National Capital District receives Kingal

 Hundreds of Christians, tribesmen and women and curious members of the public turned up at the Jackson Airport yesterday afternoon to receive the remains of the late evangelist, Pastor Joseph Kingal, The National reports.

The casket was accompanied from Lae by the late pastor’s wife Susan and their children, friends and relatives and members of the Joseph Kingal Ministry. Kingal was killed in a vehicle accident at Zumim Bridge in Morobe. 

Today’s funeral service will be held at 1pm at the Assemblies of God Conner Stone church in Gordon.-Nationalpics by EKAR KEAPU

Rambi removed

Change in cabinet hits highlands MPs

THE Highlands faction of the National Alliance party suffered a blow yesterday when Prime Minister Sir Michael Somare “demoted” Internal Security Minister Sani Rambi, The National reports.

The prime minister called a meeting of cabinet ministers and announced he was removing Rambi as internal security minister. He moved Rambi to labour and industrial relations and switched Mark Maipakai to internal security.

The move created a murmur among MPs from the highlands region.

Sources told The National last night that Deputy Prime Minister Don Polye, who is deputy leader NA in charge of highlands region, was not consulted about the move.

A number of cabinet ministers contacted last night confirmed the change.

“It is the prerogative of the prime minister to make changes in cabinet,” a minister said when contacted last night.

The changes were unclear but sources said the police force would also see major changes to its hierarchy.

The move would trigger political ripples in the lead-up to the parliament sitting in two weeks, in which Speaker Jeffery Nape was certain to allow a notice on a vote of no-confidence in the prime minister on the floor of parliament.

There were concerns among government circles last night that such an action could provide the opening the opposition needed to talk to factions within government to give credibility to its move to oust the government.

Only last week, Rambi and Police Commissioner Gari Baki brought a submission to cabinet to secure K10 million to urgently fund police operations for the security of the PNG LNG project.

It was said the urgent submission was necessary because of threats by investors and companies involved in the LNG project to pull out due to law and order issues.

It was not clear if this would be followed through by Maipakai.

Rambi is the MP for Mul-Baiyer in the Western Highlands.

Together with Governor Tom Olga and Polye, they form the core of the strong presence of the National Alliance in the highlands region.

But, Rambi had, in the past, been accused of conflicts of interest where his hire car company had benefited financially from the presence and operations of police in the highlands region.

Rambi had maintained that he never used his position to benefit his vehicle hire company.

Prime Minister slams bid for super hospital

PRIME Minister Sir Michael Somare has slammed the proposed new K500 million super hospital being pushed by Health Minister Sasa Zibe, The National reports.

The hospital has the backing of Zibe and Planning Minister Paul Tiensten.

But the prime minister had directed that no more public funds be used to pay for the Pacific Medical Centre project.

He directed Zibe to redirect any funds committed to improving the provision of current public health services.

The proposed hospital had become political and a topic of debate among respected figures in the medical fraternity.

It was suggested in a paid newspaper advertisement last Friday that the prime minister had met and spoke to former US president Bill Clinton about the project in New York last year and both men were keen to see it get off the ground.

But, Sir Michael said in an Oct 20, 2010, letter to Zibe that he was not convinced about the usefulness of the project.

“The irony of the whole issue is that the national government cannot even maintain, at a respectable and physical level, the current hospitals and health facilities,” the prime minister stated in the letter.

“This is compounded by the fact that the national government cannot effectively deliver basic health services, let alone guarantee the supply of basic drugs to the public.

“And, yet, we want to build a new 300-bed international hospital?”

The prime minister said referral hospitals, provincial hospitals, district health centres and medical posts were currently in shameful dilapidated states.

“Basic drugs cannot be assured and delivered to these hospitals and health institutions and, yet, the national government wants to spend millions of kina on this project that has questionable value to our general populace.

“I am not convinced of the usefulness of this Pacific Medical Centre project at this stage.”

He said his office had gone through the submission and had found that the accompanying documents were “sugar coated” with the intention to deceive cabinet members to support the project.

He said many local and US/global partners, mentioned in the accompanying documentation as supporting the project, had since disclaimed their interests.

Villagers shut airport

THE Tari Airport was yesterday shut down by villagers who are demanding K17 million in compensation for the land the airstrip is on, The National reports.

The villagers took over the airfield yesterday and issued demands for the Civil Aviation Authority, airlines and companies involved in the PNG LNG project not to use the airstrip.

