Links
Miscellaneous Sites
Official Air Niugini -- http://www.airniugini.com.pg
-- http://www.air-niugini.co.jp
Unofficial Air Niugini -- http://www.airniugini.co.uk
Airways Hotel -- http://www.airways.com.pg
Avis Rent a Car -- http://www.avis.com.pg
Bank South Pacific -- http://www.bsp.com.pg
Budget Rent a Car -- http://www.budget.com.pg
ConXions -- http://www.conxions.com.pg
Coral Sea Hotels -- http://www.coralseahotels.com.pg
Daltron Electronics -- http://www.daltron.com.pg
Hastings Deering -- http://www.hastingsdeering.cat.com
Kina Securities Limited -- http://www.kina.com.pg
KK Kingston -- http://www.kingston.com.pg
Kokoda Trekking -- http://www.kokodatrail.com.au
Lihir Gold Mine -- http://www.lihir.com.pg/
NCS -- http://www.ncs.com.pg
Oil Search -- http://www.oilsearch.com
Ok Tedi Mining -- http://www.oktedi.com
PNG Department of Mining -- http://www.mineral.gov.pg/
PNG Institute of Banking and Business -- http://www.ibbm.com.pg
PNG Surfing -- http://www.surfingpapuanewguinea.org.pg
PNG Trekking Adventures -- http://www.pngtrekking.com.pg
PNG Web Hosting -- http://www.pngwebhost.com
Rimbunan Hijau Group of Companies -- http://www.rhpng.com.pg/
TE PNG -- http://www.tepng.com
UMW Niugini -- http://www.umw.com.pg
Walindi Resort -- http://www.walindi.com
Don't forget to look at Jane's Oceania Home Page Newsletter. The objective
of this Newsletter is to promote worldwide the Pacific Islands and,
in particular, the island people. In addition, the intention of the
Newsletter is to aid in the preservation of our island culture, history,
genealogy, mythology, ethnology, customs, rituals and lifestyles.
For further information about Papua New Guinea, please visit -- http://www.janeresture.com/png_home/index.htm
Also remember to visit the Photos and Scenery section of the PNGBD
web site -- http://www.pngbd.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?s=2b50796e7559b377645cb20821c512c3&forumid=57
Beraso
BERASO -- The Company has been established to explore and implement
the opportunity for environmentally sustainable tourism in the gulf
province between Kikori and Baimuru. The aim of the company is to establish
and develop tourism, tourism related businesses and infrastructure in
the area. -- http://beraso.com/gpage.html
News Items
Michael Somare
Grand Chief Sir Michael Somare has turned 70 and shows no signs of
slowing down. Sir Michael born on the ?? of April 1936 celebrated his
birthday with family and friends
NARI
The National Agriculture and Research Institute has recently been given
K500,000 by Morobe Governor, Luther Wenge for the construction of the
Professor Allan Quartermain Hall at its research station outside Lae.
The building will be used as an information dissemination centre, to
conduct training and extension studies and other use for the general
public. The building should be finished by July this year. -- http://www.nari.org.pg
Coffee Pacifica
Coffee Pacifica, Inc. (OTCBB:CFPC) announced today that it will showcase
its premium quality Papua New Guinea green coffee beans at booth 377
at the Specialty Coffee Association of America ("SCAA") 18th
annual Conference and Exhibition currently held in Charlotte, North
Carolina, April 7-10, 2006. This is the second successive year where
the indigenous coffee farmers from Papua New Guinea will be presenting
their green beans on a "Growers Direct" basis to the US market.
-- http://home.businesswire.com/portal/site/google/index.jsp?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20060405005438&newsLang=en
Bishop David Hand
The following very sad news was received from Anglican Bishop Peter
Fox
6th. April, 2006, at 11.15 am (PNG Time), Anglican Bishop David Hand
died at Pacific General Hospital in Port Moresby. He had been very ill
for some time, but in the end died peacefully, with many of his adopted
family close by. I had the privilege of giving him the Last Rites a
few hours earlier (the evening of the 5th. April).
I think Bishop David would have wanted us to give thanks with him for
a holy death after a life lived in faith and in hope of Life Eternal.
God bless,
Yours in Christ,
Bishop Peter.
There will be a State Funeral at St Mary's Church Gerehu, a suburb
of Port Moresby for Rt Revd David Hand. St Mary's is a church that he
founded. The funeral will be held on Tuesday the 18th of April 2006,
and will be followed with a Requiem and the interment at the Cathedral
of the Resurrection, Popondetta, Oro Province, on Thursday the 20th
of April 2006.
