Links
The Kokoda Track Foundation has been established in recognition of
the assistance given to the Australian Diggers during the Pacific War from
1942 - 1945 by the people of PNG including the 'Fuzzy-Wuzzy Angels' and the
Koiari and Orokaivean people living along the Kokoda Track. The Foundation
has a web site located at -- http://www.kokodatrackfoundation.org
Tree House Village -- http://www.treehouse.com.pg
--For those who want a truly tropical style accommodation package then I suggest
the exotic Tree House Village. The village is about 15 minute along the scenic
Buluminski Highway from Kavieng in the New Ireland province. If anyone wants
further details then please write to Tree House Village, PO Box 351, Kavieng,
PNG. Phone +675 984 2666 / facsimile +675 984 2693 or email albeck@global.net.pg
Port Moresby Chamber of Commerce -- http://www.pomcci.org.pg
PNG Institute of Directors -- http://www.id.org.pg/
Rotary Club of Boroko -- http://www.rotary.org.pg
Friends of Disabled Association -- http://www.foda.org.pg
The East New Britain Chamber of Commerce and East New Brisbane
Tourism Bureau has a web site at --- http://www.eastnewbritain.com
http://www.pitic.org.au -- Pacific
Island Trade and Investment Commission.
The PNG chapter of Transparency International has a web site located
at -- http://www.transparencypng.org.pg.
Another good web site to visit is Ples Bilong PNG on the World Wide
Web -- http://www.pngvillage.com.
Port Moresby Golf Club has a web site located at -- http://www.pomgolf.org.pg.
Visit Steve and Monica Parker's web site. They support Bible translation
teams as members of Wycliffe Bible Translators and of SIL International --
http://wbtparker.apexwebsolutions.com/index.html
-- Also visit SIL -- http://www.sil.org.pg
and -- Aiyura Airstrip Repairs -- http://www.jaars.com/aviapubs/cr_aiyura.shtml
News Items
Gun Statistics
Statistics have revealed that there is one licenced gun for every 180 people
in PNG. Of course that does not take into account the number of illegal guns
in the country or the number held by police because a policeman on duty does
not have a civilian licence to carry a gun. . The figures, from police records,
reveal that there are over 27,000 civilian firearms licensed in the country.
Of this 23,000 civilians had shotguns, 2000 were pistol holders and over 2500
had rifles. In addition to this it is widely believed a substantial amount
of weapons, whether they be shotguns or automatic weapons, are illegally in
the hands of PNG people around the country. It is also believed that weapons
and ammunition are smuggled into the country and up into the highlands region
on almost a daily basis.
A ban on firearm licences and the supply of ammunition is still in effect
and will be maintained until further notice according to the Internal Security
Minister.
Public Account Committee
The chairman of the Parliamentary Public Account Committee (PAC) has warned
public service departments and statutory bodies that the PAC is keen to see
that all public bodies submit annual reports and financial statements to the
relevant Member of Parliament. This is as per section 63 of the Public Finances
(Management) Act.
Fuel Prices
The price of petrol, diesel and kerosene has dropped. Aviation gas, however,
has increased by 17.6 toea per litre making it K3.65 toea per litre. Petrol
will now be K2.16 per litre, diesel K1.71 per litre and kerosene K1.43 per
litre. These prices, including VAT/GST, are for the main centres of Port Moresby,
Lae, Madang and Rabaul.
InterOil
InterOil, a Canadian oil and gas company, aims to reduce the cost of petroleum
products in PNG once its refinery comes on line later this year. Some of this
will come from a decrease in transportation of costs around the country and
no import duty on the refined products.
Port Moresby Police
The police in Port Moresby will now have access to bullet proof vests to
help deal with criminals thanks to the Indonesian Embassy. The embassy gave
20 vests to police mobile unit at McGregor police barracks just outside Port
Moresby.
Escapee Surrenders
A five-time escapee from Keravat Jail (East New Britain Province) has surrendered
to police after being on the run.
Escapee Returned
An escapee from Bomana Jail just outside Port Moresby has been handed back
to authorities by his father. The son escaped from minimum security recently.
Port Moresby Hospital
The Port Moresby General Hospital has received K7.9 million worth of medical
supplies from World Vision Canada. The medicine arrived in a forty-foot and
a 20-foot container. The supplies have been checked and verified by the Health
Department.
Radio West New Britain
Radio West New Britain is off the air due to unpaid electricity bills totalling
more than K28,000. The station will be off the air indefinitely until money
can be found to pay the outstanding debt with PNG Power.
Okapa - Eastern Highlands
The police at Okapa in the Eastern Highlands Province now have a new vehicle
valued at K96,000 to help assist in combating law and order problems in the
area.
