Photo credit: World Bank
To reduce the use of offshore labour, Papua New Guinea Prime Minister James Marape is advocating for the use of local tradesmen and technicians in the building of the P'nyang and Papua LNG projects.
The Prime Minister proposed that PNG furnish the labour needed to construct the project facilities while signing framework agreements on the two gas projects with ExxonMobil executives in Houston.
Within the two years it would take for the designs to be finished, he added, the government will strive to provide training for Papua New Guineans.
PM Marape stated that this was done to reduce the number of foreign employees coming in and doing jobs that Papua New Guineans could accomplish.
"At the last PNG LNG project, we had over 10,000 foreigners arriving in PNG to work in construction, something that our Grade 10 and 12 dropouts can be trained to do," said PM Marape.
"My Government is prepared to train the workforce needed for these two projects.
“This is in line with the plans I had when I was Education Minister. In 2009 and 2010, I worked to upgrade Port Moresby Technical College for specific LNG training."
Liam Mallon, President of ExxonMobil for Upstream Oil and Gas, agreed to this idea and stated that he would have ExxonMobil PNG furnish the government with the number of employees required to be educated and employed on the project.
Reference: Papua New Guinea Today (30 September 2021). “PM Marape wants to engage PNG Tradesmen for P'NYANG, Papua LNG Project construction”.