Emperor Mines
Emperor Mines Ltd has completed the US$237 million (K757 million) acquisition
of DRDGOLD's assets in PNG -- http://www.thenational.com.pg/041006/business1.htm
University of PNG
Professor Les Eascott along with the Registrar Vincent Malaibe and
Bursar Edward Croake have resigned from the University of PNG. UPNG
is now looking for a new vice chancellor -- http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/bulletins/rnzi/200604101557/139d5c3
Savings and Loans
The Central Bank has launched the new Alekano Savings and Loan Society
in Goroka, Eastern Highlands province. -- http://www.thenational.com.pg/041106/business2.htm
Aussie Reward
Australia will give Papua New Guinea a $30 million reward this year
for its effort in tackling challenging development issues, including
good governance and HIV-AIDS. The $30 million performance grant will
come out of the existing Australia-PNG aid budget. Australian aid money
currently makes up around 20 per cent of PNG's overall budget. -- http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200604/s1614120.htm
Air Niugini
Air Niugini has had to contend with a failing satellite infrastructure
on circuits from PNG to Australia as well as a failed cutover to a new
telephone exchange by the local telephone company and just as most of
that is being sorted out its Boeing 767 suffers a bird strike in Manila
throwing the international schedule into chaos. This highlights the
issue with the company having only one large plane to cover the long
international routes. It has managed to cover the passenger traffic
to Brisbane by using its Fokker F100 fleet but Singapore, Manila and
Narita always suffer when problems develop with the Boeing aircraft.
Air Niugini Mercury Spill
A man charged with carrying mercury aboard an Air Niugini aircraft from
Port Moresby to Mt Hagen has been sent to jail for four years with hard
labour for the offence.
On the 10th of July 2005 the accused carried a 1 litre container of
mercury onto the aircraft and subsequently the container leaked inside
the aircraft causing the aircraft to be grounded. Mercury is very corrosive
and requires special handling before and during transportation on the
aircraft. Air Niugini incurred considerable expense while the plane
was taken out of service and a thorough examination of every nook and
cranny was made.
Cocoa Pod Borer
PNG authorities and the autonomous province of Bougainville have joined
forces to fight the newly discovered cocoa disease called pod borer.
The East New Britain Province has already been placed under an agricultural
quarantine. The Province is one of the leading cocoa producers in the
country with an estimated 34,000 hectares of cocoa containing up to
17 million trees.
Road blocks have been set up in Kerevat, East New Britain province,
to make sure that vehicles leaving the area are properly checked and
sprayed with chemicals so the Asian cocoa pest, cocoa pod borer, is
not spread.
Attorney General
The newly appointed Justice Minister, Bire Kimisopa, has come up with
a suggestion that the correct man with the best qualifications be appointed
to the positions of Attorney General and Solicitor General no matter
which country they may come from. He said that previous occupants have
behaved poorly.
Miss Bougainville Quest
The first contestant has come forward for the first Miss Autonomous
Bougainville Quest. Twenty-four year old Rayleen Matainaho from the
atolls of Bougainville (Mortlock) is a senior teacher at the Buka International
Christian Academy. She is finalising her sponsorship for the event.
The winner of the event will be eligible to contest the 2007 Miss PNG
Red Cross event. Miss Matainaho has challenged other young women to
come forward and help raise funds for the Red Cross in the Autonomous
Region.
PNG Web Hosting
Interested in having your own PNG Web Site or any web site for that
matter? Worried about the cost? It may be cheaper than you think. Take
a look at pricing at the PNG Web Hosting site -- http://www.pngwebhost.com
-- Sites with space for 15,000 MB of data, 300 GB transfer per month
and 24 hours a day / 7 day a week ticket / phone support for less than
US$5.00 per month. The larger web-hosting
plan at US$9.75 per month offers 25,000MB
of disk space, 400GB transfers and the ability to host up to 10 domains
and 32 sub domains on this one package. All sites come with a web site
builder to make web site making easy! As an added bonus several PHP
and MySQL options are available. The best way is to visit the web site
and see for yourself. Oh, and by the way Domain
Names are as little as US$9.00 per year.
Industrial Logging
The Eco-Forestry Forum is challenging the PNG Government to justify
its plans to give new timber permits to current logging companies operating
in PNG. "The Government and the pro-loggers continuously tell us
we need to give away our forests to foreign logging companies in order
to be 'developed'. But where is the development from 25 years of intensive
logging in our forests?" asks the Forum. According to the Government
the 'development' that logging brings includes roads, bridges, education
and health facilities, jobs and local incomes. But the Forum is concerned,
the lack of basic services and utilities in remote but very rich forest
resource areas is increasingly used to cheat landowners of their resources
and ability to control and build their own futures.
Angau Hospital
A ministerial team from New Zealand and Australia has visited Lee's
Angau Memorial Hospital. During the visit the group met with senior
hospital workers including the CEO. The CEO mentioned that the hospital
was unable to provide the required services but was doing its best with
the resources available. The group was quite shocked by what they saw
including a shortage of oxygen and other basic equipment including disposable
gloves. They also saw that mothers giving birth are only kept for 24
hours die to a lack of space and some mothers are kept in the corridor
on the floor.
