Landowners plan to shut down RD factory on Thursday

People from villages surrounding the RD Tuna Factory in Madang Province plan to lock the gates to the factory on Thursday this week.

The frustrated villagers say they will do this to express their grievances over a longstanding issue which the investor and the government have failed to address for over twenty years.

RD Tuna Company has been operating in Madang for over 26 years.

However, landowners claimed that for 23 of those years, it has been operating illegally; following the annulment of the project’s Memorandum of Agreement that the investor signed with the State and the local people, prior to its commencement of operations in 1997.

This effectively means they have been missing out on spinoff benefits from the company since 2000, as there is no legally- binding document

Landowners’ spokesperson, Wesley Buka tells NBC News, they have tried raising their concerns with the company and the government on the possibility of revisiting the nullified M- O- A but to no avail, and therefore; they have now decided to take the next course of action on Thursday.

Mr Buka explains unresolved in- house issues led to the annulment of the project’s M- O- A in 2000.

He claims that since then, RD Tuna Company has been deliberately avoiding the local people and their attempts for an audience on this matter, and continues to unlawfully operate in Papua New Guinea.

Meanwhile, our attempts to talk to RD Tuna Company today for a response to this allegation were unsuccessful.