Business activity blossoms in 2008 despite tough conditions

Captions: 1. World class Process Plant at Lihir Gold Mine in New Ireland province. Picture courtesy of LGL. 2. Aerial view of Porgera Gold Mine. Picture courtese of Porgera Gold Mine. 3. Gas...the future of Papua New Guinea. Picture courtesy of Oil Search Limited.

Papua New Guinea poised for greater heights with gas, mining and petroleum

By JASON SOM KAUT

Nearly all sectors of the economy from building-construction, mining and petroleum, agriculture, fisheries, forestry, both formal and informal sectors have experienced increased activity.
This has had a flow-on effect that has trickled on to other sectors like wholesale, retail, the hotel industry, housing and land.
Business performance would have been more if it had not been for the world financial crisis in the latter half of the year that has resulted in many major economies now facing recession and world commodity prices fall with declining demand.
But yet PNG has managed to enter the FEED stage in the nation’s undertaking of its most ambitious and biggest investment project ever –the US$10 billion PNG Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) Project.
The LNG Project has placed PNG on the world map and has captured the attention of the world’s leading mining and petroleum companies and large financial and banking organisations.
There were comments made during the recent 10th PNG Mining and Petroleum Investment Conference in Sydney, Australia that amid the world crisis PNG is one of the few shining lights in the world.
Interest in PNG’s mining and petroleum sector was evident in the record 800-plus participants at the conference where
Minister for State Enterprises Arthur Somare said the PNG LNG Project had the potential to positively change the nation’s economy and improve the living standards of its six million people.
 At its peak the project will generate revenue between US$600-800 million annually. Many speakers during the Sydney conference including PNG LNG Venture Manager Peter Graham all echoed similar sentiments.
Recently Nippon Oil Exploration (NOEX) of Japan through its affiliate Merlin Petroleum Company acquired AGL’s gas assets in PNG for US$800 million.
Being one of the joint –venture partners this has cemented confidence in the progress of PNG LNG Project.
The acquisition sees Nippon improve its stake in the project from 1.7% to 5.3%.
The formal announcement of the acquisition by AGL earlier this month was described by Government ministers and Joint Venture partners as a ‘win-win’ situation for everyone. That confirmed the widely-held view of the high-level of certainty that the PNG LNG project will proceed.
President of NOEX Makoto Koseki expressed hope that the firm can further contribute to PNG’s economic development through the acquisition through its expertise and role in two other LNG Projects in South East Asia.
“The deal imposes viability and sends a strong message of confidence in the project,” he said.
This is all amid uncertainty with the world’s financial and commodity markets.
The issue of concern is transparency and accountability and having the right policies in place.
The Government needs to explain to the people how they will benefit.
One of the few remaining major hurdles of the project is the Benefit Sharing Agreement which is planned for March 2009.
This will see the Government, developers and landowners agree on the benefits to landowners.
 Landowners have expressed desire to have an increase in royalty considering that the project will impact about 100, 000 landowners.
Record world commodity prices and good economic performance last year, windfall revenues that were rightly placed in trust accounts and the fact that our financial sector is insulated from the direct effects of the global financial market turmoil saw PNG less affected by the crisis.
According to Bank of PNG Governor Wilson Kamit this is because banks are funded primarily by domestic deposits and along with financial institutions do not have large exposures to external investments.
But the effects are starting to be felt with the latest victim being Nautilus PNG announcing less than a week ago that it would delay its seafloor mining venture in PNG and cut staff by 30% until the global economy stabilises.
There are also unconfirmed rumors that a major logging firm has sent staff home on three-months of forced-leave due to a fall in demand for its log exports in the region.
There are many mines in construction phase including the multi-billion Ramu Nickel mine while the Hidden Valley mine in Morobe province is scheduled to be in operation next year.
With the arrival of competition both Air Niugini and B-Mobile have improved performance as customers enjoy cheaper rates.
Despite a good performance the year was overshadowed by the world financial crisis and the unnecessary and brutal killing of pioneer PNG businessman and philanthropist Sir George Constantinou.
The World Bank, The Asian Development Bank and the Institute of National Affairs all cited the need for better regulations.
They raised concern on political uncertainty despite the current stability, law and order, instability in laws and regulations, corruption and poor infrastructure and public services.
Recommendations have been made to promote public-private partnerships, simplifying the system of licenses, taxes and regulations, promoting competition and the financial markets and formalising private and public sector consultation mechanisms.
 

