Angore landowners receive K12m grant after 15-year wait

Angore landowners in Hela Province have finally been informed that their long-delayed K12 million Business Development Grant [BDG] has been released, ending a 15-year wait that has fuelled frustration, division and mistrust among landowner groups.

The Angore PDL8 Five Blocks Investment Limited began a three-day awareness program in Tari this week to explain the release of the funds and the company’s plans to invest the money, but the exercise was met with mixed reactions from landowners.

Large crowds gathered at Wellhead 1715, where some landowners welcomed the news, saying the BDG release was long overdue. Others openly expressed anger, accusing leaders of delays and mismanagement, and at one point threatened to disrupt the awareness program.

Despite the tension, the first day of the program was completed, allowing company leaders to outline the significance of the K12 million injection.

Chairman of Angore PDL8 Five Blocks Investment Limited, Sako Kasen Tolape, told landowners that the absence of seed capital over the past decade had locked Angore landowners out of millions of kina in PNG LNG-related business opportunities.

“For more than 10 years, we watched other landowner companies benefit while we were unable to participate because we had no capital,” Tolape said.

He said Angore landowners are now well behind other PNG LNG landowner companies that accessed Business Development Grants earlier and established profitable ventures linked to the resource project.

Tolape acknowledged the frustrations of landowners, saying the delay had deprived the five blocks under the Angore PDL8 licence area of economic growth and employment opportunities.

“With the release of this K12 million BDG, we finally have the opportunity to invest, but it will only succeed if the five blocks come together in unity and discipline,” he said.

The awareness program continues today in Hogambe [Block 1716], Awatangi [Block 1788] and Komo [Block 1787], with further sessions planned for other blocks, including Purani [Block 1642].

The three-day program is expected to conclude on Thursday, December 25, 2025.