Captions: 1.New water supply (right) at the female dormitories 2. Project signboard at Kerevat National High School 3. One of the 12 dormitories that was built… project manager Stefan Segecic and construction manager Mathias Bo 4. One of the completely rundown classrooms at Kerevat 5. Project office at Kerevat 6. KerevatNationalHigh School signboard
RundownKerevatNationalHigh School in the East New Britain province is getting a new lease on life.
The once-derelict dormitories are being renovated at a cost of K6 million from Rehabilitation of Education Sector Infrastructure (RESI) funding from the national government.
Twelve dormitories for both male and female students are being built by local company SWT Construction.
However, same cannot be said of the classrooms, which are completely rundown and are shocking skeletons of their former self.
I was given a guided tour of the new-look Kerevat by project manager Stefan Segecic and construction manager Mathias Bo on Sunday.
“We want to bring the dormitories to the state they were in when they were new,” Mr Segecic said.
“We started work at the end of last year and expect to finish before Christmas, so the dormitories will be ready for school year 2010.
“We did everything without interference of the work of the students.”
SWT Construction is also filling in brand-new electrical fittings and bringing in new water supply to the dormitories.”
Company owner Eremas Wartoto said he was hoping to get a variation to the existing contract with the national government so his company could also work on the classrooms.
“We are looking at the government to make an extension to the contract so we can also work on the classrooms,” he said.
“We’ve already got all the necessary materials to build the classrooms, but we’re waiting for a variation to the existing contract so that we can finalise the classrooms as well before the start of school year 2010.”
Pictured is Tavurvur Volcano in Rabaul, East New Britain province, smoking away last Saturday. I took these pictures on the beachfront at the Queen Emma Lodge in Kokopo.
I caught this beautiful sunrise over Kokopo this morning before we left for Tokua airport to catch out Air Niugini flight back to Port Moresby. I took the pictures along the beachfront at Queen Emma Lodge, Kokopo, where I had been staying since last Saturday. A truly mesmerising sight at Kokopo this morning
PORT MORESBY, Monday, November 16: INTEROIL Corporation has announced that it has successfully logged 1,224 feet (373 meters) of the reservoir in the Antelope Reef structure.
The success announcement was registered with the New York and Port Moresby stock exchanges on Friday.
The drilling and logs to date demonstrate very good reservoir quality in the Antelope-2 well which is located 2.3 miles south of the Antelope- 1 well at UpperPurariRiver in Papua New Guinea’s GulfProvince.
Preliminary results from the drilling and logging of the Antelope-2 well:
·Wireline logs and third party evaluation have demonstrated a gas and gas liquids column over the entire logged vertical interval of 1,224 feet (373 meters), from 6,004 feet (1,830 meters) to 7,228 feet (2,203 meters);
·Confirmation of the reefal structure with dolomite and limestone over the total reservoir section;
·The cumulative net or productive reservoir exceeds 1,178 feet (359 meters) giving a net to gross ratio of over 96%;
·Porosity averaging over 14.0% across the entire logged interval, with some sections exceeding 20%;
·The average porosity and net to gross are better than the equivalent results derived from the Antelope-1 well.
The logged interval defined above is only the upper section of the reservoir.
The drilling has stopped here, above the zone in which oil was sampled in the Antelope-1 well, to obtain these intermediate logs and to flow test the gas portion of the reservoir before running casing.
Casing off the upper gas interval will allow us to better evaluate the lower section of the reservoir where we will be testing for a potentially higher condensate-to-gas ratio at the base of the gas column.
Due to the washouts observed on the logs throughout the wellbore, InterOil has determined that the packer required for a drill stem test is not likely to seal and would not provide definitive results on the condensate ratio.
The forward program for the well is to perform a production test, run a 7 inch liner and tie back, then drill out to test and core the lower gas interval and potential oil leg section of the reservoir. The well will be drilled to approximately 8,285 feet (2,525) meters which is 1,056 feet (322 meters) deeper than the depth logged to date.
“These results continue to surpass our expectations as the logs of the Antelope-2 well are as good, or better than what we observed in our Antelope-1 well. These results combined with the reservoir coming in high, a larger dolomite section deeper in the reservoir and an increase in average porosity are encouraging.” said Mr Phil Mulacek, Chief Executive Officer.
The much talked about private public partnership (PPP) has taken a completely new turn for remote Pomio, East New Britain province, one of the most-undeveloped areas of Papua New Guinea.
Tolai businessman Eremas Wartoto, owner of the SWT Group of Companies,has purchased equipment worth K15 million to bring development to Pomio, starting with the development of the 26km Uvol ring road.
The road will be constructed at a cost of K4 million from Pomio's K10m district support improvement programme.
The equipment - consisting of two wheel loaders, two motor graders, two rollers, two loaders, a piling machine, a barge, seven dump trucks, a bitumen spray truck, two water trucks, a dump truck, a concrete mixer, two prime movers, two trailers and a crusher – were launched in Kokopo on Saturday in a ceremony witnessed by Pomio MP and National Planning and Development Minister Paul Tiensten, East New Britain Governor Leo Dion, community leaders and members of the Kokopo and Rabaul business community.
Mr Wartoto, a self-made success story who is one of the biggest contractors to the Lihir gold mine and who owns Kokopo's Queen Emma Lodge among his many businesses, said there was only one way to go in the province and that was south towards Pomio.
"There is only one way for East New Britain to go, and that's towards the south coast," he told an appreciative crowd.
"You can't go back to the volcanoes (Rabaul)."
