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Welcome to the Papua New Guinea Gossip. If you have comments or suggestions to make then please e-mail them to giaman@png-gossip.com
Articles for this newsletter
To send a message for submission to the PNG Gossip Newsletter queue -- please e-mail your contribution to pngnews.queue@png-gossip.com
Remember that this mailing list is mainly meant for people who have an interest and already know a little bit about the people and geography of Papua New Guinea. The PNG Kina, which is mentioned from time to time, is currently worth about 36 United States cents but varies on a daily basis.
If you are really keen on finding out what the Kina is worth a currency converter for most world currencies can be located at http://www.michie.net/pnginfo/moni.html
For those who are not so familiar with the geography of Papua New Guinea I suggest taking a look http://maps.google.com
Also remember that the accuracy of the information in this newsletter should not be relied upon - it is, after all, a gossip newsletter.
If a longer URL in this newsletter appears to be broken, please manually cut and then paste the link into your browser.
Recommended Site...
Take a look at DIVErsion Dive Travel & Training in Cairns, Australia at http://www.diversionOZ.com/epngdive.htm
New Private Hospital
After enquiring as to the state of the "New Private Hospital" last week the daily newspapers provided the answer in a matter of a couple of days.
Here are a few answers. The hospital cost K40 million of taxpayers money via the Motor Vehicles Insurance Limited to get it to the stage it is now. It was reported that this was only to the lock up stage and that it would take another K10 to K20 million to complete the hospital.
Power Disruptions
Once again unscheduled power outages are occurring in the National Capital. It seems as if the power is magically going off at exactly half past the hour so I wonder how much is actually unscheduled.
PNGBC Bank Robbery
The helicopter pilot who was held at gunpoint and forced to participate in the failed PNGBC bank robbery, just before Christmas, has been accused of not being licensed. His response is that the Civil Aviation Authority has lost the licence that he presented to accident investigators.
United Nations Development Program
The United Nations Development Program human development indicator has rated PNG as being in 133rd position out of 177 countries. The Gross Domestic Product of PNG is rated as 1 tenth of the first country (Canada). The GDP for PNG is USD2,359 and Canada is USD2,3582.
Teachers
Teachers have had a new three-year wages agreement approved by the National Executive Council.
Mt Sion Blind Centre
The Australian and New Zealand governments have provided support for a new double classroom and an improved water supply for the Mt Sion Centre for the blind and elementary school near Goroka in the eastern Highlands Province.
K3 Million Man
The man who was supposedly being paid K300,000 per month to head Finance Pacific has said that he will repay K900,000 back to the company at the same time it is expected that the government will cap the salary and allowances of chief executives of statutory bodies to somewhere between K100,000 and K150,000 per annum.
Silver Jubilee
Peter Barter has said that the Nations 25th Independence celebrations are progressing well and are on track.
Eco Forestry
It is claimed by the National Research Institute that Eco-Forestry is capable of returning the same amount of benefit as compared to commercial logging.
Airfares
As predicted in a recent newsletter airfares in PNG are ready to take a price hike. The fares have gone up by 5 percent with another 5 percent to be added in October.
Morata
The Japanese Government has sponsored a community resource centre for the residents of Morata in Port Moresby. Morata, one of the most densely populated suburbs, is the home to thousands of poor and under privileged people who originally came to the settlement from all area of PNG.
Newspaper Mistakes
Mistakes tend to creep into any publication. - Yes, even this one! The people providing the copy make some and the people setting the type do some of the others. A few of the most recent ones are mentioned below.
The 19 foot and 23 foot dinghies mentioned in last weeks newsletter for K3,200 and K4,300 were actually advertised as 19 inch and 23 inch boats. Being a metric country it is possible that the symbol for inches and feet where a little too confusing.
Air Niugini is currently advertising for a COE. This is even after the words "Chief Executive Officer" were the main heading of the advertisement.
Just to show that even I make mistakes I left the "s" out the Computers and Communications last week. My excuse is that the "s" simply lipped off.
