Landowners demand their share as asylum pressures build on Manus

MANUS landowners have demanded $136,000 from the Australian-managed asylum-seeker processing centre.

MANUS landowners yesterday demanded $136,000 from the Australian-managed asylum-seeker processing centre, for access to the local rubbish dump and for "anchorage" charges for bringing vessels into the harbour.

Local MP Ron Knight said the dump would remain closed until the claim was met, and the landowners were also considering barring access through the main gate of the centre.

He said the landowners' chief concern was the lack of spin-off opportunities for business and jobs from the centre, which is under development.

The Australian high commission in Papua New Guinea is arranging business briefings in Port Moresby, Lae and Manus -- through the respective chambers of commerce -- to outline the types of opportunities that may be available to local business as part of the asylum-seeker deal.

Neil Skill, a deputy secretary in Australia's Immigration Department, is among those speaking at the briefings. At the first briefing, in Port Moresby on Thursday, 120 businesses were represented.

A department spokeswoman said the aim was "to provide an overview of the type of work to be undertaken at the permanent centre at Lorengau (the capital of Manus) and the type that could be expected if the Lombrum centre (the naval base) is expanded further".

Lorengau and Lombrum are two sites within the expanded processing centre.

She said businesses were being invited "to register an expression of interest with the department, outlining areas of interest".

"These will inform the department's approach to market as and where time permits," she said. "The department does not propose to engage individual trade contractors directly."

Last week the chief executive of the PNG Manufacturers Council, Chey Scovell, said businesspeople were especially frustrated to discover a Saudi Arabian company would play a prominent role in supplying accommodation since, he said, PNG companies could provide such services.

Dave Conn, the chief executive of the Port Moresby Chamber of Commerce, said yesterday "I think our guys were pretty positive" about the briefing. "Everybody has been stressing the point that if Australia wants this to fly with the least grief, it has to involve PNG businesses," he said.

He said that PNG produces excellent, quickly assembled housing and had considerable experience in operating catering at camps.