Papua New Guinea's great war: fighting for opportunity

From MAVARA HANUA

 

We are on the verge of untold riches.

Gas, rocks, fish and our blue chip companies are raking billions of kina every year.

Our country will become an El Dorado where our cities will be perched with gold.

Our landscape will have opulent mansions and the people will have wealth like never before. 

Highways will be built and cars from every make will traverse on them.

 Super malls will spring up and they will be our playgrounds.

However, like the enchanted city, conquistadors will come from all corners of the earth to marvel at its spectacle and burn with lust to consume its riches.

They will shower us with their way of life, fill our bank accounts with emeralds and pollinate their beliefs.

In all, our way of life will change.

The question on everyone’s lips is the change for better or for worse.                                                   

  I don’t know but what I do know is that change usually attracts conflicts and conflicts if not managed properly, may cascade into a cesspool of war and destruction.                                            

 Anti-Chinese sentiments in Ramu Nickel, Highlands, Manam, Sepik and Porebada conflicts among landowners are all signs of conflicts.                                                                                                           Even conventional challenges such as crime are now moving into another realm, high flying executives, business tycoons and rogue politicians are now the new face of raskols.                      

  There is talk of the Yakusa, Triad and Mafia converging on our shores and taking a stake of our real estate.                                                                                                                                                             Papua New Guinea, the drums of war are reverberating in our homeland and they will no doubt threat our way of life.                                                                                                                                                     You see war is consumptive, destructive and for those unfortunate souls that have witnessed it, they have scars that will remain in their memories for eternity.                                                                     Carnage, the scent of putrification, destitution and loss, war is destructive.                                              

Although nations pledge to avoid wars, they have become an integral part of diplomacy, economics, politics and even development.

Like in ancient times, modern armies fight anything and anyone. 

From a foreign enemy, insurgent population to fundamentalists, governments have a powerful resource. 

Make no mistake; Papua New Guinea has this resource. 

The men and women of the Papua New Guinea Defence Force are trained killers. 

They have been schooled in the art of war.

 They have hid in pillboxes with future generals, flew in cockpits with top guns, sailed the seas with admirals and have been inside some of the most-secured facilities in the world where warheads contain a payload that can sink the Papua New Guinea mainland.

They are trained to have unquestionable loyalty to the people of Papua New Guinea.

 So when our elected leaders tell them to jump out of a plane to kill an enemy, establish a forward base to bring relief supplies to our people who have been decimated by natural disasters, catch rouge vessels that steal our marine wealth, they do it without hesitation.  Whether they perish in the swamps of Western Province, drown off Nukumanu or die in the cockpit somewhere in the Owen Stanley ranges, they live to protect the freedom we enjoy.  

So we have the capacity to fight.

Our boys and girls in uniform can adapt operational and tactical engagements but they still remain uncertain on one crucial intelligence: they don’t know who our enemy is and neither do we. 

An astute student of war will probe the question, remove the chain of command and the entire infrastructure will collapse. 

From hunting in the caves of Afghanistan for Bin Laden to bombing Hitler’s Eagle Nest, command control must be eliminated.

 So where is the command control in this case?

 Is it the Chinese, Sepiks, Highlanders, Porebadas, Manams, foreign governments, gangsters, raskols, businessmen, politicians?

No, the enemy is us. 

When we stand by and allow the fabric of our democracy to dwindle because of an old man’s insatiable appetite for power, denying health and education services to the masses because it’s not in my personal interest, fund gangsters to protect crime syndicates, we are all guilty of war crimes.

But there is a resistance and it is led by the millions of Papua New Guineans who rise up every day and pray for the peace of PNG. 

As they travail in the presence of God for hope and change, a new generation is rising.  From energetic human rights supporters, internationally-acclaimed environmental advocates, God-fearing CEOs, patriotic government officials, intellectual freaks, coffee growers, mariners, pilots, bankers, buai sellers, fisherman, they are rising to the call.

