Links
Warning: -- PNG websites seem to come and go. The fact of life is that it costs money to host a website and there is not much return on the outlay to most businesses in PNG. If you do click on a link and use the services or even have some comments to make then please contact the people at the relevant website and let them know so they at least know that someone has gained some value from their efforts. If you are so inclined them mention that you heard about them from this website. -- The PNG Gossip Newsletter.
Communication Companies
PACOM Communications -- http://www.prosec.com.pg/pacom. They offer a vehicle-tracking device (SigTec MobiTag) that has helped to stop a few thieves in their tracks.
PNG Telecommunications Authority -- http://www.pangtel.gov.pg
RAD-TEL Communications sales and Services -- http://www.radtel.com.pg
TE PNG -- http://www.tepng.com
Miscellaneous PNG Websites
- Kenmore group of companies -- http://www.kenmore.com.pg
- Markham Group -- http://www.markham.com.pg
- National Research Institute -- http://www.nri.org.pg
- PNG Poetry -- http://members.cruzio.com/~png/prev.html
- Seeto Kui -- http://www.seetokui.com.pg
- Department of Social Welfare and Youth Development -- http://www.pngfamilies.gov.pg
A parody of Waltzing Matilda called Kai kai the buai can be found at http://www.anu.edu.au/people/Roger.Clarke/WM/Kai.html
News Items
New Government
The new PNG government will be known by the 15th of July. This is the date set by the Electoral Commissioner for the return of writs for the 109 parliamentary seats. For seven days from this date the various parties will attempt to form a government. It will be interesting to watch the trading of votes for various goods and services. Why is it that common sense solutions to major problems can only be talked about in an election campaign and at no other time?
Poultry Project
The Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research is funding a K800.000 three-year project on poultry feeding systems in PNG starting in July this year. It is hoped that the project will find a cheaper method of feeding PNG poultry.
Carteret Island
Villagers on the Carteret Islands in Bougainville are facing a famine. The villagers are surviving on freshly caught fish, seaweed and coconut with very little coming from the provincial government. The islands are facing more than just a famine with the islands being washed away by erosion.
Fishing Boats
The captains of the three fishing boast caught fishing illegally last month in the PNG western fishing zone have been find K80,0000 and had their boats and catches forfeited to the state.
Echidna
An organisation in the Western Highlands has started on a plan to conserve the echidna, one of the rarest mammals in the world. The echidna or spiny anteater feeds on ants and their eggs. It digs into the ground like a mole and has spikes on its back. The echidna, along with the platypus, is one of the few mammals in the world that lay eggs.
School Housing
Kila Kila High in the National Capital will have new houses for teachers after a groundbreaking ceremony was held recently at the school. Kila Kila has some of the oldest school buildings in the capital. The three-month housing project is long overdue and is estimated to cost about K430,000.
Airport Upgrades
Six airports around the country are to benefit from the Airports Maintenance Project funding by AusAID. (Australian Aid). The three-year project will see upgrades to the runway pavement at Nadzab, Chimbu, Momote, Wewak, Vanimo and Port Moresby airports. The project is estimated to cost over K80 million.
Foreign Investment
The Investment Promotion Authority has said that there has been a drop in the number of approvals for foreign companies investing in PNG since 1999. Political instability has been cited as one of the main reasons that investors are reluctant to invest in PNG.
Malaria
If you have ever had malaria or think you may have then visit this web site -- http://www.rph.wa.gov.au/labs/haem/malaria
Clinically diagnosed malaria is still the leading cause of outpatient presentations, the second leading cause of admissions and the second leading cause of death within PNG. In the year 2000 statistics reveal that there were over 1.5 million suspected cases of malaria, which led to 617 deaths. Almost 225,500 blood films were examined and 36 percent showed malaria parasites.
Areas above 1600 metres tends to be too high for malaria but between 1200 and 1600 metres there are intermittent cases of malaria being reported with death rates being high due to a lack of immunity in the local population.
Rotary
The Rotary Club of Rabaul is looking for PNG Nationals to become members of the club in East New Britain. The club only has eight members in total.
Huon Seminar
The fourth Huon Seminar will be held between the 10th and the 12th of September. The theme of the conference will be "Strategies for Effective Rural Development, Business, Industry and Education". For further information please send email to huonsem@unitech.ac.pg -- attention Mr. Corney Lahies.
Bananas
Work is being carried out on the research into developing a better higher yielding banana variety resistant to black sigatoka, a disease widespread in PNG and particularly troublesome in wet weather. The disease causes streaking of the leaves and a loss of yield.
Finschhafen
The Yabim-Mape Local Level Government in the Finschhafen area of the Morobe Province has donated K7000 to the National Agricultural Research Institute (NARI) to help kick start the building of a resource centre in the area.
Tufi Dive Resort
http://www.tufitelita.com/index.html -- This website looks after the interests of the Tufi Dive Resort and Telita Cruises.
Quoting from the website - Tufi is located on the northern side of the mainland of Papua New Guinea and approximately 250 kilometres due east of the capital, Port Moresby. It lies between Lae in Morobe province and Alotau in Milne Bay Province on the tip of Cape Nelson in Oro Province and it is accessible only by sea and air.