Auditor General
A leadership Tribunal has found the Auditor General, Mark Wani, guilty of
33 counts of misconduct in office. The announcement comes only five days before
Mr Wani's appointment expires.
VAT
The PNG Value Added Tax (VAT) has been replaced by a Goods and Services TAX
(GST) as from the 1st of January. However the first tax returns are not due
until the 21st of February. The last returns for VAT are due on the 21st of
January.
Swimming Gold
Ryan Pini, swimming for PNG, has won gold at the Queensland State championships
in the 50-metre backstroke event. Pini also gave Australian Geoff Huegill
a run for his money finishing a hundredth of a second behind him in the 100-metre
butterfly to gain a sliver medal.
Sogeri Town
It has been alleged that until recently the water used by the Iarowari High
School, Sogeri National High School, Sogeri Health Clinic, and the Police
Station had not been treated for 10 years. The water was tested last year
when students at the schools became sick. The tests found the water to be
slightly contaminated and all residents were informed to boil the water before
using it. The water is now being treated.
Cancer in PNG
Up to 10,000 Papua New Guineans die every year as a result of cancer. The
only radiation machine at Lae's Angau General Hospital, which did all the
radiation therapy for cancer patients in the country, broke down four years
ago and has not been replaced. To make matters worse the country's last and
only oncologist (cancer specialist) had left in 1998 and the Health Department
is still unable to find a replacement.
Peace Ceremony
A peace ceremony has been held in Goroka between two clans of Bena people
in the Eastern Highlands. The two clans and various sub-clans have been fighting
for over seven-years. The clans signed an agreement to lay down weapons and
return to peace.
Pacific Mobile
Pacific Mobile has announced a new web site and domain. It is located at
-- http://www.pacificmobile.com.pg.
The website contains information about how to get connected to the mobile
network, products and services, job opportunities, Internet Service Providers,
Frequently Asked Questions etc. Pacific Mobile is a subsidiary of PNG Telikom
-- http://www.telikompng.com.pg
Lighthouses
After 15 years of neglect lighthouses in PNG have finally been allocated
some funding for repair and maintenance courtesy of a K100 million loan from
the Asian Development Bank. The 160 lighthouses around the country have been
neglected for many years and lighthouses in the Milne Bay and Oro provinces
have been targeted as the first phase for repair commencing this year. Phase
two of the project will commence in 2005 covering the New Guinea Islands region.
Governor General
The fate of who is going to be the next Governor General of PNG is in the
hands of the National Court at Waigani. Sir Pato Kakaraya was scheduled to
be sworn in as the Governor General on the 20th of this month (Jan 2004) but
the move has been blocked by the courts due to an application by one of the
other candidates because of a concern over the parliamentary process used
to elect Sir Pato. The election by Parliament of Sir Pato has been endorsed
by the Queen but he is now restrained from taking the oath of office until
the court deals with the matter.
Eastern Highlands
The Eastern Highlands Provincial Government has announced that it now has
a five-year plan to help guide the province. The plan is geared to addressing
the deteriorating road conditions, law and order problems, education, health,
agriculture, livestock and administrative capacity building.
Nasfund
The National Superannuation Fund (NasFund) has announced an audited profit
of K55.3 million after tax for 2003. This is a 65 percent increase over the
results for 2002. This makes the Nasfund one of the fastest growing financial
institutions in the country with a growth rate of 37 percent per year.
POM International High School
Are students of Port Moresby International School being victimised? It would
appear so if admissions to the Universities in PNG can be taken as a guide.
Recent newspaper advertisements indicate that if you send your child to POM
International High then your child has no chance of being admitted to a University
in PNG. Is this true? Complaints have also been received from the Mount Hagen
Secondary School. A student of the Hagen school was not offered a position
at the university of PNG despite being the dux and having a clean record.
A similar incident happened to the dux of the school in 2000.
Chinese Problems
Genuine visitors to PNG from China have recently come up against a brick
wall with all access to the country barred briefly. An officer with the Department
of Foreign Affairs has been suspended pending a further investigation. Several
high level Chinese citizens from the petroleum and energy sector willing to
invest millions of Kina in PNG were caught up in the fiasco and refused entry.
The knee jerk move was intended to stop some of the perceived illegal entry
into PNG by nationals of China. All that the temporary ban managed to do was
cause severe embarrassment to the Foreign Affairs Minister and Secretary.
Chinese government officials in Moresby are having more than visa difficulties.
A group of Chinese officials, not associated with the petroleum officials
mentioned above, became stuck in the Prime Minister's private lift at Morauta
Haus when they were on their way to a meeting with the Chief Secretary, Joshua
Kalinoe. The officials were released from the lift after waiting 20 minutes
for mechanics to rescue them.
