K54 million lost in highway fraud

By PEARSON KOLO

 

THE government lost K54 million to fraud and bogus claims disguised as compensation for the Highlands Highway rehabilitation project, an expert has claimed, The National reports.

Consultant Mori Resources said the fraud was perpetrated by the absence of legislation on road corridor managements.

The fraud and bogus claims were pushed by public servants colluding with dishonest villagers, the firm said.

Further claims lodged by villagers with the Department of Works escalated to K68 million, compelling the state to put on hold the Highlands Highway rehabilitation project.

This had abruptly disrupted all rehabilitation and upgrading work on the Highlands Highways and other major roads in the country.

The Asian Development Bank, which loaned the money to fund the project, has pulled out.

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Transport and Works Don Polye received the report of this fraud last Friday by the consulting firm which was engaged to undertake structural mapping, verification and valuation.

Mori Resources said less than K10 million should have been paid to the landowners if proper procedures were followed with only those structures within the 40m corridor of the highway being pulled down, and their owners compensated.

The minister was not impressed with the involvement of public servants into the rod.

“This is corruption by state agents and contractors who are collaborating with the people,” Polye said.

“Everyone in society entangled themselves and willingly participated in this act of corruption to rob the country.”

Polye said immediate actions would be taken against those involved once all the evidences were put together.

Identifying and persecuting those involved, including the landowners, would be fairly easy because Mori Resources had used the GIS structural mapping system linked to a satellite precisely identified who were genuine claimants and who were not.

During the structural mapping process, Mori Resources discovered that of the total K54,067,338 paid out for structures either outside the legal 40m road corridor or were non-existent, only K8,957,175.35 worth of structures were recorded within the 40m corridor.

The minister said he would present the report of the finding to cabinet for deliberation.

 

 

Freeway claims life of politician's son

HOUSING Minister Andrew Kumbakor has described the Poporena Freeway as a “death trap” that needs to be redesigned before more lives are lost, The National reports.

Kumbakor is mourning the loss of his young son Malakai, 13, who was killed in an accident along the highway on Saturday evening.

Malakai was in a sedan with four others, heading back from town after a basketball training session.

The driver, believed to be his elder brother, lost control and shot off the highway at Hohola.

Malakai was thrown out of the car. He suffered injuries to his head and other parts of his body, and was pronounced dead on arrival at the Pacific International Hospital.

Police are investigating the accident.

“There have been a lot of deaths on the Poreporena Freeway over the years.

“Most of these deaths are preventable if safety was considered during its construction. For example, there is no way of controlling speed on this highway,” the minister said.

The lack of speedometer, or any gadget to control speed, meant motorists were travelling at high speed on the highway.

“There is no speedometer, or speed humps. There are so many vehicles on the road today.

“The lack of policing is such that people with dangerous habits are allowed to drive on the road,” he said.

“Our roads and their use are so unregulated here,” Kumbakor said.

Malakai was a Grade 6 student at the Kopkop College in Gerehu. He is survived by six brothers and four sisters.

Also over the weekend, a pioneer SDA pastor in Enga was killed in Boroko when he was hit by a vehicle.

He was identified as Pr Paul Piari. Details of his death were not released, but police are also investigating.

Last year, two brothers were killed at Konedobu, along the freeway, when a vehicle which had spun out of control slammed into them.

The two were sons of government lawyer David Lambu.

 

Fleeing Unitech students asked to return to classes

THE University of Technology administration has urged students who have left the campus to return for classes starting today, The National reports.

Many of the students left the campus after violence flared again between two ethnic groups last Thursday night, which resulted in the death of a first year engineering student.

The senior executive management and heads of departments met and agreed to suspend classes last Friday and resume today while efforts were made at the weekend to bring the groups involved together to reconcile.

The university administration also quickly moved to beef up security on campus with the engagement of a police mobile squad and increasing the number of security guards by private contractor Kuima Security Services and the university’s own security staff.

Lae metropolitan commander Chief Supt Nema Mondiai also assured that more policemen would be deployed on campus should the need arise.

Acting vice-chancellor Prof Mohammed Satter and registrar Allan Sako met with the student representative council executive and leaders of student groups, especially from the Highlands provinces, last Friday and assured them that security measures were in place to ensure the safety of the students.

They told the students the mobile squad 14 from Goroka would be based on campus until the situation is back to normal.

