Pacific Maritime Industrial Zone
The Pacific Marine Industrial Zone (PMIZ) was approved by the National Executive Council (NEC) as a concept in 2004 but was not officially commissioned until November 2015 when Prime Minister Peter O’Neill travelled to Madang and declared it open (Albaniel, 2016).
A concessional loan was obtained from the Chinese government’s Exim Bank to fund what later became known as the Pacific Maritime Industrial Zone (PMIZ).
The Chinese state company China Shenyang International Economics and Technical Cooperation Corporation was appointed project manager.
Information from Madang indicates that the first tranche of the concessional loan was used to clear and build the fence around the site at Vidal, north coast Madang for a township to be established (Journalist, 2017).
Just like Bautama, the project proponents did not publish information showing the terms and condition of the concessional loan, the expenses list, and the repayment schedule.
According to China Aid Data, an online platform that provides information on Chinese development finance earmarked for Africa, the China Exim Bank gave $US74 million to PNG in January 2011 for the project.
The total cost of the project was $US95 million with the other $US21 million to come from the PNG government (AidData, 2016).
The project was to be completed on November 24, 2015 but to date there is little to show on the ground, raising questions as to whether the first tranche of the concessional loan was accessed and disbursed.
In March 2017 Trade and Commerce Minister Richard Maru revealed that the PNG government is negotiating a new $US150 million loan from the Exim Bank of China for the same project (National, The National, 2017).
