Papua New Guinea’s landowner companies have been around for a while, but the current resources boom—particularly the PNG LNG Project—has significantly increased their opportunities.

© Anitua

Perhaps the best-known landowner business is NCS, owned by landowners on Lihir Island (home to the Lihir gold mine). NCS has established a profitable core business of catering and mining camp management, and has now expanded into areas of construction and property development.

In fact, it is one of 12 different business units of the Lihir landowners, that are gathered under the umbrella of the Anitua Group. Activities range from mining services to security, retail and, more recently, agribusiness (see ‘The Rise of PNG’s private sector’). Its subsidiaries employ around 1500 people.

Not only are these businesses creating value in their own right, but by establishing a clientele ‘off-island’ (i.e. nationwide) they will be able to continue to operate even after the Lihir mine eventually closes.

A major milestone in what the Asian Development Bank’s Charles Andrews terms ‘the professionalisation of landowner companies’ was reached in 2010 when Trans Wonderland, representing gas-field landowners in the Southern Highlands, won a USD$192 million contract to provide transport services to the PNG LNG project, as part of a JV with international firm Agility Logistics. Furthermore, in early 2011 Trans Wonderland signed a joint venture with Alaska-based Lynden Logistics to provide integrated transport services in PNG, and ultimately international markets.

This article first published in Business Advantage PNG 2012/2013