MADANG provincial police commander Superintendent Anthony Wagambie Jr has urged parties involved in Ramu nickel court case to remain calm and allow due process to take its course. The plea by Supt Wagambie follows complaints on alleged threats and attacks by disgruntled landowners on the three plaintiffs and their associates. He confirmed that a complaint had been laid by anti-deep sea tailing placement campaigner George Ireng regarding an alleged attack on him and several others over the weekend. Mr Ireng said he and his party were stopped at sea by a group of men who were armed and who had travelled out to sea and met them half way in three boats and ordered to turn around without the plaintiffs. He said Mr Ireng did and soon after reaching Madang had the matter reported to police. Supt Wagambie said because there was no police boat for them to use, his men got on with Mr Ireng and his party on their hired dinghy and returned to Rai Coast where they did pick up the plaintiffs. Meanwhile with the DSTP case set down this morning for trial at the Madang National Court, lawyer representing the plaintiffs Tiffany Nonggorr soon after arriving in the province said she had not been able to get in touch with her clients.
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.!
CONCERNS have intensified over the possible closure of the Ramu nickel project and attempts have been made to get the people who have taken out the injunction on an developers to withdraw their case.
The attempts were made during a meeting which Madang Governor Sir Arnold Amet organised last week in the provincial capital between the Prime Minister Sir Michael Somare and leaders from the four mine impact areas. Also present was Sama Mellombo, who is the fifth plaintiff in the case, who was the last of the appointed speakers to officially address Sir Michael with his grievances. Mr Mellombo reiterated yet again that it was not the project they were up in arms over rather the method of mine waste disposal the Chinese Metallurgical Construction Company (MCC) and the State were adamant on pursuing.
Mr Mellombo, who had been employed by Highlands Pacific Limited (HPL) for eight years before leaving, said there were four options which had been recommended for the tailings disposal, three of them land-based. He questioned why they were so adamant on pursuing the Deep Sea Tailings Placement and even prepared to risk the lives of so many people when there was a lot of evidence already indicating how detrimental this would be.
“DSTP is the cheapest option compared to the options that have been suggested and do we (the people) want to cop the shit that will come with it? No! “No-one of you (leaders) will be here to live with the effects if it is allowed to go ahead. We are the one and we say no to it,” he stressed. Sir Arnold said from his assessment as a judge the court battle could take over three months before it is over. He said there had already been indications from the developer that if they were not allowed to go ahead with the DSTP there would be no project.
He said should this happen the Chinese, who were understood to be losing millions with the delay, would most probably leave and all the work they had done would go to waste.
Sir Arnold alluded to the fact that this could all be avoided if the necessary experts could put to rest all the doubts the people had, including those heading the charge against the company, and the case be withdrawn. “You (respondents) can withdraw the case or continue to pursue it, this is not being said to undermine your rights.
“I believe the way forward would be to ensure that more awareness is carried out while this is happening,” he said.
Kurumbukari landowner chairman David Tigavu cut in while Sir Arnold was concluding his address to the people to also appeal to the non-government organisations to withdraw the case.
Mr Tigavu said over the 85 days that the company had stopped work it had cost them $US85 million. He said if the project was forced to close down the people would suffer the most.
He urged that whatever their grievances were that they speak to the Governor and other leaders and just allow the project to progress.
This is my space to talk about the issues and challenges faced by people in this country. Many of our people are marginalized and suffer because of the system of government we have which cares very little about its people.
