Links
Niugini Holidays
If you are thinking of visiting PNG then visit -- http://www.nghols.com
-- Niugini Holidays - There you will find the Essential Handbook about PNG
available.
Ex Kiaps
http://www.exkiap.com -- (Kiap - government
official). This site is a good source of info particularly for finding kiap
mates. This link has come via Arthur Williams.
Financial Institutions
ANZ Bank -- http://www.anz.com.au/png
Bank of Papua New Guinea -- http://www.bankpng.gov.pg
Bank South Pacific -- http://www.bsp.com.pg
Credit Corporation -- http://www.creditcorporation.com.pg
Finance Corporation -- http://www.fincorp.com.pg
Kina Securities -- http://www.kina.com.pg
Public Officers Superannuation Fund -- http://www.posf.com.pg
National Superannuation Fund -- http://www.nasfund.com.pg
News Items
St John's Day
The Anglican Cathedral Church in downtown Port Moresby will be celebrating
Saint John's Day on the 9th of May. The Anglican Bishop of Port Moresby, Bishop
Peter Fox, will be attending the celebrations along with Retired Bishop David
Hand. All Anglicans are invited along whether they are regular attendees in
the Port Moresby Diocese or just Anglicans who have not been to church for
a while. St John's Day is on the 6th but the 9th of May is the closest Sunday
to the day. The main service times will be 8:30am.
http://portmoresby.anglican.org/org/stjohns
Health Expo
The annual Health Expo sponsored by The National newspaper -- http://www.thenational.com.pg
-- is on again this coming weekend (8th and 9th of May) at the Sir John Guise
Stadium at Waigani. The two-day event is aimed at promoting good health amongst
the people by bringing different service providers and businesses together
under the same roof to create an awareness of their work and the kind of services
and health products available in PNG.
Noni Juice
Hot on the heels of a report stating that Tahiti was building a factory to
process Noni juice at a cost of US$14.3 million the national president of
the PNG Growers Association has called the agricultural research institutions,
the provincial and national governments to immediately look a the potential
of noni juice and consider it for cultivation especially since it has always
grown in places like East New Britain. The market for noni by-products is
widening with dietary supplements, herbal teas and cosmetic products being
the most popular.
Road Safety
In a bid to raise road safety in PNG the Transport and Civil Aviation Minister
has appealed to people issuing licences to not issue them to people who have
failed their driving test. He has said that drivers must not go through the
back door and see someone they know to obtain a licence.
The National Road Safety Council is attempting to improve and promote road
safety in a cost effective manner. In PNG that will be a major task as no
one seems to have any idea about road safety. Even the Road Safety Council
produces adverts that are totally incorrect. A quick drive around Port Moresby
can usually find dozens of road safety items that would cause uproar in most
developed countries and that is not even counting the six-inch deep potholes.
Horse Racing Machines
Despite being banned by the PNG Supreme Court several gaming machine operators
have been caught breaching the Court's orders. The National Gaming Board will
be filing a contempt of court charge against the operators. Gaming board inspectors
and police located 22 sites with a total of 64 gamming machines still be operated
in Port Moresby.
Mount Bagana
The inspection of dormant volcano, Mount Bagana, on the island of Bougainville
is being delayed while funds are found to pay for the helicopter necessary
to do the inspection. The volcano is discharging lava towards nearby Torokina
villages. It last erupted in 1842 and 1883.
Another Politician Bites The Dust
Yet another politician has been dismissed from office by a leadership tribunal.
Michael Nali, the member for Mendi was found guilty of receiving K50,000 from
the Southern Highlands Regional Member's Trust Fund and depositing this into
his own personal bank account. It is also claimed that he used this money
at his own discretion. The tribunal also found that he applied larger amounts
of money in a dishonest and reckless manner.
Highlands Telecommunications
Telecommunications to the Highlands are currently facing major problems with
the mobile telephone service being cut and many business facing communications
problems with telephones. Businesses are complaining about loss of business.
Telikom has confirmed that many lines are faulty throughout the region and
the acting Operations General manager for Telikom has confirmed that there
is a transmission problem in the Highlands area. A transmitter at Mount Strong,
near Wau in Morobe Province, has gone down and Telikom workers cannot get
to the mountain to fix the problem because of bad weather that has prevented
the workers from flying in by helicopter. technicians are on standby in case
the weather clears and a helicopter gets permission to land at the site.
Fishing Licences
Five companies have been granted licences to fish in Morobe waters. Three
companies are currently operating in the area and two more should join shortly.
Festival of Arts
PNG Government has given K200,000 towards sending people to the South Pacific
Festival of Arts to be held in Palau. This leaves the National Cultural Commission
in arrears by K500,00 if it hopes to send the 150-member delegation to the
event. The last Festival was held in the year 2000 in Noumea.
