Over 400 landholders have filed a court action challenging the Papua New Guinea government's plan to build the Pacific Marine Industrial Zone on their land north of Madang.

The government plans to borrow $71 million from the Chinese government to build the PMIZ which it hope will attract up to 10 tuna canneries and 30,000 jobs. The PMIZ will be declared PNG's first Special Economic Zone under laws being drafted for PNG by the World Bank.

The International Finance Corporation (IFC), part of the World Bank group, is drafting laws in Papua New Guinea to create Special Economic Zones - tax free enclaves where foreign corporations will receive special incentives to set up factories - but the World Bank's own Independent Evaluation Group (IEG), its internal watchdog, has published an evaluation which finds the IFC is failing in its mission to assist vulnerable communities and alleviate poverty through its projects and investments. 

Opposition leader, Belden Namah, was grilled yesterday (Thursday) on talk-back radio over his position on the government's Commission of Inquiry into Special Purpose Business and Agriculture leases.

The people of Papua New Guinea are waiting anxiously to hear more details about the Commission of Inquiry into Special Purpose Agriculture and Business leases which Acting Prime Minister, Sam Abal, heroically announced he was setting up last week.

Mr Abal has been widely praised for his announcement which brought a sense of relief to a Nation that was beginning to believe there was no hope for the future.

Post Courier editorial

In the debate over the Special Agricultural and Business leases (SABLs), all the attention is focused on the Lands Department. This may have happened because the Lands Department, which is tasked to manage State and to some degree, customary land in Papua New Guinea, issues the SABLs.

Robert Nog Akuna

I AM a community leader in Port Moresby and I think that political graft or corruption is now becoming a serious and controversial subject in our history since independence.

The corruptive influence of political ambitions has haunted civilised men over the last 10 years. Politicians fall into two groups; there are those who use money to win and those who use power to win money. What is the truth about the men who govern our life?

ACT NOW! has issued a public call for all opposition MPs to declare their position on the Commission of Inquiry into Special Agriculture and Business Leases.

"We have heard from the leader of the Opposition, Belden Namah, that he opposes the inquiry'," says ACT NOW! Program Manager, Effrey Dademo, "but do leading opposition MPs like Sam Basil, Mekere Morauta, Bart Philemon and Jamie Maxton-Grahem support that position?".

By PETER KORUGL*

New Opposition Leader Belden Namah has blasted the Government on its decision to set up a Commission of Inquiry into the Special Agriculture and Business Leases (SABL).

However, he may be in a conflict of interest situation because a company connected to him had such a lease and was logging in his electorate, it emerged yesterday.