Landowners reject Ok Tedi compo scheme

Landowners on the Ok Tedi and Fly rivers have overwhelmingly rejected the Eighth Supplemental Agreement Compensation Act package, agreed to between the PNG government and Ok Tedi mine operator BHP, the PNG Independent newspaper reported on May 3.

In accordance with PNG law, 512 written notices signed by leaders representing 31,488 people living along the Ok Tedi and Fly rivers have been forwarded to BHP-owned Ok Tedi Mining Ltd (OTML), opting out of the compensation arrangements and appointing Australian lawyers, Slater and Gordon, to negotiate with BHP and OTML.

Landowner leader Rex Dagi said claims by government and BHP spokespeople that an overwhelming majority of people supported the package "could not be true in light of the signed rejection notices forwarded to OTML, as required by the act. Perhaps OTML has failed to tell the government about the notices."

Dagi told the Independent that reports of possible agreement on compensation issues between Ok Tedi landowners and mining minister John Giheno and OTML were misleading. "Ok Tedi villagers unanimously rejected the offer and wanted to know why the minister wanted to put Ok Tedi people in jail with the Prohibition of Foreign Legal Proceedings Act."

The PNG government has attempted to legislate to block an ongoing claim for compensation being heard in the Supreme Court in Melbourne. It has offered a settlement that villagers consider inadequate and that does not require OTML to build a tailings dam to contain the 100,000 tonnes of waste that spills into the Ok Tedi and Fly rivers every day, destroying the people's livelihood.

From GLW issue 231