Iceland firm keen to tap Karkar volcano

A GEOTHERMAL investor from Iceland has shown interest in developing a 100 megawatt geothermal power plant on Karkar Island, Madang, The National reports.
Reykjavik Geothermal (RG) representatives visited the island last week and concluded that it had a good thermal resource.
They plan to return in January to present a report of their findings to the provincial government.
The presentation will also include information on the project proposal as well as seek the support of the Madang provincial government to approve a framework with the developer on an engagement strategy.
RG said it intended to work closely with the local level government on the project.
With the ongoing electricity outages being experienced in the province, RG hoped that the Karkar caldera, which according to studies undertaken by RG, could be a sustainable power source for the province.
It said in a statement that “Karkar had a good thermal resource”.
Geothermal power is both reliable base load powers, non polluting, renewable and cost competitive compared with other power sources.
RG said that its vision was to work with local partners to harness this resource, develop utility-scale geothermal power plants, and provide an inexpensive, clean and indigenous energy source for the benefit of local economies, while providing attractive returns for investors.
“RG is committed to passing geothermal expertise on to local entities, a transition that would include training and education of local experts and cooperation with regional institutions and local contractors and consultants.”

Relative wants body set up to promote air safety

THE husband of one of the Airlines PNG crash victims wants a body formed to support the relatives of the 28 people who died, The National reports.
Reginald Renagi was in Madang last weekend to gauge support on establishing an air crash victims support group.
Renagi says after visiting the crash site, he realised that the impact of the crash was something that relatives would have to come to grips with.
He believed that the support group should be able to address that problem.
“The main reason, apart from coming here to console my son, is to make sure that a vocal group with the right political backing can ensure that standard aviation procedures in regards to safety in the aviation industry are followed stringently,” he said.
“The current compensation package offered by Air Niugini for K30,000 and Airlines PNG of a lesser amount, is laughable.
“We are talking about the permanent loss and psychological scarring which will live with us forever,” he said.
Renagi said the issue of compensating the 28 families should start from K1 million.
He said the group should garner support and push for a private members Bill to make air travel safe in PNG.
He thanked Prime Minister Peter O’Neill and his government for making available K500,000 for the repatriation of the grieving families.
He also thanked Divine Word University president  and chairman of Modilon General Hospital Fr Jan Czuba for providing counselling and other support during the mourning period for the families.
“I can see that the Madang provincial government has been so quiet about even sending a condolence message for the affected students, or providing any financial support since it happened in their province.
“Most of the families have travelled to Madang at their own expense and do not even know where to go.
“The Madang provincial government does not even have a task force in place nor does Airlines PNG have any emergency toll free numbers where relatives of the victims can turn to for guidance,” he said.

O’Neill happy with team’s first 100 days

THE government has established stability in the political, social and economic sectors during its first 100 days in office, Prime Minister Peter O’Neill said yesterday, The National reports.
He admitted to teething problems where many ministers were new to the “protocols of decision making” and said he could have done without the riots at Popondetta, Kainantu and Lae but said the achievements far outweighed the challenges.
Reflecting on his first 100 days in office, which falls today, O’Neill said it had not been smooth-sailing though, adding that the Supreme Court reference had brought uncertainty and paralysed government.
However, he was confident the court decision on Dec 9 would be “in the best interest of the country and not individual leaders”.
Appearing relaxed yesterday in a candid interview with The National at Morauta Haus, the prime minister said he harboured no regrets about what happened in parliament on Aug 2.
O’Neill said government had become complacent and was governing for a few, and had to be removed.
He admitted he was part of a small group that plotted and eventually got rid of the government “when the government lost its way”.
O’Neill said the policies he had outlined since his government took office would remain his priorities.
They included free education, fighting corruption, addressing law and order, and rebuilding infrastructure.
He said the government was on its way to implementing these priorities.
In his first 100 days, he said his government had parked K300 million in the 2011 supplementary budget in a trust account to kick-start the free education policy next January; set up a task force that had arrested nine people while investigating corruption in government; successfully passed the first reading in parliament to enact a law for 22 reserved seats for women; directed the Works Department to come up with the best model to redevelop the Highlands Highway (and other highways); and got Canberra to agree to deploy Australian police personnel in PNG in a revamped enhanced cooperation programme.
“Time is not on our side. We have less than 10 months till the next general election.
“So, these are realistic goals and policies we have set out to achieve which we believe will impact positively on the lives of the majority of our people,” O’Neill said.
He said the next 100 days would be as challenging but his government was determined to ensure proper foundations were laid for improvement to service delivery, rebuilding of infrastructure and sound education and health services for all.