The battlefields are road blocks where a constable refuses a bribe and charges the driver for drink driving, board members vote against a unscrupulous deal, court rooms where prosecution of criminals is upheld, district treasuries where misappropriation is averted, primary schools where children joyfully recite there ABCs, aid posts where a mothers survive child birth.   

There is nothing to fear PNG being an El Dorado: this is our inheritance, let us cross the river and take charge of it.

 Sure, the current of corruption will be sting, the sharp rocks of death will spike our heels, piranhas of deceit will swarm us but it’s worth the fight because our people deserve a nation of opportunity, security and prosperity.  

 

Kutubu women for rice

By SENIORL ANZU of NARI in Moro

Community initiative has paid off for Foe women in the Kutubu area of Southern Highlands. Through sheer interest and determination for rice production, the Kutubu Foe Women’s Association has been fortunate in acquiring two rice milling machines that will be launched tomorrow at the Pimaga government station.

This is a result of the association’s initiative in taking up modern agriculture for food and income on a sustainable basis.

Among others, the group is pursuing rice to supplement daily diets and as well supply surplus to possible market opportunities created by the boom in oil and gas developments in the Kutubu area.

Led by women leader Naomi Samuel, rural women have already mastered the basic techniques of rice production.

Interested rice farmers from the Faso area have also picked up rice farming, spreading the interest to the entire Kutubu region and even the Moran area.

The National Agricultural Research Institute (NARI) and PNG Women in Agriculture Development Foundation (PNGWiADF), both based in Lae, have been in the Kutubu area since 2009, providing technical assistance.

This initiative has been supported by Kutubu’s community development initiative and Oil Search Ltd.

NARI’s senior scientist Dr Peter Gendua and PNGWiADF president, Maria Linibi have been on site this week providing hands-on training and technical advice to about 100 interested rice farmers across Pimaga, Orokana, Waro, Tiriabo, Tugiri, Soro and Inu villages.

NARI has so far provided two upland rice varieties (NARI Rice One or NR 1 and NR 15) suitable for the environment with two rounds of training on land preparation, seed sowing, transplanting, field management, harvesting, threshing and milling to major villages in Kutubu.

Pictured are women at Pimaga having hands-on training in seed sowing of a NARI released rice variety, NR 1, on Monday

However, a major hurdle faced by farmers was proper milling of their farm harvests.

Many expressed the need to have rice milling machines.

Members of the Kutubu Foe Women’s Association have harvested tonnes of rice but milling has also been a constraint.

After knocking on doors of various organisations, Oil Search Limited and the Department of Agriculture and Livestock have come good in providing a rice milling machine each for the association.

The support has come along due to the association’s own desire and determination to pursue agriculture for development, particularly in rice cultivation.

 During tomorrow’s launch, the two rice milling machines will be officially handed over to the Kutubu Foe Women’s Association.

The operations of the machines will also be demonstrated to the farmers and those with harvests will have the opportunity to mill their produce.

 The initiative has demonstrated public-private partnership of all stakeholders in community development.

Modern agriculture introduced in Kikori

By SENIORL ANZU of NARI

Villagers along the Kikori delta in the Gulf province can now practice modern agriculture for food security and income, thanks to Oil Search Limited and the PNG Women in Agriculture Development Foundation (PNGWiADF).

The sole dependence on sago and fish for survival by the Kikori River people will be a thing of the past as they take up new skills and innovations in vegetable production.

They can now farm round cabbage, broccoli, Chinese cabbage, carrot, spring onion, lettuce, pakchoi, watermelon and tomato.

With support from Oil Search’s community affairs division based in the Gobe oil fields, model farmer and agricultural trainer, Maria Linibi of PNGWiADF, has provided training for 26 villagers since last month.

The participants are from seven villages – Kaiam, Banana camp, Irimuku, Babeio, Veiru, Kekea and Ero – along the Kikori River.

From left are Tommy Polang of Oil Search, PNGWiADF president Maria Linibi, community representative John Ipai and an Oil Search official displaying seedlings of tropical vegetables at Irimuku village in the Kikori delta, Gulf province.-Pictures by SENIORL ANZU

 In July, the participants acquired skills in nursery preparation of different tropical vegetables and last week, Linibi taught them again on how to prepare land and transplant seedlings.