Ryan Pini
Ryan Pini has been granted citizenship of PNG in time to compete in the Olympic
games. The 22-year-old swimmer was born and bred in Port Moresby where his
family have a successful business. Ryan said he was proud to be granted citizenship
and will be honoured to compete for the country at the games.
Bank of PNG
The PNG Bank -- http://www.bankpng.gov.pg
-- according to some shops is still short of 1 toea and 2 toea coins. Other
countries have done away with the small 1 and 2 unit coin denomination. Maybe
it is time PNG did the same thing? Maybe that is what the bank is attempting
to do?
Air Niugini Loan Society
The Air Niugini Loan Society has announced a huge 76 percent increase in
profits. The society is predicting a good year for 2004 as well. The increase
is attributed to a policy decision to cease withdrawals per quarter and the
increase in membership of the society due to a change of the common bond.
PX Executive Club
The Air Niugini Executive Club has undergone some great changes recently.
Personal computers have been installed at the Paradise Lounges in Port Moresby
thanks to Datanets. The Executive Club has also purchased a modern membership
card printer that produces a professional looking card in house rather than
one that looked as if it was better suited to the 80's. behind the scenes
all was not well. The special software was delayed and the demonstration version
would not even save a design let alone allow you to print a card. The diligent
people at Air Niugini Info Tech came up with the production of the cards using
Paint Shop Pro and Microsoft Word. Card production took about 1 minute per
card and with 1000's of cards to print it looked like a mammoth task. The
correct software eventually turned up on a slow boat from Singapore and now
the airline can produce all its cards from one database with little human
intervention. Interested in becoming a member - please contact Lynette on
+675 327 3453 or email her at -- exec.club@airniugini.com.pg
Diving
If you are interested in diving in PNG then any of the following websites
may be of interest to you -
http://www.underwaterphotos.com/tiata2.htm
http://www.cathychurch.com/png.html
http://www.diversionOZ.com/epngdive.htm
http://www.worlddive.com/phgal/png/pngpix.htm
http://www.blueseacharters.com
Enga
The governor of Enga has imported certified fungus resistant potato seed
from Australia. The move comes as a relief to potato farmers who have been
affected by the recent potato blight disease in the Highlands Region. It is
hoped that the imported seed will have an important impact on the industry
especially for local farmers.
Rabaul Escapees
The five prisoners who escaped from custody as the judge was about to bring
down their conviction have been recaptured and charged with escaping from
custody as well as being sentenced for the original crime.
Port Moresby General
It has been reported that nurses working in some of the wards at Port Moresby
General Hospital are now selling biscuits and confectionary to patients and
visitors in a bid to raise money to buy drugs.
Car Dealers
Boroko Motors -- http://www.borokomotors.com.pg
Ela Motors -- http://www.elamotors.com.pg
Hertz Hire Cars -- http://www.leasemaster.com.pg
PNG Motors -- http://www.kenmore.com.pg
Birth Registration
The deadline for the free registration of individuals born in PNG has been
extended to the 22nd of May 2004. All parents and guardians are invited to
register the birth of their children. Many clinics, churches and school are
participating by being centres where parents can register. Tougher measures
will be in place and a birth certificate will be the only way that a person
will be able to be identified as being a PNG National as well as being able
to have an official date of birth and know their age. Without a birth certificate
it will become increasingly difficult to get a PNG passport for travel overseas.
Governor General
Four candidates have managed to gain enough votes to become candidates for
the position of Governor General. They have passed the initial scrutiny of
the Clerk of Parliament. They are -- Sir Paulias Matane, Sir Joseph Nombri,
Sir Pato Kakaraya and Sir Albert Kipalan. The four will be subject to further
checks by the Clerk. It is hoped that the documents and processes are scrutinised
in a better manner than the past two failed attempts at voting for a Governor
General. It may be possible that three of the four will be excluded becasue
of defects in their applications. The only women candidate, Nahau Rooney did
not have enough time to muster the minimum number of votes to be able to contest
the vote. The nomination period was very short and many politicians were not
available to place their nomination for various candidates.
Gumanch Plantation Raid
After a dramatic raid on the Gumanch Plantation coffee estate near Mount
Hagen police have been able to seize three high-powered weapons. Police will
investigate the matter to see if charges can be laid against the custodians
of the guns.
Rotary Clubs
A successful gathering of Rotary clubs from PNG and the Solomon Islands has
been held recently in Kokopo, East New Britain. The Kokopo Rotary Club hosted
the conference. During the conference each club was helped to develop an action
plan for this year and 2005. A total of 50 people took part from 13 different
clubs in PNG and two from the Solomon Islands.
PNG Crude
The first shipment of crude oil from Kutubu is expected to arrive at the
InterOil refinery at Napa Napa just outside Port Moresby sometime in June.