Development is yourself

A thought just came to my mind this morning with New Year just a few days away.

All too often, Papua New Guineans are very quick to point fingers at the government, for anything that goes wrong.

Papua New Guinea just celebrated 33 years of independence on Tuesday, September 16, 2008, and it is now time to look at ourselves rather than forever pointing fingers at the government.

Sure, the government isn’t made up of saints, and politicians and public servants have committed so many sins since September 16, 1975.

Development, I have always believed, is yourself.

If I develop myself, my neighbour will emulate my successes and so on, a never-ending circle of success.

Papua New Guinea, however, will continue to wallow in the depths of despair if we continue holding on to our bad habits.

They are, to name a few:

1.      Consumption of alcohol

2.      Smoking

3.      Chewing of betelnut

4.      Laziness

5.      Criminal activities

6.      Use of drugs, in particular, marijuana

7.      Gambling

8.      Beliefs in sorcery

9.      Wantok system

10.  Procastination

 

If you would like to add to this list, you can make a comment at the bottom or email me at malumnalu@gmail.com

 

You know you're a Papua New Guinean when:

*You can have cordial for breakfast.

* You have buai for Lunch.

* You still live with your parents even though you're 30.

*You bring your boyfriend/girlfriend to the house and everyone's concluded that you are married!

* You wear board shorts to cruise in town even though you are not going for a swim (KBS 2 the max!).

* You share one cigarette with five other people.

* Your Mother gives your father Black eyes.

* You have about three families living in one house.

* Still keep drinking even though you can barely talk and walk.

* At any major function, instead of a plate, your food comes in a plastic container.

* You run into a mountain of slippers blocking the front door.

* Your staple diet is rice and tin fish or Ox & palm.

* You have a huge gap between your first two toes, (excessive thong wear...).

* Swimming pool is filled with people wearing t-shirts, (Females).

* You can sprint barefoot on sharp stones and rocks.

* You wake up and go straight to work or classes.

* At crossings, you are supposed to wait for the car to stop before crossing, not the other way around.

* Your first and last names are the same. (John John).

* You have a perpetually drunk Uncle who starts fights at every family gathering.

* You call a friend - (squad).

* Every time you greet someone he says "YOU"?

* You have sat in a four-seater car with up to eight other people.

* You can speak with your face - eg. Twitch like a rabbit to ask, Where you going?"

* Your Grandmother thinks Vicks Vapo-Rub is the miracle cure for everything> (including broken bones ....).

* You're getting a hiding and your parents yell at you as to "Why you are crying for?" ("you karai lo wanem ah ......").

* You've been shamed and belted up by your Mother in front of schoolmates at the Supermarket.

* You're a tycoon on your payday by shouting everyone and scab money off people till the next fortnight.

* You invite people over for dinner and your family all of a sudden says the grace.

* You've had an afro at some stage in your life (boys AND girls) and thought you looked cool.

* You're at your Aunties and see your six-year-old cousin doing household chores.

* Your Aunty visits and she's talking to you at the same time as looking in your pots for food...

* You go to your village rich and come back poor.

* You have laplaps for curtains in your house.

 

Hope you had a Wonderful Christmas

And now we all look forward to a Happy New Year

 

I hope all of you, the many hundreds of readers of this blog from all corners of the world; have had a wonderful Christmas with your families and all the best for New Year 2009.

Thank you, on behalf of my four young children, for all the support and kind words you have given me since the untimely death of my wife Hula on Easter Sunday this year.

We missed her terribly in this, our first Christmas without her, however, we have come to accept that life must go on.

I had a quite Christmas period with the four children, watched VCDs, read a lot of literature classics by Charles Dickens – A Christmas Carol, Oliver Twist and A Tale of Two Cities – and am now back at work.

I am an avid reader of the classic works of literature, which I read over and over again, because it helps in a lot in my work as a journalist and editor.

I can assure you of a lot more quality articles in this blog next year.

Thank you once again for all your support and keep those comments rolling in so that we can make this blog even bigger and better.

Take care and God Bless you all real good.