 The training was conducted at Irimuku village with a demonstration farm established at the run-down Kitomape SDA school grounds.

The initiative was undertaken as part of agriculture development under Oil Search’s sustainable development programme in communities along affected areas of the oil development project in the Southern Highlands and Gulf provinces.

The vigorous performances of the crops were an eye opener for the participants as they could not believe their soil could produce temperate highlands vegetables such as broccoli, cabbage, carrot and others.

During the training, Linibi introduced crops to the villagers, emphasised crops’ nutritional and monetary values, and demonstrated farming skills through a participatory approach which many appreciated.

Tommy Polang, Oil Search’s community development officer who was responsible for organising the training, told the aspiring vegetable farmers to take full advantage of the opportunity and utilise what they had learnt from the training in their own villages.

“You can cultivate vegetables and other food crops on your land, just like any PNG farmer,” Polang told participants.

He challenged them to take full responsibility in taking ownership and ensuring self-sustainability after the pilot phase.

He added that with the new developments in oil and gas projects, they would be faced with opportunities in spin-off benefits.

This is especially in terms of finding markets for their produce - which they should capture to support their livelihoods.

Polang called on the participants to be role models and pass on the skills to others in their respective villages, and most importantly, to work in groups and help one another.

 Linibi said the exercise was just a start in a small way but they could apply the principles in bigger ways, given their capacities.

Kikori villagers have hands-on training in transplanting broccoli seedlings with trainer and PNGWiADF president Maria Linibi (centre) at Kitomape near Kikori station in the Gulf province

 She advised that they should initiate and start something for themselves before calling for assistance.

She also urged the participants to work in groups and form cooperatives and capture opportunities outside of the project areas.

Many of the participants showed appreciation and expressed that the training would change their livelihoods.

Dorothy Foroua, a woman leader from Irimuku, said their food resources were fish, sago and leaves from the bush but with the training gave them new alternatives.

Oil Search provided vegetable seeds and tools.

The vegetable training has three components, two of which (nursery and transplanting), have been successfully completed.

 The third phase is post-harvest which is expected to be done in November when the vegetables are ready for harvest.

During the first phase, Linibi demonstrated a technology on plant-derived pesticides which farmers can develop and use from locally available resources such as neem tree, derris (posin diwai) and chili.

In the second phase, she supplied seeds of upland rice varieties, corn and mung beans provided by NARI and seeds of neem tree for formulating home-made pesticides.

Other initiatives under Oil Search Gobe’s sustainability programme include rehabilitation of old coffee blocks and establishment of coffee nursery with some 6,000 seedlings in Erave, Southern Highlands, with the involvement of Coffee Industry Corporation.

Aitape farmers support cocoa development, not oil palm

By SOLDIER BURUKA of DAL

Landowners in the Sandaun province have called on the government to conduct regular monitoring of major agro-forestry projects.

They say that relevant government agencies including Department of Agriculture and Livestock, PNG Forest Authority and the respective provincial administration should take the lead in the monitoring programme.

The issue was raised recently during a review meeting of the agro-forestry oil palm project in the Pai resource area in Aitape district.

The meeting was attended by landowner representatives, DAL, PNGFA, developer and the district administration.

Landowners give their views during the review meeting in Aitape town

Aitape-Lumi district administrator Timothy Teklan chaired the meeting.

The meeting at Aitape concluded with a recommendation for the oil palm project to be scrapped in favour of cocoa and other potential crops including rubber.

The meeting also agreed to set up a review and monitoring committee comprising of various government agencies in Sandaun and Aitape district administration to coordinate the monitoring exercise.

 The meeting recommended that the developer produce and submit a land use development plan for integrated agriculture development project which would encompass cocoa, rubber and other suitable crops.

The review meeting had been organised to discuss the past activities of the agro-forestry project focusing on oil palm development and to discuss the way forward.

There is a need to assess if the cocoa or oil palm is economical and financially viable, and has high/low environmental implications.

