Papua New Guinea's Planning Minister says the government is to sign a major Chinese exim bank loan to kickstart the Pacific Marine Industrial Zone project in Madang.
Richard Maru says the $US168million loan will be signed by prime minister Peter O'Neill when he attends the One Belt One Road Initiative global summit in Beijing next month.
Planned as PNG's first Special Economic Zone project, the PMIZ has been through various incarnations as a planned venture in the past two decades without ever getting off the ground.
Johnny Blades reports.
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Papua New Guinea Minister of National Planning, Richard Maru, in Wellington, 1 May 2018. Photo: RNZ / Johnny Blades