PNG LNG: What could Papua New Guinea’s new pipeline project bring?

For foreign banks, there is a lot of potential ahead. They tend to see four areas: advising multinationals before they come in to PNG, through other offices; commercial business on the ground, helping international companies once they come in; the landowners groups, very powerful in Papua New Guinea, who increasingly need banking services; and the retail side as more and more expatriates come in.  If law and order could be brought under control the country ought to have a burgeoning tourism industry too, with world class diving, hiking, scenery, surfing and the attraction of PNG’s stunningly multicultural nature (more than 800 distinct languages are spoken). “It’s almost totally unexploited and it should be the tourism centre of the Pacific,” says one expat. “Fiji’s got nothing on this.”

So when October comes, the country will find itself at a watershed moment: continue as it was or take a big step forward that will at once enrich the country and put it under considerable strain. There’s a lot to do. “We have our challenges in Papua New Guinea and I would be the first to admit that,” says Pomaleu. “But I also think we have addressed a lot of issues.”

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