Most people were familiar with cocoa and know that capital input was much less than oil palm.

The review was also to assess the commitment and capacity of the developer on the changes of land use.

DAL deputy secretary for technical services Francis Daink attended the meeting and took note of the concerns raised by the landowners and the recommendations made.

Daink emphasised the need for establishment of the monitoring committee to be coordinated and chaired by the district administration.

Daink stressed that in such projects the district administration, especially the programme manager, played an important role in monitoring and reporting.

National DAL will rely on district programme managers to provide reports as and when required.

He said the government had scarce resources to provide services and needs to bring in investors from abroad that have technical skills and capital to partner with and assist the government to bring development.

Cocoa is also a priority crop which falls in well with the provincial plan to give recognition to West Sepik province as a major cocoa-growing region.

Chairman of landowner company Mete Holdings Ltd, Samson Kupu said the other factor that would really affect oil palm development was the location of the project area - situated in the head waters - which would definitely pollute all the big and small rivers where most people had accessibility for their daily needs.

He said that after his visit to NBPOL oil palm operations in West New Britain province and discussions with PNG Oil Palm Research Association, he had found out that there were some serious issues which would really affect the development of oil palm in Aitape.

These issues included lack of adequate technical expertise; most skilled personnel may be joining the PNG LNG project which offers attractive pay and conditions; availability of state land for development; suitable port facilities and market availability.

Aitape Oil Palm Ltd project consultant, Dr Felix Moh, said the developer company needed the support of all stakeholders including government, landowners and the general public to conduct its operations in the agro-forestry development.

Daink (centre) accompanied by Teklan (third from right) Dr Moh (third from left) Kupu (far right) and other officials inspect the oil palm nursery. Landowners are now seeking to plant cocoa instead of oil palm

The developer supported the desires of the government and the landowners to benefit from any agro-forestry project.

He said the developer would consider any outcomes from the meeting before making a final decision.

Many speakers at the meeting said they were now unsure of the oil palm project and would be willing to switch to cocoa and rubber.

Some said their land was unsuitable for oil palm but good for cocoa and other crops.

Others said cocoa had been grown for many years in Aitape and the people did not need further training.

In addition, cocoa prices were more attractive and most farmers were now venturing into cocoa production.

First seeds sown in Kikori

Story and pictures by SENIORL ANZU

Villagers along the Kikori delta in the Gulf province can now practice modern agriculture for food security and income, thanks to Oil Search Limited and the PNG Women in Agriculture Development Foundation (PNGWiADF).

The sole dependence on sago and fish for survival by the Kikori River people will be a thing of the past as they take up new skills and innovations in vegetable production.

 They can now farm round cabbage, broccoli, Chinese cabbage, carrots, spring onion, lettuce, pak choi, watermelon and tomato.

Aspiring farmers like Dorothy Foroua (right) and young lasses from Kikori River are pictured happily preparing to transplant their first broccoli seedlings at Irimuka village near Kikori last week.

President of PNGWiADF Maria Linibi trained 26 villagers last week to practice modern agriculture through Oil Search’s sustainable development programme.

 

 

Paddling on sago

Story and picture by SENIORL ANZU

Gulf province has the famous slogan “yu yet kam na lukim” (come and see it for yourself). Among many things one can see for himself or herself is the way in which sago trunks are transported home from where they are harvested.

Sago is the major staple food for Gulf people and much of the sago grows in the wild along the Kikori delta.

Locals say in some villages, sago trunks are harvested and transported through the Kikori River and its tributaries to coastal homes by tying the trunks onto the canoe and pulling along as the canoe is paddled home.

 

Pictured here is Gulf man Douglas Nuga from Ero Island, Kikori, doing the opposite.

 

Instead of paddling the canoe with sago trunk behind, Nuga paddled on two huge sago trunks with his canoe pulled behind into Orokoi tributary for Ero after leaving the Kikori River few kilometers away.

 

Rich new database on agriculture in Papua New Guinea

By MALUM NALU

A most up-to-date Papua New Guinea agriculture literature database is now available on compact disc for farmers, academics and the general public in the country.

