Papua New Guinea
landowners say they are prepared to sabotage an Australian asylum
seeker processing centre planned for Manus Island if their concerns are
not heard.
Although the PNG Government fully supports the facility, PNG correspondent Liam Fox told Pacific Beat that landowners feel they have not been consulted enough.
He says there has been very little information from the national government and the provincial government, with Manus governor Charlie Benjamin saying he has been left out of the loop as well.
Landowners feel the processing centre will be a great "economic shot in the arm" but they say they will take radical action if the "lack of consultation" continues.
"They're prepared to start considering things like cutting the services that flow through their land to the processing centre - things like road access, electricity access," Fox said.
"These sort of things we've seen in other parts of PNG particularly with regards to major resource projects like the LNG project where landowners rightly or wrongly feel aggrieved by what's going on and they've done things like chopping down trees across roads to prevent vehicles getting in and out of areas."
Although the PNG Government fully supports the facility, PNG correspondent Liam Fox told Pacific Beat that landowners feel they have not been consulted enough.
He says there has been very little information from the national government and the provincial government, with Manus governor Charlie Benjamin saying he has been left out of the loop as well.
Landowners feel the processing centre will be a great "economic shot in the arm" but they say they will take radical action if the "lack of consultation" continues.
"They're prepared to start considering things like cutting the services that flow through their land to the processing centre - things like road access, electricity access," Fox said.
"These sort of things we've seen in other parts of PNG particularly with regards to major resource projects like the LNG project where landowners rightly or wrongly feel aggrieved by what's going on and they've done things like chopping down trees across roads to prevent vehicles getting in and out of areas."
Fox says at least one of the landowners he spoke to felt Manus Islanders' "peace-loving" nature had been taken advantage of.
"[He says] 'We are prepared to sabotage things if down the line our concerns are not heard'," he said.
Fox says landowners are concerned by how quickly things are being done in Manus Island since plans for a processing centre were announced.
"In just over a month ... the Australian Defence Force engineers have transformed the place," he said.
"It was overgrown with weeds and bushes and very dilapidated and now its ready to take around 150 asylum seekers.
"They would be put in tent accommodation or rehabilitated dongas or dormitories."
Landowners are also unhappy they were not involved in the Australian Government's selection of service providers.
"The landowners are saying, 'well we wanted to be involved in these kind of contracts, that's clearly not happening' and that has annoyed them as well," he said.
The Australian Government this week pointed out the present facility is only a temporary one and there would be more scope for local involvement once a permanent base is identified.
"But it doesn't look like that message has reached landowners and locals yet," Fox said. ABC News
"[He says] 'We are prepared to sabotage things if down the line our concerns are not heard'," he said.
Fox says landowners are concerned by how quickly things are being done in Manus Island since plans for a processing centre were announced.
"In just over a month ... the Australian Defence Force engineers have transformed the place," he said.
"It was overgrown with weeds and bushes and very dilapidated and now its ready to take around 150 asylum seekers.
"They would be put in tent accommodation or rehabilitated dongas or dormitories."
Landowners are also unhappy they were not involved in the Australian Government's selection of service providers.
"The landowners are saying, 'well we wanted to be involved in these kind of contracts, that's clearly not happening' and that has annoyed them as well," he said.
The Australian Government this week pointed out the present facility is only a temporary one and there would be more scope for local involvement once a permanent base is identified.
"But it doesn't look like that message has reached landowners and locals yet," Fox said. ABC News
Read more: http://www.pngfacts.com/1/post/2012/10/manus-landowners-prepared-to-sabotage-asylum-seeker-centre.html#.UIG4dezuPHo#ixzz29mMkdtgx
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