An ABC investigation has linked the Australian businessmen behind Papua New Guinea's largest agroforestry project to key figures in a massive Indigenous land grab scandal in the country's Western Province more than a decade ago.
Papua New Guinea's Prime Minister James Marape announced the $1.8 billion development in late October, saying it was an "historical moment" for his country.
He said it would see the construction of 600 kilometres of road in Western Province, at no cost to the government, with logs from the road corridor to be harvested and sold.
Connecting the towns of Kiunga and Balimo, the road will likely pass through some of the last remaining tracts of commercially valuable rainforest in Papua New Guinea.
But while the government has hailed it as an economic achievement for the country, environmental groups, academics and politicians fear the new project could see large tracts of pristine rainforest destroyed.
It comes as the ABC has unearthed details of the Australian business behind the project.
The $1.8b road through pristine forest
In October, Australian company Epoca Group Ltd won the right to develop the 600-kilometre road through Western Province.
The area is highly coveted by logging companies and, more recently, carbon trading programs — including one by Australian company Mayur Resources.
At the time the deal was announced, a PNG government media release described Epoca Group Ltd as "Italian based".
But its owners and directors, Gilberto Maggiolo and Antonio Bosso, are Australian citizens who were born in Italy but have lived in Queensland for decades.
Their small civil engineering company, Epoca Constructions, is registered in Australia with an office in Brisbane.
The company's Wordpress site says it was established in 1970 and specialises in on-site construction and maintenance works, with past projects including skate parks, road maintenance and upgrades, small bridges and bikeways.
Colin Filer, an anthropologist from the Australian National University who has studied forestry in PNG for decades, said the project did not seem financially viable.
"I think you probably need to at least clear all the remaining forest in the whole of Western Province. But even that would probably not be sufficient," Professor Filer said.
He said for the road to be usable, the company would need to build bridges over large rivers in the area — adding to the expense.
"I can't imagine how a company with limited engineering experience, building things like children's playgrounds in Brisbane, would possibly have the engineering capacity to bridge those rivers," Professor Filer said.
He said the road would likely have to cross an enormous wetland that the local people navigated in canoes.
"It raises the question of what the project proponents are actually hoping to achieve," he said.
But it is Mr Maggiolo and Mr Bosso's links to other Australian businessmen that have worried some PNG politicians and environmental groups.
Land grabs and a $4.6 billion court case
An ABC investigation has found Mr Maggiolo and Mr Bosso share multiple business interests with Neville Harsley and Noe Vicca — also Australian citizens.
Mr Harsley is the former managing director of Independent Timbers and Stevedoring Limited (IT&SL), a company that was found by a PNG commission of inquiry in 2013 to have fraudulently obtained 2 million hectares of Indigenous customary land in Western Province for logging in 2011.
Much like Epoca, IT&SL had planned to build a 600km road in Western Province.
In 2013, a commission of inquiry report into PNG's "special agricultural and business leases" (SALBs) recommended Mr Harsley be investigated for possible criminal misconduct.
Environmental group Global Witness referred to the acquisition of agricultural leases by IT&SL and other companies in PNG as "one of the largest land grabs in modern history".
The inquiry found the project agreement between IT&SL and the PNG government was "not binding and enforceable" and recommended the leases be revoked.
Mr Harsley's company then tried to sue the PNG government for $4.6 billion — about a third of the country's national budget at the time — alleging the state had breached its contract with IT&SL.
In 2020, the company lost its case in the Supreme Court of PNG.
The ABC can reveal that in May this year, Neville Harsley and Gilberto Maggiolo, as directors of the PNG-registered company Western Province Projects Limited, were negotiating an agreement to build a 600km road in a very similar area to the Epoca and IT&SL projects.
Some clauses in the Western Province Projects contract are nearly identical to the IT&SL one from 2011.
The deal shows Western Province Projects wanted rights to the same four agricultural leases that IT&SL fraudulently obtained in 2011 — totalling more than 2 million hectares.
It also sought an exemption from the PNG government's 50 per cent log export tax.
The contract was stamped by the state solicitor but, to the ABC's knowledge, was not signed.
PNG's last 'valuable' rainforest
Advocates are now calling for more information about the $1.8 billion Epoca deal, which was signed in late October.
Peter Bosip, managing director of the PNG-based environmental law firm CELCOR, said there was a lack of transparency around the $1.8 billion agreement, which has not been made public.
Sources within the PNG Forest Authority (PNGFA) — the national regulator for forestry — told the ABC the project developers ignored their advice.
One source said the deal was "rushed" and the PNGFA was not able to complete the regulatory work required under the Forestry Act before the deal was signed.
In a Facebook post, Western Province Governor Taboi Awi Yoto — a central figure in the project negotiations — said the Commerce Department was the "lead agent" since the project's inception.
Mr Bosip said that was highly irregular.
"The Department of Commerce and Industry does not deal with road construction … it will deal with international business [but] not anything to do with logging or whatsoever, he said.
"That sounds strange."
Hopes for a 'homegrown' initiative
Epoca director Mr Maggiolo declined an interview with the ABC but confirmed Mr Harsley was involved in the company's venture.
The ABC made several attempts to contact Mr Harsley by phone and email but did not receive a response.
Governor Taboi Awi Yoto also declined to speak.
In a series of Facebook posts, Mr Yoto said the project was a "homegrown" initiative designed to "change the way forestry operations have been happening in Western Province".
He referred to it as the "Gre-Drimgas-Nomad Wawoi Falls Agro-Forestry Integrated Road Project" — almost identical to the name of the unsigned Western Province Projects deal.
"We the parties in the agreement firmly believed that we have done this to the best interests of our Province and the beneficiaries," he said.
Mr Yoto also said the parties had agreed to a major review every five years and the developers had not asked for any tax breaks.
According to the PNG government, the state would get an initial 20 per cent equity in the project — split between land owners, the national government and provincial government. The state's equity share could increase to 51 per cent after 25 years.
Former PNG prime minister and current opposition member Peter O'Neill has called for a detailed investigation of the project.
"Who's making money out of this? We don't know. But the independent investigations will certainly reveal that," he told the ABC.
Mr O'Neill said the project area was very sparsely populated and communities would be better serviced by planes and boats, rather than a 600km road.
"It is certainly not a sort of development that is aimed at providing services and uplifting [the] standard of living for our people," he said.