Taro Trials
The Buimo jail in Lae, Morobe Province, is currently undertaking a pilot-planting program for three new varieties of taro. The three varieties have been developed by NARI (National Agricultural Research Institute) and are said to be disease resistant. If the program is successful then it will be introduced into other jails around the country.
Radio Western Highlands
Radio Western Highlands, an FM station, was recently launched in Mount Hagen. The Short Wave version of the radio station has been off the air for over three months and the listeners have been kept in the dark because someone dismantled the transmitting antenna.
Lottery
One of the candidates for the coming elections has won K20,000 in the local PNG Lottery. He has said that he will not use the money for campaigning but rather he'd put it in the bank. Is that the only promise that will be kept in the coming elections by any of the candidates?
Lotto management has said that the economic problems facing PNG at the moment has meant that ticket sales have dropped and the prize is not jackpotting as fast as they expected. The last time the jackpot was won was in 1997.
Hurdlers
Mowen Boino has managed a record 52 seconds flat for the 400 metres hurdles at a recent meet held at the Sir Ignatius Kilage Stadium in Lae. This is the fastest time run in PNG but Boino has run a faster time overseas (51.38 seconds) in the Sydney Olympic Games.
Safe Childbirth
A program has been set up to reduce the number of woman dying during childbirth. It is hoped that the program will help mothers in both rural and urban communities to have access to health centres.
Port Moresby Show
The Queen's Birthday holiday weekend has come and gone. Once again the Port Moresby Show failed to happen and the show grounds remain in a sorry state with the outer fence missing in parts and buildings within the fence line almost completely demolished. It would appear that Port Moresby has seen its last show.
Post Courier
The Post Courier Election Special is out on the streets and providing much needed information about various election issues such as the policies of the various parties. It is hoped that the special edition is making its way to every village in the country. People walking the Kokoda trail are taking copies of it with them to distribute along the way. The publication is selling for K2.00 which means that there is probably no way that the Post Courier is going to recoup the costs although if more electors are better informed then the country will be better off in the long run.
Weather
If any reader is interested in the weather at various locations around PNG then visit http://www.wunderground.com/global/NG.html and http://weather.yahoo.com. Both sites give a summary of the weather for such locations as --
Red Cross
The Red Cross has reopened a branch in Vanimo West Sepik (Sandaun) Province. West Sepik is prone to many natural disasters and the opening of the branch will help the province in times of need. There had been a branch in the province in the 1980's but this had closed down.
Bitapaka
The Bitapaka Local Level Government now has its own office building valued at K350,000, which was opened recently at Bitapaka in the Kokopo district of East New Britain.
Serang Village
People of Serang village in Madang Province are about to breed barramundi. The aquaculture centre, pioneered by Ian Middleton of Bismarck Barramundi, who said the project will only be successful if the villagers look after the project. The Madang Government has donated K160,000 towards the project.
City Mission
The Port Moresby City Mission will soon be featuring in a documentary on volunteerism being produced by a team of 21 filmmakers from different parts of the world. The documentary called "Volunteer Odyssey" is being funded by the United Nations, European Commission and the Belgium Government and will be put together by a Belgium film company. A UK company - Connect UK - will promote the film in the United Kingdom and in PNG.
Kokoda Track
A memorial will be located at Isurava along the Kokoda Trail where the Australians dug in to try and halt the Japanese advance across the Owen Stanley Mountains towards Port Moresby. On the 29th of August 1942 Private Bruce Kingsbury became the first to win a Victoria Cross (VC) in the South-West Pacific theatre of the Second World War at Isurava.
The Australian government has allocated over K3 million for the Isurava memorial as well as two other war memorials in the area. (Milne Bay and Popondetta).
Bougainville Crops
The European Union (EU) is sponsoring 40 people from Bougainville to obtain awareness and training on alternate crop farming techniques. They are being trained in East New Britain at a cost of K100,000 to the EU.
Trans Niugini Tours
http://www.pngtours.com - is the website of TRANS NIUGINI TOURS, some people say it is the leading inbound tour operator in Papua New Guinea. In addition to being an inbound tour operator they also own and operate a series of world famous Wilderness Lodges in PNG. They own and operate their own mini coaches in Port Moresby, the Highlands, and Madang. They operate their own boats on the Sepik and in Madang. They also have their own aircraft, which link the various Lodges. Take a look at their website and learn a bit more about the tourist side of PNG.
MV Golden Dawn
http://www.mvgoldendawn.com -- Diving PNG on the elegant live aboard MV Golden Dawn offers the finest dive sites and diving in Papua New Guinea. PNG dive itineraries include the Eastern fields in the Coral Sea, Milne Bay and Northern PNG, Wewak. Wreck diving and technical diving opportunities abound with nitrox and re-breathers aboard.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are the provinces of PNG? (and Population at the 2000 Census?)
Central -- 183,983
Chimbu (Simbu) -- 259,703
East New Britain -- 220,133
East Sepik -- 343,181
Eastern Highlands -- 432,972
Enga -- 295,031
Gulf -- 106,898
Madang -- 365,106
Manus -- 43,387
Milne Bay -- 210,412
Morobe -- 539,404
National Capital -- 254,158
New Ireland -- 118,350
North Solomons -- 175,160
Northern (Oro) -- 133,065
Southern Highlands -- 546,265
West New Britain -- 184,508
West Sepik (Sandaun) -- 185,741
Western -- 153,304
Western Highlands -- 440,025
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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