Other measures imposed included:

* Restrictions on movement of staff, staff dependents, students and the public in and out of the campus from 10pm daily until further notice;

* Restrictions on vehicles moving in and out of the campus from 10pm daily;

* Restrictions on ethnic or regional meetings or gatherings on campus; and

* Emphasising the existence of the zero tolerance policy on alcohol and drugs.

Police and security staff have been directed to strictly police the measures.  Any student, staff, staff dependent or member of the public who breaches the restrictions would be dealt with under the university rules and the laws.

The measures follow the killing of a first-year electrical engineering student last Thursday night on campus.

The student died after being attacked with sticks and stones and stabbed during the fight.

Another student sustained serious injuries and is in critical condition at the Angau Memorial Hospital.

A third student is also recovering at Angau, where he was admitted with serious head injuries last week.

Last Thursday, the students involved in the first fight met and agreed on a truce, shook hands and reconciled. Later that evening, the fight erupted again, this time involving a larger group.

Satter, while expressing regret and dismay at the continuing violence perpetrated by a minority of the students, appealed to everyone, including the public to adhere to the restrictions so as to bring about normalcy on campus.

He urged those students that left the campus to return and allow for lectures to resume on Monday (today), adding the university had not closed.

Satter also appealed to the concerned students and student groups to stop the violence and allow the normal process of the law to take its course and for negotiations with the disputing parties for an early resolution.

He said the administration did not want the students’ studies to be disrupted any further, with just five weeks left before the final examinations.

Bulolo Live

http://bulololive.blogspot.com/ for all the news and views from Bulolo, Morobe province

Kutubu has rice potential

Words and picture by SENIORL ANZU

 

Kutubu is known for producing Papua New Guinea’s finest crude oil which is commercialised internationally.

Early works proved that Kutubu also has the potential to produce upland rice.

The soil and the climate are just right.

 The Foe, Faso and Moran women have wasted no time; they are already in business, venturing into household level rice production for family consumption.

Taking the lead is the Kutubu Foe Women’s Association.

Their initiative was boosted with the donation of two new rice milling machines by Oil Search Ltd and the Department of Agriculture and Livestock.

Pictured is Piano Paul (left) from Waro village in the Faso area of Kutubu with her 25kg of NR 15 rice variety, harvested from her backyard experiment after receiving seeds from NARI.

Piano was a proud mother who was happy to show her harvests to Maria Linibi (right) of the PNG Women in Agriculture (PNGWiA) and Elizaberth Kelly of the Community Development Initiative (CDI) foundation last week.

Agriculture extension concept needs to be expanded

By SOLDIER BURUKA of DAL

 

An agriculture smallholder extension concept successfully trialled in two provinces should be expanded throughout the country.

The Smallholder Support Services Pilot Project (SSSPP) proved successful during its trial phase in the Morobe and Eastern Highlands provinces through funding support from the Asian Development Bank.

The expansion phase has again been made possible by a K3 million grant provided by the New Zealand government through its aid agency, NZAid.

It will now be expanded to the Chimbu and Central provinces.

A Smallholder Support Services Expansion Project workshop held in Lae recently was told that the concept is a good one and should be expanded to other provinces.

This extension concept has been well received and has improved agriculture extension and agriculture productivity in the Eastern Highlands and Morobe provinces.

Morobe provincial administration deputy administrator Geoving Bilong and his EHP counterpart Solomon Tato told the workshop that they were pleased with the concept which has had a positive impact in the people’s livelihood in the two provinces.

They said that with adequate funding and resources Morobe and EHP were prepared to take the lead in assisting other provinces to implement the extension concept.

They also urged that the concept be taken on board under the auspices of the National Agriculture Development Plan and similar programmes.

Bilong said that the concept can be adopted and incorporated into current extension systems as the way forward to enhance agriculture extension and delivery of agricultural services especially at the district and ward council level.

He thanked NZAID for having confidence in the PNG agriculture sector and placing emphasis on gender participation.

In Morobe more women are becoming involved in agriculture as service providers and all these have been made possible by the new extension concept.

“Many people who have gone through the SSSPP concept have improved their agricultural activities,” Bilong said.

“This is a good project that has the capacity to involve people at all levels of the community and can make a big impact in improving extension services in PNG.”