Mr Wartoto said political stability at both national and provincial level was vital for economic development.
"I can see some stability in this government," he said.
"As long as there is a good relationship between the Governor and the MPs, we can make this province become a role model for the rest of the country."
Mr Tiensten admitted that Pomio was a very difficult place to develop because of the topography and terrain, and up to now, the only roads in the area were those built by logging companies.
"Pomio is a very difficult place to develop because of the topography and terrain," he said.
"If you're talking about road accessibility, you're talking about millions.
"The topography and terrain has made Pomio an impossible place to get into."
Mr Tiensten said the PPP policy reflected the changing mindset of the government towards development of the country.
"PPP is a major policy of the government," he said.
"In the past, government tried to do everything without business houses or the churches.
"We must all work together as we are all trying to serve the same person.
"Governments in the past have failed.
"That's why we started this PPP policy.
"The establishment of this ring road is a breakthrough for Pomio.
"I want to thank logging companies like Rimbunan Hijau for helping to develop Pomio.
"By next year, you can drive from Kokopo to Tol, and on to Pomio."
Mr Dion commended Mr Tiensten for his leadership at both national and electoral level.
"I agree that to develop Pomio is very difficult," he said.
"No contractor was willing to go there because of the risks.
"I'm glad that this bold decision has been made to get this machinery into Pomio.
"It's a challenge, Minister, and a challenge to the contractor.
"It's a challenge for the people to have a road in reasonable time.
"It's been a problem but now we have a solution to this.
"I thank the Pomio people for unlocking and releasing your land for development.
"I believe that this operation in Pomio will succeed in the shortest possible time."
I'm in beautiful Kokopo, East New Britain province, and have been there since last Saturday. I was supposed to have travelled back to Port Moresby today but was offloaded and I'll be travelling tomorrow morning. Otherwise, I'm really enjoying myself here at the Queen Emma Lodge where I'm staying, sitting down on the beachfront with the volcanoes of Rabaul in the background.
Hey Malum, As 'motherhood' statements go, that list from the 16th APEC Finance Minister's Conference has to be the biggest and best I've seen in a long while. Now to something far more serious: The news item below in The National seems to point to an increasing restlessness and a potential for full scale violence to erupt.
Once it starts, it will be very hard to stop. What's your take on this? Cheers mate, Paul ___________________________
Surely someone can read the signs. The shooter in the crowd may be a better shot next time. It's only as matter of time.
VIPs stoned Source: ANDREW ALPHONSE in TARI A TEAM of senior Government ministers and Members of Parliament came under attack in Tari yesterday when angry locals pelted them with stones and booed them. The entourage was in Tari for the licence-based benefits sharing agreement (LBBSA) forums and had planned to speak to the people at the Andaija Oval when they were pelted with stones. Police had to fire several shots into the air to prevent further trouble. No casualties were reported. The entourage included Southern Highlands Governor Anderson Agiru, Finance and Treasury Minister Patrick Pruaitch, Petroleum and Energy Minister William Duma, State Enterprises Minister Arthur Somare, Public Service Minister Peter O'Neill, Sports Minister Philemon Embel, Education Minister James Marape, Kagua-Erave MP James Lagea, Imbonggu MP Francis Awesa, Mendi MP Pr Isaac Joseph, Komo-Margarima MP Francis Potape and Koroba-Lake Kopiago MP John Kekeno.
They were en route to Nogoli for the opening of the Hides PDL 1 LBBSA but decided to make a stop-over in Tari to address the crowd. The crowd of mostly youths and village chiefs from Tari town and Hayapuga areas did not appreciate the presence of the leaders. They protested over why the electorate of Tari-Pori and its four local level government (LLG) council areas - Tari urban, Tebi, Tagali and Hayapuga - were not included in the mapping of the petroleum development licence (PDL) areas in the PNG LNG project. They felt they were going to miss out on the benefits. As the ministers led by the local Hela MPs took to the stage to address them, the crowd moved towards the arena and booed them. The crowd gestured angrily and shouted at the MPs and ministers. Attempts to calm them down were greeted with more booing, yells and whistles. Even Mr Agiru, who commands great respect in the whole of the Hela region, could not do much to control the agitated crowd. The shocked MPs and ministers ducked for cover and were escorted to safety at the nearby Tari district court house. Only Mr Agiru, Mr Marape, Mr Potape and Pr Joseph stood their ground in the grandstand even as the stones came flying at them. Sensing further trouble from the defiant crowd that simply would not listen to them, Mr Agiru told them he would come in person today (Friday) and talk to them to get their views on what they were not happy about. He then led the ministers and MPs 3km out of Tari town to Habare Seventh-Day Adventist (SDA) mission where they were picked by a helicopter and flown to Hides. One of the leaders of the protesters and Kikita village chief, Timothy Hayara, said the people in Tari were angry because not all the Hela area was included in the PDL area, boundary and mapping. Mr Hayara said while Komo and Lake Koroba were included in the LNG map as licenced areas, they were surprised that Tari was not included. Youth leader Kobaiya Timu said if Tari was not included in the PDL map, there was no need for the State and the developer to come there and talk about the LBBSA forum in Tari. He said they should do everything in Hides, Nogoli, Komo and Angore areas near the project sites. Tari-based police highway patrol unit 20 policemen, who tried hard to keep the angry crowd under control, lost their vehicle side glass and headlights when the youths stoned the vehicle. Police personnel flown in from outside the province to provide security at the LBBSA fired several shots into the air to disperse the angry crowd. However, someone in the crowd also had a gun and fired back but fortunately, no-one was injured.