One of the better ones was an advert by the Post Courier many years ago for a froof reader when they actually wanted a proof reader and boy with an advert like that they really must have needed the job filled quickly.
In another more recent one the advertiser, who wanted a chef in Milne Bay, was trying to say that people must be qualified for the position advertised except the following was printed. "If you do not have the experience and references, please do waste your time and ours".
Kerema
Telikom PNG has hopefully commissioned a new digital telephone exchange for the Gulf Province located at Kerema. The existing Telephone exchange will be closed.
Cellnet / mobile telephones
This little bit of information has come in from a regular contributor.
I was talking to Cellnet last Friday and was given two bits of information:
The additional 1 Mb of bandwidth for Tiare (Internet) should be in action by now, they were only waiting for the OK from Optus.
The Telikom board meeting on Friday gave the OK for Cellnet to purchase a billing system for the new GSM cellular network.
All the RF and switching hardware is in place in Port Moresby for the system but they do not have a billing system !! Like buying a car without wheels !!
The digital phone I brought back from Aussie last week logs on to the system OK so this confirms that it is in place.
The comments were made that the system would not be fully operational before at least December 2000.
Copyright
The copyright law, which was enacted by parliament in 1978, has never been put into effect because the supporting legislation was never enacted. Parliament has been asked to pass two important laws to protect copyright, patents and industrial designs.
Police Bullets
Police will now have to account for the bullets that they have been issued in a bid to stop police from losing them or simply using them whenever they want to with little or no repercussion over the indiscriminate use.
Manus
It might be surprising to readers who know a bit about PNG that rice is being grown successfully in Manus. As well as rice Manus has many attractions for tourists such as waterfalls, tracks, canoeing and fishing.
Milne Bay
The Prime Minster has terminated negotiations between the former governor of Milne Bay, Dame Josephine Abaijah and a foreign finance company for a loan of K40 million. The foreign company has been described in a report by the Attorney-General's department and the Australian High Commission as being a "dubious financial institution".
PNG Prime Minister
Meanwhile the Prime Minister has survived a year in office.
Morobe
Rice is growing in the Markham Valley of Morobe Province and it is said that it will have a good future judging by the number of villagers who are growing the crop. Rice can also be found growing just outside the city of Lae at Bumayong.
Computer Companies in PNG
- Able Computing - http://www.able.com.pg
- Daltron - http://www.daltron.com.pg
- Data Nets - http://www.online.net.pg
- Datec - http://www.datec.com.pg
- HT PNG (formerly High Tech Industries) -- http://www.hightech.com.pg/
- Global Technologies - http://www.global.net.pg
Links
Links to visit.
- Take a look at DIVErsion Dive Travel & Training in Cairns, Australia at http://www.diversionOZ.com/epngdive.htm
- Blue Sea Charters - http://www.blueseacharters.com
- Some photos of Papua New Guinea can be found at http://www.worlddive.com/phgal/png/pngpix.htm
- For an online tourist guide to Papua New Guinea visit the Lonely Planet Website at http://www.lonelyplanet.com.au/dest/aust/png.htm
Aviation Websites
- Air Niugini http://www.airniugini.com.pg
- AirLink http://www.airlink.com.pg
- Balus Program http://www.balus.gov.pg
- MBA Airlines of PNG http://www.apng.com
- Unofficial Balus Register http://www.michie.net/balus
Mining Websites
- Highlands Pacific http://www.highpacific.com.au
- Lihir Gold Limited http://www.lihir.com.pg
- Oil Search http://www.oilsearch.com.au/
- Ok Tedi http://www.oktedi.com
- Orogen http://www.orogen.com.au
- Placer Dome http://www.placerdome.com
Media
- EM TV http://www.emtv.com.pg
- Hitron - Cable/Satellite TV http://www.hitron.com.pg
- NauFM Radio Station http://www.naufm.com.pg
PNG newspaper sites
Post Courier
http://www.postcourier.com.pgThe National
http://www.thenational.com.pg
Articles for this newsletter
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