 

Malum Nalu

PUBLIC AFFAIRS BY SUSUVE LAUMAEA

Somare in no rush to exit

 

THERE’S no hurry by or even a signal yet from the Prime Grand Chief Sir Michael Somare to retire from active politics. Somare is in no rush to exit. The grand old man of PNG politics has a knack of keeping everyone guessing. He’s not throwing in the towel just yet. He did not start the rumor. Others did for their own selfish reasons. Despite such a reality that favorite pastime of our politicians has reared its ugly head again. Several of them – from within the governing coalition’s own ranks and elsewhere -- want to be the next Prime Minister. They want the job during this term of Parliament. The message implied in this latest move is that there are some in the Grand Chief’s own governing coalition who think he is either not doing a good job as head of government or that at his age he should be spared all the pressures, heavy workload and the long hours that go with the job as Prime Minister. The aspirants want Sir Michael to retire gracefully and sooner the better. The people who are spreading this kind of aspersions are not from the National Alliance Party. They are people cared for and made an integral part of the government by the good grace of the man they seek to destroy and dethrone. It’s a case of people seeking to chop off the hand that feeds them. It’s sad but true that many before them have unsuccessfully tried similar tactics to fulfill their ambition to be Prime Minister by short-cut methods and not through electoral mandate over the years since independence. Many could not take their failures calmly and have actually died or dropped into the political wilderness and have become “no names”. The flipside of Sir Michael not stepping down from the top job voluntarily sooner rather than later is that those ambitious aspirants vying for the top job are also planning to use Section 145 of the National Constitution to move a Motion of No Confidence in the Prime Minister at the “appropriate” time. The appropriate time is when the 18 months grace period of the government to remain unchallenged in office expires at the end of February in early March. Should such a motion proceed, it will be a tall order for success for the perpetrators of the move. The government is solidly entrenched to thwart such a challenge. It is foolish of those seeking to destabilise government and politics for the sake of wielding political power. Okay, it is granted that there are many potential Prime Minister material among the present crop of MPs. A few standouts include current Deputy Prime Minister Dr Puka Temu, Treasurer Patrick Pruaitch, State Enterprises Minister Arthur Somare, Transport, Works and Civil Aviation Minister Don Polye, Public Service Minister Peter O’Neill, Southern Highlands Governor Anderson Agiru, Opposition Leader Sir Mekere Morauta and Deputy Opposition Leader Bart Philemon. PNG-style politics is heavily dependent on numbers and money. One must have plenty of both underpinned by a great deal of charismatic influence to succeed as a candidate for Prime Minister. Every MP is qualified – by virtue of being a Member of Parliament – to aspire to be Prime Minister. But when you do not have your own extra money, the numbers and the influence to outsmart other aspirants, just forget about trying for something you cannot have. The job will never be handed to anyone a golden platter. It’s a job for very special and talented people with vision and humility and are God-fearing servant leaders. What more do our MPs want? The Somare-led government has looked after them extremely well in terms of pay and perks. The present MPs get very good pay and millions of kina for electorate development as opposed to predecessors who served up to around 1992. All those seeking to be Prime Minister ahead of Sir Michael’s announcement of his retirement from active politics sometime in the foreseeable future will not succeed. There shall be no change of Prime Minister any time between now and 2012.  Any change will happen at the pleasure of the incumbent. And the reshuffle of Ministers recently mooted by the Grand Chief will be a “small one” affecting only three or four ministries. All speculation to the contrary on these two issues is just that – speculation spun by uninformed political opportunists. Sir Michael will announce changes to the ministry after he hosts the special meeting of leaders the Pacific Islands Forum states in Port Moresby in late January. It’s most likely that the merit-based changes will be made before he flies out on a State Visit to New Zealand and Australia in March. Sir Michael will make the changes at his pleasure and not hurriedly as consequence of coercion and pressure put on him by individuals within NA and by his coalition partners. The prime ministerial change and leadership succession of National Alliance Party are two different issues. Under Section 142 (2) of the National Constitution the Prime Minister is appointed by Parliament at the first meeting of Parliament following a national general election and otherwise from time to time as the occasion for the appointment of a Prime Minister arises, by the Head of State acting in accordance with a decision of the Parliament. The Prime Minister is usually the leader of a political party. The emergence of a new National Alliance Party leader is an in-house matter. The party’s National Convention comprising its parliamentary wing, its national council, and regional executive and foundation members shall elect the new party leader. Right now no vacancy exists for a Prime Minister and for NA’s parliamentary leader. Sir Michael and his ruling National Alliance Party will determine the appropriate time, place and space for Sir Michael to step down as party leader and Prime Minister. Everyone -- including NA’s coalition partners -- who’re seeking to accelerate the National Alliance leadership succession before the end of the present parliamentary term by April 2012 shall have to wait. There is no leadership succession problem within NA at present. The last thing that the rank and file of NA wants is hang their dirty linen out publicly. NA’s four regional organisations at peace with each other and are committed to the resolve that the party will collectively decide what is good for them in terms of appointing a successor to take over from Sir Michael when he chooses to retire. Until such time is at hand, there is no leadership vacancy in NA.  Sir Michael deeply respects his parliamentary wing MPs who have been loyal and supportive of his tenure as party leader and as Prime Minister since August 2002. He is not going to keep his party’s national executive and his parliamentary wing members guessing for ever. The Grand Chief is very passionate about the party and will always stand in support of his loyalists. No one in PNG politics should be discourteous about forcing the grand old man of PNG politics and the Pacific’s eldest statesman out of his active role as Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea and parliamentary leader of National Alliance Party. Sooner or later he shall give the signal for his retirement. When that happens appropriate provisions of the National Alliance constitution, the Organic Law on Integrity of Political Parties, the Standing Orders of Parliament and the National Constitution come into play – firstly for the appointment of a new NA leader and secondly for appointment by Parliament of a new Prime Minister.

