Expectations among local communities about the benefits of Papua New Guinea's LNG Project are clearly divergent to what has been happening on the ground.
PNG's landmark 19 billion US dollar project, whose gas fields are in Hela province, is lead operated by ExxonMobil PNG and started shipping exports to Asian markets 2 years ago.
However this month the project has hit a snag with disgruntled Hela landowners deciding to block access to the main gas conditioning plant in Hides over what they claim are hundreds of millions of dollars in outstanding project benefits owed to them for the past few years.
They have threatened to shut down the entire LNG project this month if the government doesn't respond adequately with payments pay up.
Johnny Blades spoke to a Hela-based observer, Isaac Pulupe, who told him about local perceptions that the government has not honoured its promises over benefits from the project.
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