Girl takes own life over affair with in-law

By GABRIEL FITO

A FEMALE teenager, who was caught having sex with her elder sister’s husband at the weekend in Angoram, East Sepik, has committed suicide to avoid shame and embarrassment, The National reports.
Provincial police commander Vincent Pokas said the young girl lived with her sister and husband and their children at the Gavien Rubber Scheme, at Angoram.
Police alleged that the girl and her brother in-law had a relationship without the knowledge of his wife until last weekend when she caught them “red-handed”.
Police said the girl, who regretted betraying her sister, killed herself later.
The incident was reported to police who are investigating.
Meanwhile, an expatriate has lost K8,000, a passport and other valuables after his bag was snatched at the Kapmandu service station, on Cathedral Road in Wewak, while he was refuelling his vehicle on Monday afternoon.
Pokas said four of the six suspects had been apprehended by police and were in custody while two others were still on the run.
He said the mother of the chief suspect had been apprehended by police for being in possession of K3,500, a staple gun, ammunition and for receiving stolen property.
Her husband was charged with receiving stolen property after a search found K360 in his possession.
Pokas said he would return the passport to the expatriate while his men worked towards recovering the rest of the money and bring all responsible to justice.

Highlands leaders call for respect

LEADERS from the Highlands region are appealing to youths and the people of Morobe to refrain from attacking their people, The National reports.
They urged the Morobeans not to take the law into their own hands.
They said many Highlanders had already lost their businesses, houses and other properties during the clash last weekend.
Jerry Makinta from Western Highlands, who claimed to speak on behalf of the leaders in the region, said only a few highlanders were involved in the trouble.
The innocent majority has now been targeted too.
Makinta said the majority of highlanders had lived for a long time in Lae and contributed to the development of the country’s second city.

Displaced Lae city residents appeal to their politicians for help

By PISAI GUMAR
DISPLACED Highlanders taking refuge outside Igam Barracks are pleading for help from the government, The National reports.
They said they were sleeping in the open, near the gun gate and were using the nearby creek for sanitation.
A little help is coming from soldiers and their families.
They have renewed calls to their provincial representatives in Chimbu, Western and Southern Highlands to repatriate them.
Representatives of the 300-plus Highlanders said they had recorded three deaths since the weekend at the hands of Morobeans.
Many of their relatives are still hiding in bushes.
The displaced people said police yesterday helped to bring in another 15 people to the camp.
A Lutheran pastor from Highlands, named only as Peter, and his family, who was the parish pastor at Musom-Talec, is hiding in the bush.
The number at the Igam Barracks camp had risen from 300 on Sunday to almost 500 from all five highlands provinces.
The displaced highlanders said they also took part by contributing to hire two vehicles to transport Morobean youths to petition Morobe Governor Luther Wenge last Friday.
However, the Morobean youths turned on them, destroying and burning their properties including trade stores, houses and vehicles.
The number of confirmed dead remained at six - five of them are Morobeans allegedly shot by police and one a highlander, allegedly killed by Morobeans.
Three other Western Highlanders received knife wounds.
Two of the Morobeans who died from gun wounds were Basanaka Wanas, 40, male, from Kabwum and Ano Momo, 16, male, from Baindoang, Nabak in Nawaeb district.
The other four are yet to be identified.

Board closes Lae schools

By ELLEN TIAMU

SCHOOLS in Lae have been suspended indefinitely following fights that have erupted in pockets of the city since last Thursday, The National reports.
The provincial education board on Monday decided to stop classes until normalcy returns to the city.
Provincial education advisor Murika Bihoro said more than 20,000 students at all levels, elementary to Grade 12, had been advised to remain home until further notice.
Bihoro said Grade 8 students would be sitting for their examinations next week and hoped no further trouble would erupt.
Fighting on the streets began last Thursday near the Lae market, with another starting at the provincial government and administration headquarters at Top Town.
On Friday, fighting spilled over to the Malahang back road areas and Bumayong.
Six people have died as a result, with the last casualty, an adult male, killed on Monday at Bumayong.
Extra police from Port Moresby have been called in to keep the situation under control.
While business is cautiously returning to normal, tensions remain.

