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-- A new website to visit occasionaly to see which way it is heading.
News Items
Free Education
Many people are wondering what price the PNG population
has to pay for free education. Over 100 children have died in Mount Hagen
simply because there are no drugs to fight measles. It would seem that the
balance between good health and education has swung too far towards providing
free education. The Australian government has attempted to step in by purchasing
drugs but this has been too late for the children that have already died.
UPNG Expo
The University of PNG is planning to open its doors to
the general public next April to showcase what products it had developed over
37 years. All the schools (medicine and health sciences, natural and physical
sciences, law, business administration, humanities and social science, the
centre for research and postgraduate training, enrichment studies and IDCE)
will participate during the open day.
Agriculture Workshop
The province of Milne Bay has held its first-ever women
only workshop on cultivation of coffee and vanilla in the province recently.
The weeklong workshop was held at Bubuleta village that is near the township
of Alotau. Dame Josephine Abaijah donated K8,000 towards the seminar.
National Provident Fund
The National Provident Fund has said that it will be able
to credit seven percent interest to member's accounts this week. This is the
first dividend payment in three years. The interest payment comes after a
remarkable turnaround which saw the NPF go from near-bankruptcy three years
ago to one of the front-runners in the financial industry today.
Credit Corporation
The Credit Corporation has announced a 20 per cent increase
in net profit for last year. It will be able to pay shareholders a dividend
of 80 toea per share, which down 10 toea from the 90 toea per share payment
in 2000. The top 20 shareholders of Credit Corp include the Teachers Savings
and Loans Society, POSF, MVIL and the Federation of Savings and Loans Societies
amongst others.
Field Hockey
Due to a stand off between the PNG Hockey Federation and
Port Moresby Hockey Association the development of hockey within PNG is being
held to ransom. The feud between the two organisations has gone on for too
long and smaller centres like Rabaul have been severely affected.
Sports Stars
The 2002 Sportsman of the year has been presented to cricketer,
Mahuru Dai and squash player Naluge Guy has received the 2002 Sportswoman
of the year at a ceremony held on Friday at the Crowne Plaza Hotel.
Boana
A new TB clinic opens has been opened at Boana in the
Nawae electorate of Morobe province. Patients, from a total electorate population
of about 34,000, will now be able to receive treatment without having to travel
to Lae for treatment. The Australian Agency for International Aid (AusAID)
has been able to donate K60,OOO worth of medical equipment and drugs to the
Boana TB clinic.
Telikom PNG
A former managing director of Telikom has received K1.5
million in an out of court settlement. He was sacked by a former Corporatisation
and Privatisation Minister for paying himself K120,000 in housing allowance
within two weeks of being in appointed to the office of managing director.
Highlands Measles
It has been reported that seven more children have died
of measles at the Mt Hagen General Hospital in the Western Highlands. This
brings the death toll to over 100 since the start of this year. The Kunjip
Nazarene Hospital in the Western Highlands has had to close its doors to patients
other than the people of Jiwaka because of a drug shortage. AusAid, through
its Health Service Support Program (HSSP), has been able to fly in limited
stock of urgently needed drugs to the Mt Hagen base store for hospitals in
the highlands provinces.
Immunisation
The Health Minister has reminded parents of the importance
of having their young children immunised against diseases. The minister said
this when revealing that only 30 per cent of the children in the Western Highlands
between the ages of one and five were immunised against measles.
Anglican Church
The Anglican Church of PNG has stopped charging fees to
pregnant women and children for the last three years after learning that many
women were having their children in villages because they could not afford
the fees. It is hoped that this will help to reduce the high number of women
dying during childbirth as well as children dying from communicable diseases.
Lae City Authority Fire
A witness has told the coroner that firemen were slow
in attending to the fire that gutted the Lae City Authority office complex
last year. The witness said that the fire alarm was reported to the Fire Services
by telephone twice, but the firemen did not arrive until "more than 45 minutes
later" (The fire station is about five minutes drive from the fire location)
To make matters worse when the firemen finally arrived, they spent another
hour looking for the water main and because the main was old, more time was
spent on trying to connect the fire hoses.
World War II
As reported in the last edition Rabaul town is holding
a ceremony to remember the coming of the war to the town. Rabaul was a major
battleground during World War II.
Wau - Bulolo
A teacher from the Marrianhill Primary School in Wau,
(Morobe Province) has been shot dead by a gang during a church fellowship.
The township of Wau and fellow teachers in the province are both shocked and
angered. Education authorities in the province have suspended primary, high
school and vocational school classes for an indefinite period.
Wau Killing
It is believed that two of the gang members involved in
the shooting a teacher in Wau are students from his school. A Grade 5 student
attending the school is said to have recognised one of the assailants when
his hood came off during a struggle. Condemnations of the killing have flooded
in from all over PNG.
Roads
The deterioration of roads and other infrastructure around
the country has severely affected the delivery of health services. Roads in
many parts of the country have become so bad that it was now very difficult
to deliver any services to the rural population.
Aid Post Medicine
Medical aid posts throughout the country have not received
medical supplies since February this year, and have been relying on health
centres to supply them. The health centr5es are also suffering. Many diseases
around the country cannot be contained because of lack of medical supplies
and vaccines.
St John Ambulance
Port Moresby is again without an ambulance service after
the national government failed to pay a quarterly grant of K75,000. This seems
to be an ongoing occurrence as the service has often had to go out to private
enterprise and ask for fuel to run the ambulances. Is this yet another case
of free education taking valuable funds away from health issues?
Goroka
Goroka base Hospital is the latest hospital that has had
to reduce the amount of patients it normally sees down to emergency cases
only. If much needed medicine doesn't reach the hospital soon then the hospital
will have to close.
