PNG Forest Authority’s Dubious K3.5 Million Log Export Levy Allocation to Hela Province Smacks of Political Patronage

by Michael J. Passingan

The Papua New Guinea Forest Authority (PNGFA) Board and Management have once again demonstrated a troubling disregard for basic principles of equity and accountability. In late June 2026, PNGFA Managing Director John Mosoro presented K3.5 million in seed capital from the Log Export Development Levy to Hela Province to kick-start the National Reforestation and Afforestation Programme. The breakdown is stark: K1 million to Prime Minister James Marape’s own Tari-Pori district, K1 million to the Hela Provincial Government, and K500,000 each to Hela’s three other districts — Koroba-Kopiago, Komo-Hulia and Magarima.

This is not a minor administrative decision. It is a deliberate diversion of funds collected exclusively from commercial log exporters operating in coastal and lowland provinces — Western, Gulf, West Sepik, Oro, West New Britain, East New Britain and others — to a Highlands province with no commercial logging activity.

Commercial logging in Papua New Guinea has always been concentrated in accessible low-altitude forests on the coast and islands. Highland provinces like Hela have never hosted large-scale industrial logging concessions. The PNGFA itself has attributed Hela’s reported 50 percent forest cover loss mainly to subsistence agriculture expansion, tribal conflict-driven clearing and other non-commercial factors. Yet the Log Export Levy — money extracted from companies harvesting timber in completely different provinces — is now being redirected to Hela as “seed capital.”

The injustice is obvious. Customary landowners in the actual logging provinces endure the real environmental destruction: scarred landscapes, polluted waterways, lost biodiversity, destroyed food gardens and fractured social structures. These communities generate the very revenue now being siphoned off. They should be the first to benefit from any reforestation or development levy. Instead, the PNGFA has chosen to bankroll projects in the Prime Minister’s political heartland.

This allocation raises unavoidable questions about process and motive. Was there a transparent, competitive assessment of which provinces most needed reforestation support? Were the provinces actually suffering commercial logging impacts consulted? What rigorous criteria elevated Hela with zero commercial log exports to become the “first province” to receive this funding? The PNGFA Board and senior management have provided no public explanation. The funds, held in trust by Diwai Holdings Limited, appear to have been released with minimal scrutiny.

Prime Minister Marape cannot escape responsibility. His district receives a full K1 million slice. His government oversees the PNGFA. When the institution responsible for managing forestry revenues funnels millions into the PM’s home province while logging-affected communities elsewhere continue to wait for meaningful benefits, the stench of political favouritism is overpowering.

This is not an isolated lapse. It fits a pattern of opaque decision-making around forestry revenues under the current administration. The Log Export Levy exists to support sustainable forest management and to compensate those who bear the costs of extraction. Treating it as a discretionary pot for politically convenient projects in non-logging provinces betrays that purpose.

The PNG Forest Authority Board and Management owe Papua New Guineans a full, immediate public accounting: the legal basis for the allocation, the assessment process, the expected outputs, and why provinces with active commercial logging were overlooked. Prime Minister Marape should also explain why his district and province were prioritised.

Until that happens, this K3.5 million decision stands as another clear example of resources meant for the many being captured for the benefit of the politically connected few. Customary landowners in the coastal logging provinces deserve better. So does the integrity of PNG’s forestry governance.