The communities of the Tina River Hydro Development Project are located within the Bahomea and Malango regions of Central Guadalcanal. They live in the Tina village and immediate surrounding villages including all of Malango down to the Belaha region of Malango.
The project has established partnerships with the tribes owning the core land, which is the land used for the hydro scheme construction. It has also designed a Community Benefit Share scheme for all members of the Malango-Bahomea community which include all the tribes and residents of the area.
In 2011 the following villages hosted the Project’s first Community wide consultations
Community Consultation Background :
1. Project Awareness Program
Community Awareness programs have been crucial in helping the communities of the project to understand important issues around and about the project. Since 2011 these programms had enlightened the people about what this project is, why it is needed, what it means for the communities, government and the country as a whole.
The programms spread through the communities of Bahomea from Katihana to Malango’s Belaha community to the west of the Tina River. Since major programms as identifying a dam site, land acquisition, ESIA and selecting a developer had been achieved, our focus this year will be on Benefit Share for the Communities as well as training opportunities before the construction phase.
Some of the main topics discussed were the preparatory phase – identifying a dam site, land acquisition, ESIA and selection of a developer.
The program has now been in the implementation phase since 2016. This period will see the project concentrate on working closely with the communities on activities such as implementation of livelihood projects, training and preparing for construction.
Consulting and finalising benefit share arrangements to ensure the project becomes a transformational project for the communities of the area and the country is also being targeted.