A second shipment has been scheduled for late June as well followed by regular
shipments from then on. InterOil is a Canadian owned company who have built
a PNG based refinery. InterOil have also acquired BP's PNG subsidiary, BP
Papua New Guinea. Assets of that company include over 40 retail outlets.
PNGDF
The commander of the PNG Defence Force, Peter Ilau, has said that the Defence
Force will adopt a strategic approach towards combating illegal trade and
criminal supply lines and their much need lines of communication in the country.
This approach will be implemented in provinces that serve as gateways to the
country.
Goroka Coffee Festival
The Goroka Coffee Festival and Trade Fair will be held in the Eastern Highlands
capital at the Raun Raun theatre on the 14th and 15th of May. A Member of
Parliament for Goroka has given K5,000 of taxpayer's money to organisers of
the event. The festival has been described as unique with a special emphasis
on the promotion of coffee. 40 exhibitors and nine sponsors have already been
confirmed for the event.
Goroka F28's
The runway has been extended and F28's should now be back. I believe that
Air Niugini has scheduled one flight a week on Monday afternoon with the rest
of the weekly flights being catered for by Dash 8 aircraft.
Divine Word University
On the 29th of April the Divine Word University (DWU) in Madang officially
opened its Friendship Library. The library is so named because it represents
friendship in the truest Melanesian sense. It represents the friendship between
Australia and PNG that made the project possible. The library was made possible
with help from the Australian AusAID Incentive Fund to the tune of K10.8 million.
the library will be opened to the broader public in Madang and not just staff
and students at Divine Word.
Namatanai
Namatanai recently celebrated its 100 years of civil administration. The
German governor officially declared it a district on The 30th of April in
1904. Local MP Byron Chan and acting Prime Minister, Moses Maladina were able
to attend the celebrations.
Religion
It has been four years since the census so the figures shown below may be
out of date but they are the only figures available.
Christian
- Anglican -- 166,046
- Evangelical. Alliance -- 266,598
- Evangelical. Lutheran -- 1,001,005
- Roman Catholics -- 1,391,033
- Salvation Army -- 10,377
- SDA -- 520,098
- United -- 591,458
- Pentecostals 440,904
- Baptist -- 130,987
- Other Christian -- 415,592
Other Religions
- Baha'i -- 15,409
- Church of Christ -- 20,516
- Jehovah's Witness -- 20,625
- Other Religion -- 15,857
The total population for the 2000 PNG Census was -- 5,140,476
The above figures show Christians totalling 4,934,098, Other Religions
- 72,406, No Religion - 30,733 and Not Stated -- 103,239 for a total of 5,140,476
Manus Problems
The small island of Manus has seen panic buying of rice, sugar and flour
recently because supply ships have not called in to restock the island. The
town of Lorengau has run out of essential supplies. Queues of shoppers have
been seen outside the main shops. The reason for the delay is that the shipping
companies have below the minimum cargo requirement required to send it to
Manus.
Sandline
The following web site may not be operation much longer -- http://www.sandline.com
-- Sandline was a mercenary force that brought down the Sir Julius Chan and
Chris Haiveta led government in 1997 over the issue of sending mercenaries
to Bougainville.
Sandline has reportedly shut up shop due to a lack of governments requiring
the use of mercenary forces or private military armies willing to help end
armed conflicts in such places as Africa. During the height of the Sandline
crisis in PNG there were up to 85 members of Sandline conducting training
exercises near Wewak in the East Sepik Province. Primarily Gen Singirok pulled
the plug on the PNG operation on The 16th of March 1997. The assault on Bougainville
was scheduled to take place in April 1997.
Illegal Water??
Eda Ranu, the authority responsible for attempting to supply water to Port
Moresby, is still unclear whether water supplies to a number of the settlements
around the town are legal. Many paying consumers have expressed concern that
the settlements receive water free of charge with little policing done on
the amount of water that is wasted. Many consumers are struggling to pay their
Eda Ranu bill every time it comes due yet they see wastage in the settlements.
Many consumers, such as David C are up in arms because even though they are
connected to the water pipes they have not received water for ages yet Eda
Ranu is still billing them. Eda Ranu has been accused of showing favouritism
to High Commission and Embassy residences and leaving the people that pay
to feel like third or fourth rate consumers.
Pomio
A crocodile has killed a six-year-old boy in the Pomio area of East New Britain.
The victim was fetching water from the river when the crocodile attacked him.
Scouts
The World Scout Bureau Regional Director of Asia Pacific is currently visiting
PNG to meet with national scout leaders to learn about the progress of scouting
activities and facilities around the country. He said the main objective of
the scouting movement around the world was to promote and encourage youth
to have faith and value in life.
PNG Media
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