Planes flying into the airstrip were diverted elsewhere.

A Twin-Otter belonging to Airlines PNG landed with some goods for the LNG project site.

A Tari town resident said villagers entered the airstrip and told the pilot of the aircraft that he was not to return again.

Passengers with tickets for an Air Niugini flight to Port Moresby were asked to go to Mt Hagen or Mendi to rebook.

An upgrade of the airport funded by the Southern Highlands government has also been halted.

Deputy Prime Minister Don Polye last night expressed concern about the forced closure of the airstrip.

“Such behaviour of the villagers is always a concern for the government.

“Closing the airstrip will not solve any problems.

“If they have a compensation claim, they should bring it through the proper channel.

“If it is genuine, it will be given due attention.

“The government will always try to address land issues through the proper channel and the villagers and their leaders must recognise this,” he said.

Southern Highlands Governor Anderson Agiru was not available for comments last night.

Education Minister James Marape, who is Tari MP, said there could be no claim to the land where the “old” airport was.

Marape said landowners could claim compensation for the land to be taken up for the airport expansion.

“The old airport land has already been purchased, whatever the purchase price was in the past,” he added.

“No one can claim for this. For the land to be acquired for the airport expansion, we will discuss land acquisition with landowners.

“Evaluation and surveying for this and Tari town development is underway by a surveying firm. No one should close the airstrip.

“It’s been operating for 58 years and people should respect it.

“I’m speaking both as an MP and landowner of the town,” Marape said.

North Fly MP wants new Ok Tedi mine extension agreement

North Fly MP Boka Kondra has called for a totally new agreement if the mine life of giant OK Tedi gold and copper mine in the Western province is to be extended from after 2013.

Kondra noted with grave concern that there were some serious outstanding landowner issues that should be addressed properly before the Ok Tedi mine extension.

He highlighted that important issues to be addressed and built into the new agreement should include:

         Proper genealogical survey with full social mapping identifying all landowner tribes in project and affected areas for adequate compensation, royalties and benefit sharing arrangements;

         18% share equity formerly held by Inmet Mining Ltd to be given to an umbrella company representing all local landowner and affected communities; and

         A comprehensive environmental impact mitigation plan with no further disposal of toxic mine waste, tailings and sediments into the already heavily polluted Fly River system.

Kondra said these were pertinent issues that must be addressed fully by Ok Tedi Mining Company, BHP, PNG Sustainable Development Programme, National and Western Provincial Governments and landowners.

"Ok Tedi is an ecological catastrophe," he said.

"There should be no review or 10th Supplement Agreement, but a totally new agreement.

"Failure to do so will fuel existing tensions and landowner concerns.

"My people's concerns must be addressed. If not, the mine must close in 2013 as originally planned."

His comments followed the recent announcement by Ok Tedi Mining Company that it was examining new pollution controls as part of a feasibility study for a seven-year extension of the mine's life.

Ok Tedi mine started producing gold and copper in 1987 and was originally scheduled to close in 2013, but the company was undertaking a feasibility study to push that out to 2022.

The new mine plan would see output reduced by one-third, to around 100,000 tones of copper and 350,000 ounces of gold a year.

Ok Tedi Mining Limited managing director, Alan Breen has said that the new plan would not be the same as current mining operations.

"It's open cut mining which is quite different to what we are proposing in the future," he said.

"The feasibility study that we are currently undertaking would involve the operation of two small underground mines which produce very little waste and an open-cut operation which would produce a significant amount of waste.

"As part of the study though, we are looking at designing and constructing a stable waste rock dump at the mine which would prevent that waste flowing into the river system so quite a substantial change from our current practices."

The extension would create 14 million tones of waste rock.

 Currently waste rock goes into the Ok Tedi River but Breen says he hopes that will change.

"We are looking at designing a stable waste rock dump which would prevent that waste flowing into the river system," he said.

Breen says more engineering work must be done to discover if is the dump is feasible.

Ok Tedi currently generates 20% of Papua New Guinea's gross domestic product.

With big new projects like the PNG LNG project not expected to come on stream until 2014, the extension of Ok Tedi will be an attractive prospect.

Consultations have already begun but Breen says the process has a way to go.

"The process as it currently stands is that our people are currently doing the environmental impact studies and we are well down the track with those, we are probably 75-80 per cent complete on those." he said.

"The next thing we have to do is complete them by the end of October.

