and liklik ikamap. I guess the agenda on the table is Economic Development and not Sustainable Human Development for Good Governance.
I personally of belief that lack of human development on Bougainville was the root cause of the upheaval and that we all became victims of our unqualified success. Kaikai Bilong Tingting.