The PNGEITI from the 01st – 05th of April attended the week long mining agreement review for Hidden Valley Mine, held in Lae, Morobe province.
Director Policy and Programs, George Kauli and Coordinator Junior Kari Ora joined representatives from the National Government, Provincial Government, Local Level Governments, Landowners, project developers among other parties impacted by the operations of Hidden Valley Mining.
The aim of the review is to create better agreements that meet community needs, such as infrastructure, education, and healthcare. Negotiations focused on fair compensation for landowners and the importance of community involvement in the decision making process.
The week long gathering provided the opportunity to:
- To review the 2005 MOA and draft 2014 MOA
- To develop a new 2025 MOA
- Seek all parties inputs and agreements and
- Have a new 2025 MOA initialed and signed
For EITI, this platform is essential for the following reasons:
- It serves as a necessary foundation for reporting at the sub-national level;
- Ensure that EITI clauses are agreed by all parties;
- Ensure the EITI clauses are embedded on the MoA/CDA and
- MoA/CDA is initialized by all parties for NEC approval
Chairman of Nakuwi Association, representing landowners attending the week long mining review said “I actually support the inclusion of EITI in this CDA/MoA review. There must be visibility in the royalties distributed to the recipients, and its allocations. It is essential to ensure that the process of reporting are effectively implemented through the inclusion of the EITI Transparency and Accountability clauses. This would involve monitoring and verifying that all revenues and distribution figures are accurately reported and accounted for. This approach would facilitate better management and oversight, thus, addressing the challenges associated with the allocation and utilization of the royalty funds”.