Mining boom in Papua New Guinea

THE mining and petroleum industryi s the biggest employer in Papua New Guinea in the past six years, The National reports.
The industry came close to doubling its workforce from 18,000 to 30,000 between 2003 and 2010.These figures were disclosed byMichael Uiari, the Oil Search general manager in PNG in charge of commercial,
legal and stakeholder management. He was speaking last Friday to journalists in Port Moresby about the industry’s benefit to PNG’s economy. The main projects in the pipeline are the PNG LNG project, Yandera, Ramu nickel, Wafi Golpu, Frieda River and Gulf LNG. There are a number of grass roots exploration projects in both mining and petroleum also employing a lot of workers in the fields. Projects commissioned into production during this period are Simberi and Hidden Valley mines.
Uiari said a growing number were hired in the exploration phases, smallscale alluvial mines and contractors and joint ventures being set up.
He said the industry was an integrated industry made up of exploration, evaluation, development and production, using a wide range of services and support industries, indirectly giving jobs to more people. They were mainly employed by aviation, drilling and drilling suppliers, seismic contractors, analytical laboratories and technical services of all types.
Others were involved in expediting and logistics, earthmoving and trucking sales and contractors, shipping of all types, port services, supply of motor vehicles and tyres, wholesaling and retailing of fuel, general merchandise, white goods, equipment, tools, food supplies and catering, maintenance and servicing contractors of all types, accounting, legal, engineering, surveying and other professional services, provision of accommodation including hotels, office and private rental residences, technical and vocational training and security.
“These groups benefit because our industry consumes goods and services from every aspect of our economy,” Uiari said.
The PNG LNG project alone currently employs 6,600 local workers compared to a maximum of 3500 projected before construction.
At the peak of construction in the second half of next year, total employment is expected to jump to 15,000 people – local and foreign combined.
The economy is expected to grow by a “low double-digit” this year which is expected to translate to significant increases in employment in contrast to 2009 when the economy grew by only 4.5% due mainly to the global financial crisis.
Uiari said the financial and other benefits provided by the resource projects were diverse and substantial including employment, royalty via the state, taxes, dividends, tax credit schemes, education and training, business and agricultural development, health programmes and services, community facilities and other infrastructure.
He said an estimated K1.47 billion in taxes was paid to the government last year.
Uiari said royalties alone during the past five years had totalled K1.1 billion calculated at the rate of 2% each from the mining and the petroleum sectors

SABL Commissioner Jerewai: I will not tolerate laxity

By JULIA DAIA BORE

A COMMISSIONER of the Commission of Inquiry (CoI) into the Special Agricultural and Business Leases (SABLs) investigations in Pomio and Palmalmal districts of East New Britain yesterday said he would not tolerate any “laxity” by any members of the CoI’s support staff, The National reports.
Alois Jerewai convened a special hearing of the commission at 9.30am yesterday in Port Moresby when he blasted three administrative staff for what he termed as their being “lax” in performing their duties.
He also called on them to explain for their laxity. Jerewai named them as Mathew Yuangu, the secretary of the Secretariat of the CoI’s SABLs, Ragagalo Raga who is the finance and administration manager and Augustine Sipaiah, the security/escort officer.
Sipaiah was reprimanded for not being present to accompany another agriculturalist in the team operating a K127,000 piece of equipment, to visit a timber site in the area.
Jerewai wanted their explanation made to the Commission on Nov 14.
“I will not allow any laxity to impede the progress of this Inquiry so as to be concluded well before the timeline set by the prime minister.”
Yuangu and Raga were  told to explain why Jerewai was not on the flight to Kokopo yesterday morning. Sipaiah was cautioned for absconding from duty while in Kokopo.
The four SABLs in the Pomio and the Palmalmal districts of East New Britain have been the centre of serious controversy. They had been projected to the world stage in such a way that the inquiry must establish with great amount of certainty based on evidence as to any irregularities which may have occurred in relation to those SABLs.
The attention is such that if this CoI, whether through logistical wants or through sheer neglect not by myself, but by the other members of the inquiry, including the technical staff, will reflect badly on our integrity,” he said.
“The gravity of this approach is this. Allegations of almost 5.2 million hectares of customary land that is owned by Papua New Guineans is not a matter to be taken lightly and as already seen in the preliminary stages and even now – the individual Inquiry into individual SABLs, is beginning to reveal very, very serious flaws.”
Jerewai’s team is in the Pomio and Palmalmal districts. Jerewai demanded that the show-cause resulting from not travelling back to Kokopo early yesterday morning to be in time for the 10am hearing of the SABL which he was to preside over.
In yesterday morning’s special hearing Jerewai said: “At the commencement of the inquiry in the preliminary stages, our focus was mainly on whether irregularities occurred in the lease-lease back arrangement to the state and in reversing back to the customary landowners or customary landowners’ choice of entities who will hold titles to these leases.
“But what had been revealed is that the true loss of or alienation of customary land occurred on the second stage where after the issue of the state lease on a lease-lease back to the customary landowners, was the sublease to the third persons. That is where the loss actually took place.
“I have not made a finding yet on this. I will repeat; I have not made a finding yet on this. This is the observation at this stage with the evidence I have at hand in relation to the SABLs I have been investigating in ENB,” Jerewai said.
“Therefore, it just magnifies the gravity of the situation we have and what may have been on the face of it in the preliminaries did not show us truly where alienation  may have taken place.
“My observation is that it was on the second phase and I am not going to be lax and I will not allow the CoI secretariat and other technical personnel to affect the Inquiry such that we do not reveal these defects.”
He added that he was making this revelation “with a great sense of gravity” as he was doing so without the presence of Chief Commissioner John Numapo and Commissioner Nicholas Mirou who were in other provinces, investigating.
Jerewai, however, said he was convinced that it was “necessary to do this”.

