Acting PM Sam Abal warns against use of PNG LNG project in 2012 election

Papua New Guinea's Prime Minister Sam Abal yesterday told parliament no member or intending candidate should use the PNG LNG as a campaign agenda.

"I call on all leaders, politicians and intending candidates not to make it a political issue but to support it as the government is committed to provide the leadership," he said.   

Abal said this when answering a series of questions from Abau MP Sir Puka Temu.

Sir Puka asked if the government was going to make sure that there "is bipartisan approach of leadership provided by the government to the PNG LNG project during next year's general election as everyone will be focused on the election and could hamper the progress of the project".

Abal said the government was committed and "will provide the leadership to the LNG project during the election period to make sure it is on track to meet the dateline".

"I agree that the LNG is a transformation project to this nation and I agree that the LNG has made a lot of impact and many things are running during the construction phase.

"It will continue to operate as the government is committed and will make sure leadership is provided," he said.
He said it was important to promote and control the projects through regulation so that the project continued.

Abal said much of the umbrella benefits sharing agreement (UBSA) and the licensed-based benefits sharing agreement (LBBSA) had been included in this year's budget.

He said the government had budgeted K1.26 billion over the next 10 years, of which K120 million was included for the UBSA and LBBSA in this year's budget, while another K100 million was allocated for high impact projects.

He said memorandum of agreement (MoA) funds were not cash grants "but are for projects in the project areas".
 
Meanwhile, district services improvement programme (DSIP) funds are not election funds for the general election next year, Treasury and Finance Minister Peter O'Neill told parliament yesterday.

He said DSIP funds "are a deliberate national government intervention in bringing services to the remote districts in the country".

He was responding to queries from Telefomin MP Peter Iwei, who had asked when the government would release DSIP, district support grants and other constitutional grants under this year's budget.

Iwei said this was the middle of the year,"with the elections around the corner and people are still waiting for their DSIP and DSG funds".
He asked O'Neill, who promised to release K89 million DSIP funds for the 89 districts during the last session of parliament two weeks ago.

O'Neill said the warrants for the K89 million for all districts had been released by finance to the Office of Rural Development, which was supposed to deliver to each district treasury account.

"However, some of you members of parliament have failed to make acquittals of the funds for last year," he said.

O'Neill said MPs who had acquitted their 2010 DSIP had started receiving their funding for this year.

Member for Wewak Moses Manwau, in a supplementary question, asked how some MPs would acquit their funds when the Form 11, an authorisation from bearing the signature of an MP, had been signed by public servants and not MPs.

"If MPs do not sign these forms, how do you expect us to acquit these funds?"

O'Neill said he was aware of specific issues raised by the Wewak MP and an investigation was being conducted.

But, he said, Form 11 was a legal document "and must be signed by MPs to get government funding".

(www.pina.com.fj)