Tato said the extension concept had assisted in starting up new agricultural initiatives in areas where agriculture delivery services were not effective in the past.

 He said the concept could be adopted into other agricultural programs for maximum impact in the rural communities.

Eastern Highlands agriculture advisor Bubia Muhuju said the concept had improved agriculture extension activities as well as enabling more cooperation and teamwork amongst various stakeholders especially district agriculture services.

It has led to positive impact in agriculture development in the province.

Chimbu agriculture advisor Damien Toki said his province had arranged for staff to be seconded to the SSSEP and organised its new office as well as appointing a Support Services Contract Facility steering committee.

The provincial executive council has approved funding and the project should commence operation in September.

“SSSEP concept is designed to sustain smallholder initiatives,” he said.

“As a province that is smallholder activity driven in all aspects of life, we saw this as the way out and are more than happy to participate in this programme.”

Central province’s deputy administrator Michael Uaiz stressed that awareness and advocacy was essential to progress the SSSEP and related programmes.

 He said the people of Central deserved to be given a fair deal and the SSSEP provided opportunities for agriculture development to move forward.

 

Public servants' pay scales to be reviewed

From PAUL OATES

I see in the recent Papua New Guinea news some statements about reviewing the pay scales of public servants, .... but in the future naturally.
This initiative could well have very advantageous spin offs for PNG where the 'six pack' mentality has become an accepted fact to get anything done.
But 'Old habits die hard'. To accept better pay and conditions, public servants must be offered a legally binding contract to sign with performance benchmarks and guarantees against any corrupt practices (to be spelt out). Failure to meet this legal contract would either lead to a reduction in pay (if due diligence and care is unsatisfactory) or dismissal (if corruption is found or continued).
This type of contract is now standard practice in many public services. Contracts must be negotiated in advance with public service unions and staff associations and then advertised and discussed extensively prior to implementation.
But will PS senior staff and CEO's be diligent themselves?  'Who will watch the watchers'? Will PS supervisors be prepared to act? Will the politicalisation of the PNG public service over the last decade work against any new regime? Will PNG politicians be prepared to act against those they themselves may have found sinecures for? Those who are tasked with the implementation of these contracts must themselves be above reproach.
This whole concept also calls for a lot of 'WILL' power. Has too much 'WON'T power been build up over the last few decades?
If those authorities (the Public Prosecutor, et al), in PNG aren't able to hold their government and its members responsible and accountable, why should the country expect any better from her public servants? The example must start from the top.
______________________________ __

O'Neill promises pay rise for public servants in 2011

THE Government has indicated a pay rise for public servants across the country in next year's budget.
It has also assured of a more stable and consistent public service free of constant changes that suit political and parochial whims.
That promise was made by Treasurer and Minister for Public Service, Peter O'Neill, when addressing a group of bureaucrats this week.
He said negotiations between the Public Employees Association and the Department of Personnel Management were currently underway for a likely rise next year.
In return for this commitment, O'Neill wants public servants to perform their duties with the trust, loyalty and efficiency expected of them so the Government's service delivery to the people is reliable and effective.
Speaking to provincial and district treasurers at the 13th bi-annual conference in Chimbu on Monday, O'Neill said: "I care for the welfare of our public servants, so we might see a (wage) increase in the 2011 Budget."
"There will be no constant changes because stability in the public service is crucial, and we will continue this (approach) during the term of this Parliament," he said.
O'Neill said the PNG economy would be achieving a high growth rate of 8 % this year because of the stability in the public service, in politics and in the economy.
"We have many resource projects opening up, therefore, we need the right political leadership and we need the right public service leadership.
"That is why we need to make merit-based appointments, and the same should happen with political leadership."
He called on the treasurers and public servants maintain their professional and personal integrity by refusing to entertain corrupt political leadership.
"You are holding those positions because of trust and honesty. If political leaders do wrong, learn to say, no. Do not change budgets to suit Members (of Parliament) or contractors.
"You must maintain the integrity of the office you hold and earn the trust of the people. It is the people's right to get health, education and other Government services."
He also assured of the Government's commitment to continue funding of the Department of Finance's district treasuries roll-out programme next year.
The programme, which was started in 2004, has now seen the establishment of fully-functional modern treasury offices, staff houses, logistical back-up and banking and postal services in 58 of the 86 district treasuries.