‘Only 39% of rural folks have clean water'

By SALLY POKITON UPNG journalism student

ONLY 39% of people in the rural areas have access to clean water, Department of Planning and Monitoring deputy secretary Joe Kaupa says, The National reports.
Speaking during a two-day conference on rural water supply and sanitation programme policy, Kaupa said it was time that a specific water project be developed.
He said the European Union partnership programme with the rural water supply and sanitation programme and development partners needed to come up with an effective policy that would cover the usage, maintenance, sustainability and commercialisation of clean water in rural areas.
Kaupa thanked the European Union for making a provision of K75 million that would contribute towards the government’s meeting of Millennium Development Goals on the provision of clean water.
He said that by the end of 2012, 500,000 people in the country would have access to clean water and a target of reaching 75% of the population by 2030.
Public Health executive manager Enoch Posanai said the government’s objective was to improve health to an affordable and acceptable degree.
“Ill health is a direct condition of the physical environment.
“To be healthy, PNG must have a clean and safe water supply,” Posanai said.
Posanai said in order to achieve its goal to be a healthy nation as stated in the Vision 2050, government had to start fixing its health system and creating a national water policy was the way forward.
Water PNG chief execu­tive officer Patrick Amini said a strategic plan on the water supply and sanitation development plan 2006-2015 was in place, with completed development projects in Bereina and Kwikila while construction was under way in Maprik, Finschhafen and Kainantu

Papua New Guinea ranks poorly in Human Development Index survey

RESOURCES-rich Papua New Guinea has been ranked 153 out of 187 countries surveyed on the Human Development Index, falling below most of its smaller South Pacific island neighbours, The National reports.
This ranking places PNG in the last of four rankings from very high human development to low human development.
Of the nine Pacific nations included in the survey, Melanesian neighbour the Solomon Islands shares this category but is 11 places higher at 142.
Tiny Palau, which was included in the ranking only this year, and Tonga ranked 49 and 90 respectively. They are the only island nations that are part of the high human development ranked countries.
Australia is second and New Zealand is fifth on the ranking.
The 2011 report, themed Sustainability and equity: A better future for all, argues that environmental sustainability could be most fairly and effectively achieved by addressing health, education, income and gender disparities together with the need for global action on energy production and ecosystem protection.
The HDI is a yardstick that focuses on the human elements of development, combining indicators of health and education with the more traditional economic indicators.
It normally gives important insights that can be used to identify key development needs.
It said in PNG’s case, despite strident economic growth in the past six years, the area of human development had largely been ignored.
Pacific Island countries have varied levels of human development.
Most of the Pacific Island countries appear in the “medium human development” category.
These include by rank Samoa (99), Fiji (100), FSM (116), Kiribati (122) and Vanuatu (125).
Three countries in the Pacific have higher than average life expectancy than other small island development states.
These are Palau 64, Tonga 63 and Fiji 62 years respectively

Companies keep tight security in Lae

MOST companies in Lae opened for business yesterday under heavy security but could not operate at their fullest capacity, The  National  reports.
Food manufacturing and industrial companies reported operating with minimal staff as many had stayed home in fear or could not travel to work due to lack of transportation.
Construction companies involved in fixing the Lae roads had completely shut down operations.
Many multi-national companies did not respond to questions regarding loss of business.