"We need to pass this information on to the state and they will have a team of independent advisers who will have a look at the information we have prepared and they will make recommendations and assessments, and provide them to not only government, but the communities.

"On the basis of that feedback, the communities then will have a decision to make on whether or not they can live with those impacts. "

 Breen said the study was to be completed by November 2010.

The company expects to finish consultations with communities and the government by the end of this year.

However, Kondra said in view of the extended mine life, it was imperative for all stakeholders to establish dialogue for a completely new agreement if the mine is to be extended after 2013.

Utilisation of agricultural biodiversity in times of need

By JEFFREY WAKI and SENIORL ANZU of NARI

PNG has a taro dversity of over 800 varieties

The United Nations proclaimed 2010 to be the International Year of Biodiversity, and people all over the world are working to safeguard this irreplaceable natural wealth and reduce biodiversity loss.

This is vital for current and future human wellbeing.

 It is a concern that is uttered everywhere that rich diversities in biological resources are being lost at an accelerated rate because of human activities.

This impoverishes us all as it weakens the ability of the living systems, which we depend on, to resist growing threats such as climate change.

The biodiversity that is currently utilised and which is continuously sourced to bring about increased dependence on agriculture is under the greatest challenges.

Climate change is imposing an unprecedented threat to livelihoods and food security with great impacts overtime and across diverse locations globally.

This will seriously affect millions of farmers whose livelihoods depend on subsistence agriculture.

The Tsukuba Declaration on adapting agriculture to climate change unanimously declared that throughout the Asia-Pacific climate change will significantly increase regional temperature, reduce water availability and erode coastal land as sea level rises.

Papua New Guinea is known to experience cyclic dry and wet periods induced by El Niño and La Nina, which can severely cut back crop production by reducing the duration of cultivation and increasing threats from pest and disease occurrences.

In subsistence communities, a single crop failure can spell disaster for farmers and their families. Already, there appears to be an intensification of pest and disease problems in PNG, including late blight on potatoes, leaf scab on sweet potatoes, varroa mites attack on pollinator bees and cocoa pod borer.

There are projected reductions in the length of growing seasons which could force large regions of marginal agriculture totally out of production.

This could lead to a reduction in crop yield of up to 50% in some countries.

Hence, adaptation strategies are urgently needed!

The PNG agriculture sector needs to mobilise, prioritise and allocate its resources in anticipation of the predicted calamities.

In response, NARI is currently executing a study to match seeds to the needs of farmers for adaptation in times of climate change.

 In this new initiative, agricultural stakeholders of PNG and abroad are focusing on matching local varieties of sweet potato and taro with regions in PNG that are under threat from the phenomenon.

Sweet potato and taro have been chosen because they are PNG’s most important staple crops and that National Agriculture Research Institute (NARI) also conserves highest number under ex situ (i.e. away from their native habitat) condition.

Sweet potato alone accounts for 66% of total staple crop production in the country while taro receives first and second staple status in most coastal regions.

This research supported by the Global Crop Diversity Trust (a multinational organisation) is underway in PNG to screen highland sweet potato germplasm for climate induced stresses.

Other complementary work includes an ongoing project on sweet potato pests and diseases, and sweet potato post-harvest handling.

For taro, a NARI project is identifying hybrid lines that are resistant to leaf blight disease and the Global Crop Diversity Trust project is underway on drought and salinity tolerance in the lowlands.

The project titled ‘Matching Seeds to Needs: using locally available varieties for adapting to climate change and improving the livelihoods of farmers in PNG’ was launched in June 2010 in Lae.

 The activities will be undertaken by NARI and key stakeholders over the next three years.

The initiative is funded by Bioversity International- UK to the value of US$300,000.

The other partners include the Fresh Produce Development Agency (FPDA), PNG Women in Agriculture Development Foundation (PNGWiADF), and the Centre for Pacific Crops and Trees (CePaCT), Fiji.

Under this initiative, the regions in PNG under greatest threat from climate change will be identified by using the global climate models.

Varieties of sweet potato and taro that are well-adapted to the predicted future climates will be matched to these target areas so that they can continue to have optimum yields under future climatic conditions.

Seeds of these adapted varieties will be made available to farmers through community-based seed multiplication and delivery systems with the help of local community based organisations, churches and agri-businesses.

With seeds adapted to their needs, communities at risk will be able to sustain agricultural production despite changes in climatic conditions.

