Photo Credit: PNGEITI / Lucas Alkan
According to Lucas Alkan, the chairman of the PNG Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (PNGEITI) national secretariat, the new report is more thorough than previous ones.
It mirrored data gaps and suggestions in earlier studies, according to Alkan, in order to enhance openness and accountability in the mining and petroleum industries.
The report's release was announced by the PNGEITI Multi Stakeholder Group (MSG).
“Despite the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic in late 2019 and disruptions to activities in 2020, the MSG is satisfied that the 2019 EITI Report has significantly improved in addressing information and data gaps identified in previous reports, including the corrective measures recommended from PNG’s first validation assessment against the 2016 report,” Alkan said.
Richard Kassman, senior vice-president of the PNG Chamber of Mines and Petroleum, said the chamber welcomed extractive industry operating projects' cooperation in providing information for the 2019 report.
“We are pleased that the current report provides a more comprehensive information from industry and government of the revenue derived from the resource projects and also noting the enormous voluntary contribution in community infrastructure projects and flow-on socio-economic benefits such as community health and education programmes as well as spin-off business opportunities,” he said.
Highlights include:
- The extractive industry has contributed more than k6 billion;
- Contributed 28% of the government's income;
- Responsible for 28% of PNG's GDP – this does not include the multiplier impact of contributions from all of the industry's contractors and subcontractors;and,
- Contributed approximately K450 million in cash and in-kind social expenditures, the most of which were voluntary, to infrastructure projects, community health and education programs, and spin-off business possibilities that benefited SMEs (small-medium enterprises).
“I want to assure the public that this is a work in progress that the industry, together with the regulators and reporting entities of government remain committed to minimise this.”
Reference:
The National (2 August 2021). “Latest mining transparency report more comprehensive: Official”.