Team formed to probe ethnic tension

THE Morobe provincial executive committee has appointed an assembly law and order committee to look into ethnic tension in the city, The National reports.
The committee is headed by former premier and Salamaua president Hagai Joshua.
Members of the committee are Works chairman and Wain Erap president Charlie Foike, Gagidu Mayor Manaseh Laine, Forest chairman and Wampar president Peter Namus, Kabwum MP Bob Dadae and chairman for Culture and Tourism and Menyamya president Thompson Molinguso.
Deputy administrator district services Patilius Gamato is also on the committee. 
They had been tasked to come up with short, medium and long-term solutions to the law and order problem in the city.

Public transport still not working in Lae

By ELLEN TIAMU

PUBLIC transport in Lae has not been fully restored, The National reports.
Many people had to walk to work yesterday morning.
Some employees were picked up in their company vehicles or by friends while many had to leave home early to make the long walk to work.
Many members of the public, caught unawares, ran out of food during the weekend and could not go to town as the situation was tense.
sOME people walked more than 5km to shops in Chinatown and the main market area to buy rice and canned food.
After fights broke out in various parts of Lae city last Thursday, public motor vehicles stopped their services in and out of Lae.
Many became victims of vented anger after fights broke out onto the street in sections of the city.
The fights began when opportunists tried to take advantage of a burning shop near the Lae market.
About half an hour later, another fight started at Top Town after Morobean youths tried to petition Governor Luther Wenge at the provincial assembly and Morobe administration headquarters in town over law and order issues.
With police personnel from Port Moresby beefing up security numbers over the weekend, PMV users had to walk or catch lifts to town.
No one waited at the bus stops because there was no PMV operating.
many people who came into town had to leave early to either find transport or walk all the way home.
Many employers allowed staff to leave work early to go home.
Meanwhile, the Australian government had advised its citizens “to exercise a high degree of caution in Papua New Guinea because of high levels of serious crime”.
A travel alert advised
Australians to “pay close attention to your personal security at all times and monitor the media for information about possible new safety or security risks”.

Lae violence affects church project

By MALUM NALU

The violence in Lae has affected a partnership initiative between a Lutheran church group there and another in Adelaide, South Australia.

Adelaide-based Rebecca Ogan Kiage, who lives in Lae but is now studying in Adelaide,  had been working on the initiative between Lae’s Church of Hope in East Taraka with St Paul’s Lutheran Church in Adelaide for the benefit of Lanakapi School at Tent City, was greatly disappointed.

“They would like to seal the deal for partnership for both school and church this month, however, the riot is not helping,” she said today (Monday).

“This week was the Lae people’s time to sort their visas, but with what’s happening, they have been unable to access funds at the bank.

“So much is at stake here, especially for a group from Lae’s Lutheran Church of Hope Parish at East Taraka, which was planning a trip to Adelaide on Nov 29 to explore partnership with the St Paul’s Lutheran Church in Adelaide to initiate church projects, particularly for the Lanakapi school at Tent City and also other collective projects that would benefit the settlement communities around Lae city.

“The team from the Church of Hope was planning to visit on Nov 29 and this was formalised with St Paul’s Lutheran Church here in Adelaide, however the riot has greatly hindered their progress.

“The team from Lae is now in a dilemma as to how they would access their funds and proceed with their visa arrangements to travel to Adelaide.

“If this riot continues this initiative will be delayed and sadly, the people from Lae will greatly miss out on such generosity by both churches that aims to better the lives of communities in Lae through mutual partnership and respect from both churches.”

Kiage said there was a collective negligence on all paths which contributed to the riot.

“The best strategy now is for government, law-enforcing agency and community leaders to address this issue and restore peace and normalcy,” she said.