By working with the partners, including local communities and women’s groups, the project’s activities will strengthen the resilience of agricul tural systems by identifying more stress-resistant varieties of sweet potato and taro currently being conserved to ensure that small farmers who maintain native staple crop diversity do not fall deeper into poverty.

 NARI conserves up to 1,500 and 700 accessions of sweet potato and taro respectively collected throughout PNG in various expeditions.

Under the arrangement, Bioversity will be responsible for climate predictions and application of state-of-the-art models for identifying well-adapted crop genetic diversity.

NARI will provide crop passport and other associated information, planting materials and field personnel in conducting the various components of the project.

Both organisations will be responsible for identifying the most useful varieties with participation from targeted farmers.

The CePaCT will maintain elite lines selected through this project and make available planting materials and information to researchers and farmers in PNG and other countries.

Technical contributions, including training will be provided through complementary funding from the Global Crop Diversity Trust.

The PNGWiADF will play a key role in ensuring the participation of women farmers while FPDA will link communities on a broader scale with their established rural network in variety selection and dissemination effort.

By improving the resilience and adaptation of agricultural systems in PNG, this project will safeguard both food security and livelihoods of local farmers.

Bewani project sets benchmark for oil palm development

By SOLDIER BURUKA of DAL

  

The development of the 140,000ha multi-million kina Bewani oil palm project in West Sepik province will set a benchmark for agro-forestry development in Papua New Guinea.

A woman performing a fire dance

Abau MP Sir Puka Temu described the historic signing of the project development agreement last Thursday as a major achievement by the local landowners led by Vanimo-Green MP Belden Namah and their joint investor partners from Malaysia.

Sir Puka, who delivered the keynote address at Waramei in Bewani, told the huge crowd that the proposed oil palm development was the biggest in the province and PNG and would bring enormous benefits and boost the economy.

Prosper Group chairman Tee Kim Tee is all smiles flanked by the chairman of four landowner companies and officials at the signing ceremony

 He said the landowners, community and province would experience changes in their living standards, with improved infrastructure and better basic services.

The Bewani project, covering some 139,909ha and involving more than 120 incorporated land groups (ILGs) is a major impact project.

The company plans to develop over 80,000ha of oil palm, making this the single largest oil palm development in the country.

About 8,000-10,000 people are expected to benefit from the project.

Sir Puka said PNG was blessed with vast natural renewable resources as well as non-renewable resources; however, it was up to the resource owners and their leaders to work closely to make these resources to become beneficial and improve the lives of the people. 

company and landowner representatives join hands to seal the agreement

 He commended Namah for his initiative in supporting the oil palm project and ensuring that development took place in his electorate.

Sir Puka also praised the developers for agreeing to provide several incentives as part of the project agreement package, including a 15% free shareholding for landowner companies; a housing scheme to ensure majority of landowners had access to basic housing; provision of subsidies for education, health and church; and establishment of infrastructure and other basic services.

Namah said the agreement was far more beneficial for the landowners compared to similar agro-forestry agreements in other provinces.

He called on his people to give their full support and effort and work hard to make the project a reality and more successful.

He appealed to the people to change their bad habits like drinking and gambling and to focus on getting the project up and running smoothly.

Namah also called on relevant government agencies and the provincial administration to give their full support.

Chairman of Prosper Group of Malaysia, the major investment partner, Tee Kim Tee, said it was a historic occasion for his company to join with Vanimo landowners to develop the oil palm project which would bring benefits to the local people and community.

The oil palm development will create employment opportunities, boost infrastructure and provide basic services for landowners, community and province.

The Prosper Group, he said, had over 30 years experience in oil palm industry with over 32 oil palm plantations, seven oil mills and bio-diesel plants in Malaysia.

The vast experience and knowledge would be put to use in PNG to plant between 6,000-10,000ha of oil palm each year and build four oil mills, making Bewani project the biggest and most successful.

This young lass was among hundreds of villagers who attended the ceremony at Waramei

 Anglimp-South Wahgi MP Jamie Maxtone-Graham said oil palm had great potential in PNG and foreign investors were welcome to invest, however, authorities must ensure that land and resource owners fully benefitted from such development.

He said PNG has many natural resources which must be used wisely to enable the people to benefit.

Provincial administrator Joseph Sungi said 140,000ha was a huge area for the oil palm project and would not be easy to develop.

He said the developers would require massive labor to work on the project.

 He commended all the parties involved for having confidence in the Bewani oil palm project and assured them of provincial administration support.