By Luana Paniu

The Commission of Inquiry (CoI) into the Special Purpose Agriculture and Business Leases (SPABL) will use relevant court documents and information from research institutes and various organisations including landowners to begin investigations. 


Director for CoI and Investigation branch of the Prime Minister’s Department, Mathew Yuangu said this will be a foundation for the CoI, which will include visitation to specific SPABL sites in the country.


PMIZ Watcher

The latest meeting of the Madang Chamber of Commerce has thrown up more questions than answers about the government's controversial Pacific Marine Industrial Zone, as this report by Nancy Sullivan reveals:

By Luana Paniu (Post Courier)

THE Commission of Inquiry (CoI) into the Special Purpose Agriculture and Business Leases (SPABL) was recently announced and is scheduled to be completed by September but it has come under fire by a civil and legal rights organisation and a former academic.


The former academic, who was a lecturer at the University of PNG and is also a naturalised citizen, said that references within the CoI were ambitious for the government to achieve.


PMIZ Watcher

Landowners from the villages of Rempi, Kananam and Karkar Island in Madang have applied to the National court in Madang for an immediate injunction stopping any further construction of the Pacific Marine Industrial Zone.

The government recently announced a $72 million loan from the Chinese ExIm Bank to fund the construction of the PMIZ but landholders oppose the project which they say is a 'con job' and they are asking the court to stop any loan funds being drawn down by the government.

PMIZ Watcher

Local communities affected by the proposed Pacific Marine Industrial Zone in Madang have filed a formal complaint in Washington about the role of the International Finance Corporation in promoting the project and in developing Special Economic Zone laws in PNG.

The communities have filed their complaint with the International Finance Corporation Ombudsman. The IFC is a part of the World Bank Group which is based in the United States.

By Phil Fitzpatrick*

One of the most important policy documents to come out of the Haus Tambaran in years is Community Development Minister Carol Kidu’s policy on the informal economy (see pdf attachment below).

Just what is the informal economy and who runs it?

Among others, it’s the people who sell buai and mustard on the streets of Port Moresby.  It’s also the people who run stalls out on the Magi Highway selling the day’s surplus catch of fish along with vegetables and fruit.

By Martyn Namorong

This post is dedicated to Effrey Dademo na ol bata long Goroka Secondary School; Slaytox, JayAshK59, JWK59,GRimz, Lycans, C-Red, Snake, CasterMai and Twing

By Warren Dutton

Acting Prime Minister Sam Abal has established a Commission of Inquiry into the SABLs [special agricultural and business leases], which is a good and I believe well intentioned step.

However there are definitely forces within the system, and perhaps even within the process itself, that will be working hard to maintain the status of the bad SABLs, so the ECPNG [ecumenical council of PNG] really needs to present the strongest possible submission to the Commission of Inquiry.  

Two of the most senior people appointed to Papua New Guinea's Commission of Inquiry into the country's enormous land grab may have serious conflicts of interest that could taint the whole Commission process if they do not step aside.

Papua New Guinea's land grab has seen control of over 5 million hectares of land taken from customary landowners in dubious Special Business and Agriculture Leases that are often seen as a smokescreen for the logging industry.

The confusion over whether a Commission of Inquiry has been appointed to investigate Special Purpose Business and Agriculture leases, which we first reported on 3 days ago - Confusion over Land Grab Commission of Inquiry - has deepened with the publication of a further newspaper advert, this time in The National.