• Share your views with the writer at mailto: suslaumaea@gmail.com or send SMS to 675-6845168

 

Sir George laid to rest in Brisbane

MORE than 600 people, including Prime Minister Sir Michael Somare, attended the funeral of slain businessman Sir George Constantinou in Brisbane, Australia, yesterday, The National newspaper reports.

There was standing room only at the Greek Orthodox church of St George as Brisbane’s Greek community joined a large contingent of PNG civic and business leaders, and others, for the service.

Hundreds, many bearing flowers, signed condolence books outside the church, below both Greek and Australian flags, before moving into the ornately-painted church. After the funeral ceremony, conducted in Greek, Sir George’s family and other mourners filed past the coffin.

A large funeral cortege followed the hearse to the Mt Gravatt cemetery for the burial, then returned to Brisbane’s Greek Club for a wake.

Sir Michael, who attended with his whole family, said he and the nation had lost a wonderful friend. “I’ve known him for more than 33 years,” Sir Michael said.

 “He’s been a great man, very visionary, (an) innovator, and all his investment was in PNG.

 “He expanded, done his business, employed a lot of Papua New Guineans and I think everyone of us will miss him.

“This tragic incident had ended his life, but for those of us who remember him, he was a great man.

“He’ll be really honoured and I think he’ll have a special place in our record books in Papua New Guinea as someone who came from nothing some 54 years ago and built himself till now.

“We lost a great man in George Constantinou.”

Brisbane architect and businessman Tony Dempsey said Sir George was dedicated to PNG.

“If ever a guy was more impassioned about PNG, you’d be hard-pressed to find one,” Mr Dempsey said.

He said one of Sir George’s main concerns was to ensure employment for his PNG workforce.

Apart from PNG, Sir George also had business interests in the Solomon Islands and in Queensland, Australia.

He established Papuan Welders in 1954 and proceeded to build a business empire in PNG that employed thousands of Papua New Guineans, until his murder last Tuesday near Tete settlement at Gerehu. – AAP

 

Suspects charged

7 accused remanded at Bomana

By SAMSON KENDEMAN

SEVEN suspects allegedly involved in the killing of pioneer businessman Sir George Constantinou last week have been charged with wilful murder and remanded at Bomana prison outside Port Moresby, The National newspaper reported today.

NCD metropolitan commander Supt Fred Yakasa yesterday said the suspects were expected to appear in court later this week.

Out of the seven suspects arrested by NCD police last week, six were said to be from the Goilala district of Central province while one was from Morobe province. If convicted, they could face the death penalty.

Supt Yakasa also dismissed rumours swirling in Port Moresby in the last few days that two of the suspects were ill or injured and were taken to Port Moresby General Hospital for treatment.

“All the seven suspects are detained at Bomana police cells, which has to be confirmed with the Correctional Institute Service officers. None of them were admitted to hospital while in police custody,” Supt Yakasa said.

He said the reactions against the demolition of Tete settlement by various authorities and members of the public were noted, but he questioned who would do the job if they did not.

“It (killing) has portrayed a bad image of the country. Police have done it in the best interest of the nation. It’s a wake-up call for everybody,” Supt Yakasa said.

He again defended the police action at the settlement, which has now been restrained by an order from the National Court at Waigani.