It will be a handy companion to Food and Agriculture in Papua New Guinea, the most up-to-date and most-informative publication ever done on the subject in the country, which was launched in Port Moresby recently by former deputy prime minister Sir Puka Temu.

The database was compiled by Land Management Group of Australian National University, the same group which put together the book.

Dr Michael Bourke of the ANU, who put together the CD and book, said it would be a most-welcome addition to PNG agriculture.

“What we’ve done is we’ve put in the CD is about 17,000 references to agriculture in Papua New Guinea,” he said.

“You can search for a reference with a keyword, or a word in the title, or an author.

“So, for example, if you type in ‘woman’, you’ll come up with about 800 papers.

“If you type ‘woman’ and ‘Bougainville’, you might come up with 20 papers.”

The good news for PNG is that the CD is being distributed freely throughout the country and a copy can be obtained by sending an email to Sue Rider at sue.rider@anu.edu.au.

“It needs some software to run, and the software is called Endnote,” Dr Bourke adds.

“It’s very powerful.”

5,000 Indonesians for LNG site

UP to 5,000 technical workers from Indonesia are expected to come to PNG to be employed in the construction phase of the multi-billion-kina PNG liquefied natural gas (LNG) project, The National reports.

Indonesian embassy’s charge de affairs Budimansyah said an Indonesian company had won a sub-contract in the construction phase of the LNG project, and they would be bringing in these workers to do the job.

It is understood the Indonesian company won a sub-contract for work at portion 152 outside Port Moresby, but the official did not say exactly what the nature of the work would be.

But he said the 5,000 would be highly skilled technical workers.

The company is believed to be owned by the Indonesian government.

A PNG government spokesman, when asked to comment on this, said some aspects of work at portion 152 were highly technical, and the Indonesian workers brought

in had the experience in this field.

The government had also spoken in the past about plans to bring in 7,000 workers from Fiji to work in the LNG project, but it was unclear if this had been advanced.

“The multi-billion-kina gas project has also attracted Indonesian companies who are seeking joint ventures with PNG companies to build cement factories in Lae and Port Moresby,” Budimansyah said.

He said the relationship between the two countries that share a common land border, had reached new heights since the visit by Indonesian president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono early this year.

He said businessmen from Indonesia travelling with the president had sought opportunities in PNG, and did feasibility studies on joint venture projects.

He said 10 young businessmen had returned to PNG and were travelling to Lae to hold talks with the Papindo Group of Companies for a possible joint venture in building a cement factory.

“The demand for building houses is very high with the current LNG project.

“These businessmen are looking at feasibilities and possible joint venture with PNG companies to build cement factories.”

Budimansyah said if the condition was conducive, they would build cement factories in Lae and Port Moresby.

He said the increased opportunities and good investment climate in PNG was attracting a lot of Indonesian companies.

 

 

Government told to stick to maintenance

THE government has been urged not to compete with LNG project developers and concentrate on maintenance work on existing infrastructure of transport, health centres, schools and colleges and plan ahead for the utilisation of the trained and skilled workers after all the gas is harvested, The National reports.

Bank of PNG Governor Loi Bakani said the government should direct its development budget and implementation capacities to other priority areas of education, health, law and order, environment and conservation and, especially, the agriculture sector.

Bakani was speaking at the national development forum in Port Moresby yesterday.

“The need to invest in agriculture is vital for PNG to ensure the so-called ‘Dutch disease’ will be avoided,” he added.

Dutch disease, in economics, referred to the decline in manufacturing sector due to increase in exploitation of natural resources.

The theory is that an increase in revenue from natural resources will affect a country by raising its exchange rate, making manufacturing and agriculture sectors less competitive.

Bakani said LNG project developers were building the “infrastructure corridor from Southern Highlands to Port Moresby in the form of roads, pipeline, power and telecommunication”.

The government should, in turn, concentrate its effort in areas that the developers were not extensively using their resources on, he added.

Bakani also said, among other things, BPNG was extending its expertise to the rural majority through financial literacy, micro banking and technological innovation through the use of mobile phone banking.