Telikom Deal
The chairman of the Telikom board has announced that a deal worth K16.9
million (US$5.5 million) has been signed between Telstra Australia and
Telecom New Zealand to buy 50% of a retired Pacific Rim West cable that
runs between Sydney and Guam. The submarine cable will come into effect
by the end of the year and it replaces a 25-year-old submarine cable
that ran between Port Moresby and Cairns that was vandalised late last
year causing a communication blackout between PNG and the world. The
submarine cable is cheaper and has a higher capacity than a satellite.
It has been quoted that the new cable had a capacity 34 times greater
than the existing cable.
Sealark
The Sealark, after serving PNG for only a short time between Lae and
Port Moresby has sunk in 30 metres of water off the coast of Lae. One
of the passenger vessel's engines caught fire recently while it was
preparing to leave Lae on its regular runs to Popondetta and Port Moresby.
The administrator of Morobe Province, Manasupe Zurenuoc, has called
for a full-scale commission of inquiry into the fire and subsequent
sinking of popular passenger boat, MV Sealark
Sealark Oil Spill
The Lae fire brigade, transport department and the provincial disaster
office (are still standing by and spraying silicon on pools of oil discharged
from the sunken MV Sealark off the coast of Lae city.
Villagers from Labu Village, Lae are concerned about the effects of
oil leaking from the Sealark will have on their environment. The beaches
around Labu village are a world renowned roosting place for the endangered
leather-back turtle.
U-Vistract
The Autonomous Bougainville Government has called for the people of
Bougainville to ignore the money scam operator Noah Musingku. Mr Musingku's
U-Vistract money pyramid scheme, is known to have duped investors of
millions of dollars in PNG and Solomon Islands, has promised to begin
paying out people on Bougainville next week.
Public Service Commission
The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has expressed concerns that the
head of the Public Service Commission (PSC) is a fit person to head
such an important position. The head, Mr Jerry Tetaga, has supposedly
received overpayments of at least K350,000 over a period of time. It
has also been brought to the attention of the PAC that a relative of
Mr Tetaga was appointed to a senior position in the PSC even though
the person did not have adequate qualifications. It has also been alleged
that the person concerned used a forged school certificate to gain the
position. This person was also the signatory to some of the accounts
that Mr Tetaga has been overpaid from.
Medical Exodus
Greener pastures overseas is luring many medical people to leave the
country. According to the president of the PNG medical society, Dr Mathias
Sapuri, this is because medical professionals were not given the right
kind of working terms and conditions which satisfy their needs and their
professional development.
Fuel Prices
The price of fuel in PNG has dropped. Petrol in the National Capital
of Port Moresby will now cost K2.86 per litre with diesel costing K2.34
and kerosene K2.31 per litre. Prices for Lae are - petrol K2.94, diesel
K2.43 and kerosene K2.40 per litre. Prices in other areas will vary
depending on freight charges.
Typhoid Outbreak
The World Health Organisation is to assess a reported typhoid outbreak
in the PNG highlands. The agency and the Ministry of Health will send
a team to the Southern Highlands province to investigate a possible
typhoid outbreak. -- http://www.rnzi.com/pages/news.php?op=read&id=23385
Mobile Telephone Coverage
Telikom PNG have announced that Rabaul now has and Wabag will soon
have mobile telephone coverage.
PNG Gold
BDI Mining Corp, headquartered in London has recently reported high-grade
gold intersections on its 100%-owned Woodlark property in the Milne
Bay Province of PNG. Woodlark lies 300 km off the east coast of the
main land of PNG, to the west of the Solomon Islands and is close to
Misima.
Coming Events
PNG Coffee Festival -- 4,5 & 6th of May. Venue - Raun Raun Theatre,
Goroka.
Morobe Biang Ngayan Cultural Festival -- 24th to the 27th of May, 2006
Biang and Ngayan are words in two Morobe languages for "good".
Morobe has the second largest number of languages in the country with
around 90 - second only to Madang with over 100 languages.
Samarai Island Reunion -- in Cairns on the 28th to 31st July.
PNG 31st Independence Anniversary - 16th September 2006
University of Technology Reunion -- 15th - 18th of September - Call
+675 473 4237 and ask Molly Perry-Geno for more information.
PNG Media
If
a friend has given or sent you a copy of this newsletter and you would
like to keep receiving free copies then please visit -- ../news/index.html
-- for instructions on how to join the list.
Articles
for this Newsletter
If
you think you have a PNG page worth mentioning then please click here and use the submission form.
To
send a message for submission to the PNG Gossip Newsletter queue please click here and use the submission form.
.gif)
.jpg)
View
PNG Gossip Newsletter Archive