Prices rise amid Lae strife

PRICES of goods shot up by more than 40% in trade stores throughout Lae city, in Morobe, last weekend, The National reports.
All major shops were closed giving the trade store operators the opportunity to increase their prices.
Many workers who received their salaries on Friday had nowhere to buy store goods due to the violence in the city.
Some tried to buy food from neighbours.
In trade stores from Bumbu settlement to Bumayong, a 1kg packet of rice rose from K4.60 to K5.50 while K3 cell phone credit cards were going for K5.
Loose cigarettes jumped to K1 from 60 toea and betelnut went from 70t to K1. Mustard was sold separately for 30 toea apiece.
Cracker biscuits, which sold for K1, were going for K1.50 while ice block, which were sold for 20t each, were selling for 50t.
In liquor black markets, the SP Brown stubby went from K5 to K7.
Shops including Freddy’s at Milfordhaven, Pelgens at Chinatown and Milfordhaven, Raumai and Stephens at the market were guarded by police and allowed only 10 shoppers in at a time.
The Lae Bakery at the market was open for most of the weekend but had tight security and served people through security bars before fully opening its doors late yesterday afternoon

‘Over-speeding’ propellers blamed for Dash 8 disaster

By JASON GIMA WURI

THE fatal Airlines PNG Dash 8 crash on Oct 13 near Madang was caused by the “over-speeding” of both propellers, a preliminary report of the Papua New Guinea Accident Investigation Commission has found, The National reports.
The commission said the propellers exceeded their maximum permitted revolutions per minute by more than 60%.
It said because of this there was a loud “bang” which witnesses on the ground reported hearing.
The flight crew then shut down both engines.
“At 5.17pm the crew made a mayday call to air traffic control and indicated they were having an in-flight emergency and that both engines had stopped.
“Madang tower then declared a search and rescue phase, believing the aircraft was about to ditch into the ocean.
“But the aircraft landed on a sparsely timbered terrain on the northern side of the Buang River, 33km southeast of Madang town, killing 28 of the 32 people on board.”
The report said that on impact, the plane was badly damaged while colliding with trees and the ground and an intense fuel-fed fire started.
Villagers who had heard and seen the aircraft in the final stages of its descent rushed to the crash site to find the fuselage engulfed in flames.
They then helped the four survivors and took them to the nearest aid post.
The preliminary report was released last Friday by the commission’s acting chief exec­utive officer Sid O’Toole, who said they had met the requirement for a preliminary report to be ready within 30 days.
It said the pilot in command, 64, and his 40-year-old first officer had 18,200 flying hours and 2,750 flying hours respectively, with both holding valid PNG airlines transport pilot licences.
The report said the flight progressed normally and flight P2-MCJ was transferred to Madang air traffic control at 5.10pm on descent into Madang.
“The descent profile on this sector was steep because of the proximity of the Finisterre Ranges to Madang and the pilot, who was the handling pilot, was hand-flying the aircraft because the autopilot was unserviceable.”
The report said the pilot was manoeuvring the aircraft visually to avoid cloud and thunderstorms.
At 5.12pm, in response to a request from Madang tower, the flight crew stated that the aircraft was 24 nautical miles from Madang, leaving 13,000ft on descent.
O’Toole said: “The Dash 8 has a turbine engine which runs through a gear box and it runs through the propellers and over-speed caused self-destruction.
“The investigations have been supersonic and we thank Prime Minister Peter O’Neill for visiting the site and we are glad that O’Neill has made a commitment to release funds to complete the investigation,” he said.
“We thank TropicAir for their help in this time.”
Civil Aviation Minister Puri Ruing thanked the commission, the Aviation Transport Safety Bureau of Australia, the Transport Safety Board of Canada, aircraft manufacturer Bombardier, engine manufacturer Pratt and Whitney, the Civil Aviation Safety Authority of PNG (CASA) and Airlines PNG for their cooperation and help in enabling the investigation to progress
efficiently and effectively, resulting in the preliminary report being issued in under 30 days.
“The accident investigation will continue for some time in order to establish root casual factors for the accident and the final report may take a year to complete due to the detailed analysis that is required,” Ruing said.
The information in the preliminary report was derived from initial investigation of the occurrence.
However, people were cautioned that there was the possibility that new evidence may become available that altered the circumstances described in the preliminary findings.

State-of-emergency warning for Lae!

A STATE of emergency will be declared in the violence-raked industrial city of Lae if the situation does not return to normal today, Prime Minister Peter O’Neill said in Port Moresby yesterday.