Cruise Ships
It has been announced that only four cruise ships will visit PNG this year.
One of the ships will be the Queen Elizabeth II on what is believed to be
its last cruise will call into PNG waters. The other ships will be the World
Discover, Sea Brown Spirit and the Clipper Odyssey. In previous years up to
10 cruise ships would visit PNG a year. The major problem stopping cruise
ships from visiting PNG is the simple fact that PNG does not have the infrastructure
to cater for large ships.
Angau Hospital
The Angau Memorial Hospital in Lae has been promised a shipment of medical
equipment by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. The hospital
is now organising to ship the equipment with other medical supplies from Port
Moresby. The Church has already donated equipment to Port Moresby General.
(Angau is PNG's second largest hospital coming second to Port Moresby General
Hospital).
Tari Post Office
The Post Office in Tari has been closed for two weeks following an armed
gang assaulted the manager and stole K400 in cash and K200 worth of stamps.
The Post Office has been a target of criminals after the police mobile squad
withdrew three weeks ago. The Post Master is waiting direction from Port Moresby
whether to re-open the office or close it permanently.
Hacker Attack
Several PNG based websites sustained a hack attack by C4 Red Eye today. It
is unknown at this stage how many were actually attacked but Shane McLeod
from the Australian ABC said there were several that he knew of including
Air Niugini's main website at -- http://www.airniugini.com.pg
If you are attempting to get to any of these websites then be warned that
they may not be available for a while while the damage is undone and the FREE
BSD Unix system patched.
Australian School Site
For any PNG readers who attended school in Australia there is a website that
will help reunite you with your classmates and even enemies. It is located
at http://www.schoolfriends.com.au. The site is growing on a daily basis and
I was surprised at how many people I knew from the various schools that I
attended. Some of the information is available free of charge and other information
as you dig deeper will require a membership fee.
Pineapple Building
It is believed that arsonists set fire to the disused Pineapple Building
at Waigani recently. Two fires were lit in piles of old paper located on the
first and fifth floors of the historic Marea Haus. Fire fighters managed to
put out the fires although the first fire truck that arrived did not have
a ladder to enable fire-fighters to reach the fifth floor and then a water
valve opened up and gushed water from a tank that proved hard to control.
A second fire engine arrived equipped with a cherry picker and was able to
hose down the flames saving the derelict structure.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the land area of the provinces in PNG?
- National Capital and Central,29940 sq kms
- Oro Province,19827 sq kms
- Milne Bay Province,14000 sq kms
- Morobe Province,34,500 sq kms
- Madang Province,28000 sq kms
- Eastern Highlands,11706 sq kms
- Simbu Province,8476 sq kms
- Western Highlands,8288 sq kms
- Southern Highlands,25988 sq kms
- East Sepik,43000 sq kms
- West Sepik (Sandaun),36000 sq kms
- East New Britain,15500 sq kms
- West New Britain,21000 sq kms
- New Ireland,9500 sq kms
- Manus Province,2100 sq kms
- North Solomons Province,9400 sq kms
- Enga Province,10790 sq kms
- Western and Gulf Province, 135,000 sq kms
Goroka Police
A policeman stationed at Goroka has been suspended following an incident
where a vehicle was driven into a signboard and then hit a tree. Angry bystanders
set fire to the vehicle after the incident. It has been alleged that the hire
vehicle was used illegally by the policeman.
Forest Investment Seminar
The fourth annual Forest Investment Seminar will be held on the 17th of March
at the Crowne Plaza in downtown Port Moresby. Conference fees for PNG Forest
Industries Association members will be K90 and K110 for non members.
Grace Period
The grace period for a newly elected government against a vote of no confidence
is currently set to 18 months and the present government is rapidly coming
to the end of its 18 month period. The current Prime Minister, Sir Michaela
Somare, has been attempting to get this increased to 36 months. The vote for
the change has failed twice so far. Another vote is due shortly with the usual
political lobbying on both sides declaring that they have the necessary votes
to either defeat the motion or to carry it. It will be interesting to see
who has the numbers and who benefits from the lobbying the most.
Arthur Somare
Sir Michael Somare's son, Arthur, has stepped aside to allow his father to
give a ministry to the recently elected Abau MP, Dr Puka Temu. Dr Temu was
sworn in as the new State Enterprises and Information Minister with Madang
Open MP and former Tourism and Culture Minister, Alois Kingsley, taking on
the vacant Fisheries portfolio after the sacking of Andrew Baing for abstaining
from voting for the Government's amendment to increase the its grace period
to 36 months.
PNG Media
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