The Company's Line

If the Ramu Nickel Mine packs up and leaves tomorrow because of the current court injunction by the Raicoast people stopping Deep Sea Tailings Placement (DSTP), what will the NGOs and the plaintiffs provide to the people of Krumbukare, the pipeline as well as those on the coast? This is the line that the Ramu Nickel Mine (RNM) and the government are using. What the government and the RNM fail to see is both should be held responsible NOT the plaintiffs nor the NGOs because they should be the ones to come up with the alternative waste management system apart from DSTP. The reason why the RNM does not want to come up with those options is simply because it does not want to cut into its profit. The RNM and the government should NOT start pointing fingers they should be held responsible. We now have a situation where the people don’t want DSTP because they depend on the sea while on the other hand the company does not want a cut into its profits. IT IS PEOPLES’ LIVES VERSES COMPANY’S PROFIT.!

Ministerial committee on Ramu fails to meet

Source:

By SINCLAIRE SOLOMON

A HIGH-powered ministerial committee, set up four years ago to expedite the K3.2 billion Ramu nickel project in the Bismarck Range of Madang, has never met.
The project, Papua New Guinea’s first nickel and cobalt mine, is already 12 months behind schedule and costing developer Ramu NiCo (MCC) more than K7 million a day.
The committee was set up by a special meeting of the national executive council on April 13, 2006, after ministers were given a background brief of the mining at Kurumbukari in Usino-Bundi electorate and refinery operations at Basamuk Bay in Rai Coast electorate.
Its job was to “oversee and expedite the finalisation and implementation of the Ramu nickel-cobalt project” and be led by the mining minister as chairman. The minister at the time was Michael Ogio.
Other ministers in the committee were from works, national planning and monitoring, labour and industrial relations, foreign affairs and immigration, environment and conservation, lands and physical planning and health.
The fact that its existence was not widely known was evident in labour and industrial relations’ moves last year to remove some Chinese workers from Ramu NiCo for failing to fulfil PNG work permit requirements.
Unbeknownst to the department, the special NEC meeting had also directed the foreign affairs and immigration minister to use his powers under relevant legislation “to give appropriate visas to foreign nationals with relevant qualifications and experience required in the construction and development phase of the project”.
The man responsible for all mining and exploration activities in Madang, John Bivi, last week confirmed the formation of the ministerial committee exclusively for the Ramu nickel project but had not received any correspondence and deliberations to date.
“As far as I know, it has never sat,” Bivi, who heads a one-man provincial mines office, said. “It shows clearly the government’s lack of total commitment to the project which the provincial government fully backs.
“It is another case of too much talk, too much promises and no action to back them up,” he said.
Similarly, a spokesman for Ramu NiCo said at the weekend they were not aware that such a ministerial committee existed.
Ramu NiCo is already locked in a court battle with a group of landowners from the Basamuk Bay area who opposed the company’s deep sea tailings placement system.
The latter has been granted an interim injunction stopping work on the tailings system until the substantive issue is heard by Justice David Cannings in Madang this week.
To add to Ramu NiCo’s woes, the acting chief commissioner of the Land Titles Commission Benedict Batata had refused Madang provincial administration’s request for the special land titles commissioners to resume hearing outstanding Ramu nickel project land disputes.
Bivi said they had been informed by the department of justice and attorney-general that the disputes, being heard by the LTC until the death of its chairman, would be listed as an ordinary application for land tenure conversion to be deliberated on at a later date.
“It is obvious that we have not been supportive of this project from day one,” he said.
Bivi said they had no-ted new Mining Minister John Pundari’s pledge to fast-track the Ramu nickel project, hoping he would revive the ministerial committee and not sit back like his predecessors.

National Newspaper July 16 2010

Barter wants matter settled out of court

As mentioned in the article on Post Courier today (10th August 2010), Sir Peter Barter is appealing to landowners of Raicoast and also the NGO supporting the landowners to reconsider the current court case in place that is preventing the Ramu Nickel Mine from dumping its waste into the sea. He wants this case to be settled out of court. What Sir Barter fails to see is that the people of Raicoast are not against the mine from operating, they are simply against dumping of waste into the sea. The Ramu Nickel Mine simply needs to look for another option of disposing its waste apart from the sea at Astrolabe Bay. What's so hard about this?

Sir Barter goes on to say that the Ramu Nickel Mine has given a tractor worth K40,000 to the Raicoast High School is a start to more benefits coming. I doubt that more benefits will be coming from the Ramu Nickel Mine. The reason why a tractor has been given to the school is basically because of the current court case. If there wasn't a court case, the story will be different.

As a statesman, Sir Barter should know that donating a tractor worth K40,000, building of schools, health clinics as well as all the other benefits that the company will give to the landowners WILL NOT compensate for the loss of the environment and the lives of the people if the company is going to dump its waste into the sea. You will never ever put money value on the loss of the environment simply because there are some physical benefits that people get from their environment as well as spiritual and cultural connections that people have with the environment. It is very difficult to cost this out.

Vanuatu: Chiefs call on Forum leaders to protect custom land.

By Nic Maclellan in Port Vila

Vanuatu’s Malvatumauri (National Council of Chiefs) has called on Pacific leaders to protect custom land, endorsing a regional declaration on indigenous land tenure in Melanesia.

Chief Selwyn Garu, Secretary General of the Malvatumauri announced that the council of chiefs had unanimously endorsed the Mele Declaration on Land in Melanesia.