MP Resignations
Many Members of Parliament have resigned from office rather
than face a leadership tribunal. The Public Prosecutor has requested the Police
Commissioner to launch criminal proceedings against any former MP who has
the resigned to avoid prosecution. It is hoped that the loophole that allows
MP's to avoid prosecution by resigning is plugged. The resignations do not
affect the MP's nominations to stand for the coming elections, however if
they return to power they would be subjected to the same leadership charges.
UPNG Students
The State will pay compensation to two of the three students
killed during the student unrest last year, The PNG Cabinet had endorsed a
proposal to pay compensation to the two Western Highlands students but the
final amount to be paid had yet to be worked out. The deaths resulted from
a campaign against privatisation organised by the students.
Coconut Oil
It is hoped that Islanders from Misima in Milne Bay will
be able to export coconut oil overseas from a local mill. This follows the
issuing of an export license by the Copra Marketing Board. The coconut mill
has already produced cooking oil and body oil along with crude soap.
Seventh Day Adventist Pilot
A missionary pilot, Les Anderson, from the United States,
flying for the Seventh Day Adventist church has died in a plane crash near
Mt Elimbari in Chuave, Chimbu Province.
Morobe Disasters
Another major natural disaster in Morobe province, the
second in one month has stretched the province's resources to the limit. Recent
floods in villages on the Morobe south coast have left hundreds of villagers
homeless and hungry. Over 200 school children have had to be sent home after
the floods destroyed a school and five villages. More than 30 houses were
swept away.
Port Moresby Roads
What must be one of the oldest highways in PNG - the Sir
Hubert Murray Highway - will be completely rebuilt from Badili right through
to Erima. The work will also include Morea Tobo Rd to the old Port Moresby
airport terminal.
Road Funds
Central, East New Britain, West New Britain, Manus, Morobe
and Oro provinces will receive total funding from the World Bank of $US65.9
million (K244 million) for major road and bridge maintenance. It will cover
2600km of national roads and bridges and 1100km of provincial roads and bridges.
The project will begin in June this year and continue to June 2006.
Passport Scam
It is anticipated that the report on the passport scam
within Foreign Affairs will be dealt with at the next sitting of Cabinet.
Many are anxiously waiting to see what has been reported and what has not.
Mendi
It is hoped that the costly tribal war has finally been
settled. The three-year tribal war was put to rest at a recent a peace ceremony
in Southern Highlands, however many of the guns used in the tribal fight have
not been handed in so whether the "war" has really been settled is not known.
The fight resulted in the death of many people, the closure of the province's
only hospital, its nursing school, the Mendi High School and affected business
worth millions of Kina. Mendi, the capital of the Southern Highlands province
became a ghost town and many residents left due to the gun battles in and
around town.
EMTV
Local television station EMTV is now back in Bougainville
at Arawa after an absence of more than ten years. This year EMTV has commissioned
transmitters to cover Mendi, Kerowagi and Vanimo. It is hoped that Wewak,
Laigam and Popondetta will follow shortly. EMTV is now has transmitters at
Bogia, Goroka, Kar Kar, Kavieng, Kerowagi, Lae, Madang, Manus, Mendi, Mt Hagen,
Porgera, Port Moresby, Rabaul, Saidor, Vanimo, Wabag and Wapenamanda.
Western Highlands
People of the Western Highlands can now monitor the elections
following the purchase of a new radio transmitter with the FM band. The equipment
is currently in Port Moresby it is hoped that it will be installed in time
for the polling and counting. The existing radio station has been off the
air for weeks due to vandalism.
PNG Power
A forecasted drought has thrown PNG's major power supplier
into a scare as it considers its options to buy standby generators to supply
electricity. The company is considering the purchase of ten generators that
would help to provide electricity during the drought. This is because the
water level at the Sirinumu dam is expected to be too low to provide sufficient
water to generate power. Sirinumu is the dam that supplies water to Port Moresby
for drinking and hydroelectric generation. Six of the generators would help
to supply Port Moresby, two would be installed at Kokopo, East New Britain,
one at Alotau, Milne Bay Province and one at Wewak, East Sepik Province .
Thermal Power
The power supply problems on the Gazelle Peninsula might
be fixed soon following the signing of a land deal for the construction of
a K15-million thermal power station at Ulagunan village in Kokopo. The power
station will be able supplement power supply from the Warangoi Hydro supply.
The project is part of the Gazelle restoration process following the volcanic
eruptions of 1994.
Ramu Power
After a year and a half, PNG Power has managed to reconnect
the Ramu generating system to three of the highlands provinces. The power,
which supplements existing systems in the highlands, was disconnected at the
end of 2000 when the Wahgi River destroyed a pylon. Compensation claims from
landowners prevented the speedy restoration of power.
PNG Taro Exports
PNG is currently exporting about 20 tonnes of taro per
week to Sydney Australia. It is estimated that K60 million can be made in
one year by exporting taro overseas.
Oil Refinery
The contract for the oil refinery at Napa Napa, just outside
Port Moresby, has been signed and work will start immediately on the first
building at the InterOil refinery. The contract will give work to about 20
PNG tradesmen, and use local materials wherever possible, InterOil will use
a refurbished refinery coming from Houston in Texas
Bank South Pacific
The recently amalgamated PNG Banking Corporation and the
Bank South Pacific has announced that the new entity is committed to the development
of the people and the PNG economy. The new Bank South Pacific now has 43 branches
in PNG.
Rice
Family groups on the outskirts of Lae city have taken
to rice farming to earn money and feed themselves. It is proving to be very
hard work and many of the people who first started the project have given
up and left their blocks for others to attend to.
PNG Media
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Some of the above are courtesy of Liz and her friends at the University of
Technology in Lae. http://www.unitech.ac.pg
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