The Prime Minister (PM) of Papua New Guinea (PNG) met with the landowners affected by the Ramu Nickel Mine (RNM) in Madang yesterday at the provincial headquarters.
The PM maintained his position that the RNM should still go ahead despite landowners of Raicoast paying the price. He simply does not cares if the lives of the people of Raicoast are going to be severely affected when the Ramu Mine dumps 100 million tones of tailings per annum into the sea at Astrolabe Bay. This is injustice and a total slap on the face of the people of Raicoast who petitioned the government in early May.
The Governor of Madang’s main message was the current court injunction by the people of Raicoast against the government of PNG and Ramu Nico Management (MCC) prevents the company to proceed with its operation. In response, the PM and the Governor of Madang were blasted by Sama Mellambo, the 5th Plaintiff of the current court case. Mr. Mellambo strongly stated that the people of Raicoast were NOT AGAINST the operations of MCC; they SIMPLY DO NOT WANT the company to dump its waste directly into their waters. There were 4 options of waste disposal systems that the government and MCC looked at in the initial stages of the project and Deep Sea Tailings Placement (DSTP) was one of them. Three of these options were land based. They chose DSTP as it was cheaper to construct, easy to construct as well as decommission when the project ends. Sama concluded by saying that while most people at Krumbukare where the RNM will do its extraction are eager for the company to begin full operation, his people on the coast will end up dealing with the mine’s waste.
On behalf of people of Raicoast, the Ward Councilor of Bongu Village raised his concern that his people gave a petition signed by 7,500 people to the government in early May. The government did not respond to this petition though it was given 21 days. Instead the government went behind their backs and amended the Environment Act 2000 to simply get around the current injunction by the landowners against dumping of waste by MCC to the sea and blasting of their reefs.
The government is desperate and its back is against the wall. It is running out of ideas on how to deal with the issue on hand that is why the PM had to meet with landowners on the ground.
Regardless of the PM’s intervention, the people of Raicoast stand firm in their position of NO DUMPING OF MINE WASTE INTO THEIR WATERS!
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