Education - an important road map

By HENZY YAKHAM

 

Education, be it parent-paid, government subsidised, free or in other forms have been on the lips of every pupil, parent and politician in recent times than ever before.

Today, there are thousands of school-aged children throughout Papua New Guinea who are not sitting is a classroom because of school fee problems.

Many parents get reminders, threats and warnings of outstanding school fees from school managements for not being up to date for childrens’ tuition fees.

Some school managements are understanding and allowed kids to continuing their learning while parents and guardians honour their commitments to pay up.

That is understandable and could have worked for parents who are able to pay the school fees.

But, the stark reality is that thousands of parents in PNG are facing this practical problem of having to find money to pay for school fees.

This is an ever increasing nightmare for most ordinary grassroots people amidst the rising cost of goods and services.

Simply put, most parents just cannot afford to keep up to date when it comes to paying school fees.

Most parents will not buy into the argument that they (parents) are fully responsible for the education of their product, as argued by some including certain politicians.

For genuine reasons to assist, some individual parliamentarians and few provincial governments have made education their priority and assisted in providing subsidies.

New Ireland Provincial Government under the leadership of Governor and former Prime Minister Sir Julius Chan and Enga Governor Peter Ipatas are two examples.

While Governors Sir Julius and Mr Ipatas have come to the aid of parents, others continue giving lip services with empty promises sending thousands of school-age kids out of classrooms.

The national broadcaster reported last week that the new Wewak MP Dr Moses Manwau has joined up with the party Mr Ipatas leads, People’s Party because of the party’s education policy.

On August 9 2010, Post-Courier reported that North Wahgi MP Benjamin Mul was “boosting education services in his electorate because he knows that education is more important than any other services and has disbursed more than K1 million to support education services alone”.

For the records, both Dr Manwau and Mr Mul were officially endorsed PNG Party candidates for their respective electorates in the 2007 general election.

 PNG Party Leader Sir Mekere Morauta was the first Prime Minister to introduce and implement the free education policy in PNG during his short term in office from July 1999 to 2002.

Sir Mekere has a proven track record of performance - free education being one of them.

Reforms his government undertook in the three short years were in five main areas: political, financial sector, economic, institutional strengthening and public sector and international relations

Worthy of noting is that when Sir Mekere was in office he shifted public expenditure concentrating on free education, and transport rehabilitation.

However, after the 2002 general election, the Somare Government did away with free education policy.

The direct results today - burden on thousands of parents in PNG faced with school fee problems.

Over the years, critics of free education have been giving the lame excuse that there is not enough money to fund free education.

However, Sir Mekere proved the critics wrong and maintains that if expenditure is controlled with wasteful spending reduced, up to K300 million can be found from with the national budget for free education in PNG.

He notes that with the school fee problems faced by parents will continue as long as the costs of goods and services keep increasing.

Sir Mekere has stated publicly that if PNG Party is in government, the free education policy of the party will be reintroduced.

In September 2000, 191 countries including Papua New Guinea signed a global commitment or agreement known as the Global Education For All (GEA) in Dakar with a goal to ensure they honor the commitments in their respective countries.

Following that, respective nations have moved to promote education for all in all aspect of learning, particularly to ensure all school aged children received at least nine years of formal education to among others give basic education to all children promote literacy standards  world-wide irrespective of gender, physical disabilities, socio-economic factors etc.

The 2000 commitment by the 191 nations was in view of the world’s education crisis including:

·        The critical global shortage of trained teachers;

·        Over 73 million children are currently out of school with more than half of them girls;

·        Half of the out of school children are in Africa;

·        Worldwide, one in every five primary age girls are not in school;

·        Globally, one in every five people are illiterate;

·        800 million adults cannot read and write, two thirds of them are women; and

·        39 million children in conflict affected States are not going to school.  

It was intended that by the year 2005, participating nations were to eliminate gender disparities in primary education and at all levels by 2015.

