A Papua New Guinea court has halted the controversial Kiunga-Aimbak logging project jointly conducted by Malaysian company Concord Pacific Ltd and a local landowner company.

The court said the case had attracted immense media coverage and granting the interim order sought was critical to multinational corporations exploiting resources of landowners who received minimal benefits.

In a press statement today, the Center for Environmental Law and Community Rights Inc (Celcor) hailed the ruling as a victory for landowners.

"Concord Pacific Ltd and Paiso Ltd had been operation on our land removing trees without our consent," it quoted landowner and Lake Murray Resource Owners Association Sep Galeva as saying.

According to the statement, the Waigani national court on July 2 ruled that the Papua New Guinea Forest Authority (PNGFA) and the state, and their agents are restrained from issuing licence, permits or authorities of any form.

It also said that Concord Pacific, Paiso and their agents are restrained from trespassing and or remaining on the customary land.

The court added that the two companies are also not allowed to exercise any rights interest and licences under the TA 024.

De-register companies

In support of this order, Celcor's executive director Damien Ase called on the government and the PNGFA to immediately implement the recommendation of the Forest Review Team on the project.

These, he added, included the de-registering of Concord and Paiso as forest industry participants and the project be immediately closed.

"We call on the relevant authorities (PNGFA and the government) that all arrangements under the previous agreement be terminated and made null and void," he said.

Last May, environmental group Greenpeace Papua New Guinea accused the Malaysian timber consortium of illegal logging in the guise of building a road in the country.

In its April 2002 report, the groups said the controversial Kiunga-Aiambak road project was "nothing but a ploy" for Concord Pacific to log thousands of hectares of the island's rainforests.

The seven-year project has had extensive and well-documented environmental, economic and social consequences, including the loss of the forest resource itself, the devastation of traditional food sources and the non-payment of millions of kina [PNG's currency] in revenue owed to local landowners," said the report.

The NGO claimed that the consortium has since exported RM60 million worth of logs, and yet there is no functional road in the area.

Payment for road construction

Later, Sarawak-based Samling Strategic Corporation - the company involved in the controversial Kiunga-Aiambak road project - claimed it was promised the logging concession as 'payment' for building the road by the republic's government.

Its director Hiew Teck Seng @ Yaw Teck Seng said the deal was that the 200km-long road and payment for the project would come in the form of a logging concession.

"A contractual agreement had been properly signed between Concord Pacific Ltd and the government of Papua New Guinea but whatever the old government has promised, a new one can just overturn it,"

He also denied that Samling owns Concord Pacific, saying his company only had a minority stake in the latter.

The allegations had irked Papua New Guinea Prime Minister Mekere Morauta, who condemned the controversial logging project.