The declaration, prepared at a regional meeting last June, states: “We are opposed to any form of alienation of land from customary landowners, whether by outright sale or through leases which remove landowners’ capacity to effectively control, access and use their land.”

The declaration also calls for the overhaul of land administration in Melanesia and rejects “all policies which require that customary land be registered as a precondition for business or development activities.”

The Malvatumauri, a national body which unites chiefs from 20 island councils and two urban councils, is meeting in Port Vila this week.

Chief Selwyn Garu said: “The declaration was presented before the Council of Chiefs this morning. The members of the Council of Chiefs talked about it and in the end of the discussion we unanimously endorsed it.”

The Mele Declaration was prepared by the Melanesian Indigenous Land Defence Alliance (MILDA), a network of landowner, cultural and community groups concerned with land tenure and development across the Melanesian region.

MILDA was founded at a meeting in Madang, Papua New Guinea in 2009. Their second meeting at Mele village in Vanuatu last June brought together a range of organisations “to strategise a regional response to the persistent pressure for registration and leasing of customary land.”

The Mele Declaration was prepared at the June meeting, which brought together chiefs, church leaders, members of women’s and youth groups and other participants from Vanuatu, Papua New Guinea, Bougainville, Solomon Islands, Fiji and Australia.

Changing land use for tourism

In Melanesian nations like Vanuatu, Fiji and Papua New Guinea, over 90 per cent of land is held by customary land and resource owners.

For Selwyn Garu: “When we talk about land in Melanesia, you can’t separate land from custom. If you lose land, you lose custom. If you lose custom, you lose land.

“Custom defines the use of land, but custom cannot be practiced on alienated land – it can only be practiced on custom land,” he stated. “Land continues to be the main source of employment for the people in the villages. With land, we have all that we need.”

Vanuatu’s Constitution states that “All land in the republic of Vanuatu belongs to the indigenous custom owners and their descendants.” It also states that “only indigenous citizens of the republic of Vanuatu who have acquired their land in accordance with a recognised system of land tenure shall have perpetual ownership of their land.”

In spite of this, many land owners on Vanuatu’s main island of Efate have granted long-term leases to overseas investors for tourist projects and private strata title developments, which have effectively alienated much of the shoreline along the coast.

Landowners must compensate the leaseholder for improvements to the land if they wish to reclaim their land at the end of the lease. For this reason some villagers will find it difficult to reclaim leased land after decades of construction or improvement on land provided under long term leases.

Action by Forum leaders

The chiefs’ decision comes as government leaders from around the region have gathered in Vanuatu for the 41st Pacific Islands Forum.

After endorsement by the Malvatumauri on Wednesday morning, the declaration was launched at the Chiefs’ Nakamal in Port Vila by Chief Selwyn Garu, Joel Simo of MILDA and Ralph Regenvanu, the Member of Parliament for Port Vila.

Regenvanu, one of the co-founders of MILDA, called on Forum leaders to protect land rights as the basis of the Melanesian economy: “We would like this Declaration to inform what the Forum is doing and the decisions that they’ll take in the next few days. We are urging our leaders of government, we are urging international financial institutions (including donor countries) but especially our own leaders to move away from policies that talk about land registration as a prerequisite for gaining credit.”

Regenvanu added: “Over the last couple of years, we’ve managed to get the concept of the ‘traditional economy’ on to the agenda in Vanuatu, in the Melanesian Spearhead Group and in the Forum. But we need to have our leaders seriously taking this concept, this reality on board - the traditional economy continues to be the main source of sustenance for people in much of Melanesia.”

For Chief Selwyn Garu: “I’d like to say that land is a living thing. It gives life. It empowers life and you can’t reduce the value of land the way it is being done nowadays in many parts of Melanesia.”

Island Business August 5 2010

RD TUNA Terminates Workers

It is now confirmed that the RD Tuna has terminated 257 of the 505 of its workers that were on strike last week. The other 258 workers were reinstated. The reason why the others were terminated is because they had a poor record of attendance in previous years. This seems unfair to the workers because RD Tuna should not use the issue of workers going on strike as an excuse to get rid them. Having that strike to is something totally different. That strike should not be counted as workers missing work, NO; it was because of the company’s fault that those workers had to go on strike. They were fighting for what they were supposed to get in-line with the Labour laws of this country. The termination of the 257 workers is just another example for a foreign multinational corporation suppressing and undermining the rights of the workers who are Papua New Guineas. Where is the government in all these?

RD Tuna Not Complying With Our Laws

RD Tuna is once again getting away with NOT reinstating 505 workers that rightfully fought for what they were supposed to have been paid by the Filippino company. This is clear example of the National Workers being undermined and marginalized by a foreign multi billion dollar company. When is this going to stop? Is this what our government wants when it pushes large scale development operations in this country. This is not fair and can not be entertained. The government should penalize RD Tuna because it was not complying with the labour laws of this country. The government should stand behind the people and put pressure on the RD Tuna to reinstate all the 505 workers and back pay them starting form January 21^st this year. The company does not want to back pay them that is why it is now recruiting new workers. We call upon people of this country to put pressure on RD Tuna. We appeal to citizens in the country to contact these people and put pressure on them:

1. Governor of Madang - arnoldamet@datec.net.pg

2. Pete Celco – Operations Madang of RD Tuna - pccrdc@online.net.pg

3. Stotick Kamya – Community Relations Manager - skamya@rd-png.com.pg