This means PNG, by virtue of being a signatory to this international commitment is obliged among others to:

·        Ensure that at least 20% of the national budget and 6 % GNI are allocated to education;

·        Include specific measures to reach marginalised and excluded learners such as orphans and vulnerable children, ethnic and language minorities, children with disabilities, children in internally-displaced and refugee communities and working children;

·        Introduce policies and practices to achieve gender equality in education, such as gender-sensitive curricula, ensuring an adequate number of females teachers, making schools safe and hygienic for girls and giving stipends for girls;

·        Abolish all fees charges in PNG; and

·        Include specific measures to improve quality of education such as ensuring that all children are taught in class no bigger than 40 by a professionally-trained teacher spending at least 25% of recurrent budgets on non-salary inputs such as teaching and learning materials and enshrining the rights to nine years of education in national law. 

Education is accepted world-wide as a very important roadmap that cannot be simply ignored.

Because of its importance, the global leaders, together with PNG included it as goal Number Two in the United Nations Millennium Summit Declaration, commonly known now as the Millennium Development Goals (MDG).

The MDG commits PNG and the other 190 other nations to achieve universal primary education by Year 2015.

This means in five years time, PNG together with the other 190 countries would hope to have children everywhere complete a full course of primary schooling.

PNG, through the Somare Government is lagging behind and how it will ensure PNG fulfils its international commitments in achieving universal education for all remains to be seen.

 

Airlines PNG fighting for survival

By ILYA GRIDNEF of AAP

 

 HONIARA, Aug 18 AAP - There are concerns in Papua New Guinea that Qantas flights to Port Moresby are threatening the survival of PNG's second biggest carrier Airlines PNG (APNG).

The Australian airline entered into the PNG market in July hoping to capitalise on the country's $16 billion ExxonMobil-led Liquefied Natural Gas project.

A subsequent price war resulted in flights to Port Moresby from Cairns being cheaper than to Sydney.

But since the Qantas entry, APNG has reduced its once daily Cairns-Port Moresby run to twice a week.

Qantas, which has a codeshare agreement with state-owned national airline Air Niugini on flights to Sydney and Brisbane, has declined to comment on how this has affected APNG.

But a government letter, sighted by AAP, says "(There is) grave concern about the recent entry of Qantas into the Cairns-Port Moresby route.

"The Qantas entry in its own right was forcing both national carriers out of the market and there could be removal of competition and higher prices as a result".

Meanwhile, several government sources have told AAP that APNG is seeking a merger with Air Niugini.

They said APNG and other private investors were lobbying to get a merger proposal through cabinet.

APNG CEO Geoff Toomey, a former Air New Zealand CEO and before that Qantas deputy CEO and chief financial officer, declined to comment.

APNG spokeswoman Danae Jones did not deny the merger push but said the airline would not talk about "speculation and rumour".

 "Significant improvement in financial performance is expected for 2010," she said.

However, Air Niugini CEO Wasantha Kumarasiri said a merger was not under consideration.

"(Prime Minister Michael Somare) and our minister (Public Enterprises Minister Arthur Somare) have assured us they are dedicated to Air Niugini," he said.

A spokesman from the Prime Minister's Office also played down the merger talk.

"We hope sense will prevail," he said.

The merger rumour comes in the same month APNG marked a year since one of its planes crashed en route to Kokoda, killing all 13 people on board, including nine Australian Kokoda trekkers.

In 2008, the Cairns-based Wild family sold a 50 per cent stake in APNG through a public float on the Port Moresby stock exchange for an estimated 100 million kina ($A40 million).

John Wild remains the largest APNG shareholder with 47 per cent while his son, APNG chairman, Simon Wild, is also managing director of Wild family-owned Queensland-based regional airline Sky Trans.

 Since the float APNG shares have dropped from one kina (40c) to 63 toea (25c).

In the APNG 2009 annual report Mr Wild blamed the company's 24.6 million kina ($A9.8 million) loss on the global economic downturn, the Kokoda crash and even the Icelandic volcanic eruption that grounded planes in the northern hemisphere.

For the same period Air Niugini declared a profit of 68 million kina ($A27.2 million).