A police mobile unit personnel inspecting a deserted residential area torced during the weekend violence.-Nationalpic by PISAE GUMAR

The prime minister’s announcement came as a 120-member police detachment from three mobile squads fought to restore order in Lae.
Yesterday, The National independently confirmed five dead and 26 injured.
However, the numbers of deaths and those injured could be higher with the prime minister’s official statement citing nine people dead.
Allegations by relatives of the dead and the wounded that the shooting was by police could not be confirmed last night.
Many claimed police shot discriminately and would not allow the wounded and dead past roadblocks to be transported to the hospital, claims which again elicited no response from the police.
Many thousands of kina worth of properties, homes and businesses were damaged in the violence.
Already Lae and surrounding areas had been declared a fighting zone with stringent control on the movement of people from November until January.
The spate of violence began last Thursday in Top Town after a protest march over crime in Lae went terribly wrong and spread over the weekend into the nearby settlements of Kamkumung, Bumayong and Butibam.
Displaced settlers, mainly from the highlands, were gathered at a church and police barracks calling for relief assistance and repatriation to their provinces of origin.
Lae residents were queuing for provisions at tucker boxes and those few shops that remained open over the weekend.
The prime minister was at pains to point out that a state of emergency would be the “last option” but it will be imposed if order was not restored today.
“I would like to see life in the city return to normal tomorrow (today) and businesses allowed to open their doors,” he said.
“Lae is an important port city. It is our industrial hub. Its port provides a vital link for businesses in many parts of the country. A shutdown will not only cripple businesses but will affect the economy. We cannot allow this.”
O’Neill said an investigation would establish the cause of the uprising.
Internal Security Minister John Boito and acting Police Commissioner Tom Kulunga were expected to visit Lae today to assess the situation.

Agriculture Minister calls for landowner cooperation to make rice project a success

By SOLDIER BURUKA of DAL

Minister for Agriculture and Livestock Sir PukaTemu has described the new commercial rice project in Central province as a major agriculture investment that will boost economic development.

Sir PukaTemu addressing the meeting at Vanapa

And he has appealed to the landowners and people of Kairuku-Hiri district where the project will be located to accept, support and make it work.

Sir Puka said the multi-billion kina rice project would be a major impact project for the district, the province and Southern region as well as the country and this opportunity should not be missed.

He was speaking at a meeting with landowners and the community at Vanapa on Monday last week. The previous weekend Sir Puka also paid a visit to the Nara/Gabadi community and delivered a similar message to the people there.

Sir Puka, accompanied by his departmental head and members of the rice project team, told the people that disagreements and infighting amongst the landowners would have a negative effect on their chances of participating in the project.

He called on the landowners, clan leaders, community leaders and individuals to solve their differences and work together and support the government so that the project could commence and everyone could benefit.

Sir Puka reminded the people that due to landowner infighting and land disputes in the Rigo district, the sugar project was taken away and established at Ramu in Morobe province. A similar problem should not force the government to move the rice project to another province, he said.

The 5-6 billion kina project is a major investment in rice development and agriculture sector in PNG in which the investor will develop 100,000 hectares of land for commercial rice leading to increased benefits to landowners, employment, training, infrastructure and reduce rice imports.

This is a huge opportunity for PNG to produce rice on a larger scale and will need all the support from the landowners and communities within the project areas including provincial and district administration, ward councillors, village leaders and other stakeholders.

Sir Puka said there would be increased opportunities for the resource owners to participate in spin off businesses, employment and training as well as improved infrastructure in roads and social services. People’s livelihoods will change as they will have access to money and better services.

Sir Puka assured the people that the O’Neill/Namah government was committed towards supporting the project because it wants to boost economic development in the province.

He said there would be many challenges that would require a lot of understanding and patience and urged all parties to sit together and discuss the issues.

Sir Puka said he hoped that the deed of agreement for the project could be signed by the investor and the government this month.

As a fully integrated highly mechanised project using state-of-the-art technology, the investor’s plans are to develop massive water irrigation system, dams, road networks, airstrip, harbour, township and rice milling facilities.

The project once developed should generate employment opportunities in excess of 5,000 jobs, produce over 3.0 million tons of rice, save over K500 million in foreign exchange revenues and earn in excess of K3 billion in foreign exchange earnings per annum. Besides the huge financial gains to the nation, positive economic impacts to the landowners, local communities, Central Province, this project will substantially raise the profile of the agriculture sector to new heights.