Sliding down 14-Mile way

Chimelen Kametan (front) and Aikeya Parkop riding the new waterslides to the amusement of NCDGovernor Powes Parkop and other guests at yesterday’s opening of the new facilities at the 14-Mile Park. The facilities are a must for children, and yesterday’s opening came at the perfect time, just before the long Easter weekend. – Nationalpic by EKAR KEAPU

LLGs miss out on quarterly funding

LOCAL level governments in Southern Highlands and the National Capital District town services did not get any funding from the national government in the first quarter of this year, The National reports.
The Department of Treasury and the National Economic and Fiscal Commission this week said first quarter allocations for most LLGs were not released because of the late or non-submission of LLG budgets to Treasury for approval.
None of Southern Highlands’ 32 LLGs received any funding even though K4,616,800 had been appropriated for the first quarter.
Only Morobe has one more LLG than the Southern Highlands, which presently included the Hela region.
Gulf was the next worst performer, with only one out of its 10 LLGs having received any money.
West Kikori LLG received its K50,000 allocation while the rest did not receive any funds from the K1,067,400 set aside for them.
Only Wabag and Wapenamanda LLGs received any funding out of Enga’s 15 LLGs.
Ambenob, Transgogol and Madang urban received their funding while 16 others missed out.
Other provinces did fairly well; with Manus leading the pack with 51% drawdown on its allocation of K485,100 for its 12 LLGs.
Its allocation is the smallest in the country.
Generally, the New Guinea Islands LLGs did very well with 50% drawdowns.
The Autonomous Region of Bougainville did not receive direct local level grants from the national government.
LLG grants are received by provincial governments and then passed on.
The grants can only be spent on goods and services and were not allowed to be spent on salaries, fees and allowances.
These are budgeted for separately by provinces and paid for from their internal revenue.

Bougainville Copper Ltd announces K2.8 million profit for 2010

By BOSORINA ROBBY

BOUGAINVILLE Copper Ltd, operator of Panguna mine, revealed at its 44th annual general meeting a net profit of K2.8 million at the close of last year – a drop of K5.9 million from 2009’s K8.7 million, The National reports.
Chairman Peter Taylor reported to shareholders yesterday that the drop was due to operating expenses related to the budget saved for foreign exchange losses.
He explained that because of the small profit and the need to preserve cash for future developments, no dividends would be paid to shareholders.
BCL has remained debt-free, with sufficient funds available to meet expenses in the immediate future, while engagment with the landowners and the government has been frequent and positive.
Taylor said the profit, instead of an expected loss, was due to better than expected income from interest and dividends, and the realised capital gains on disposal of investments.
“However, the tax dispute legal fees continued to be a drain on revenue,” he said.
BCL’s liquid assets continued to be in cash and Australian equities, which, as a result of the good performance from the Australian equity market, had improved returns on investments.
Taylor said it was intended that this current investment strategy continued until such time when equities needed to be sold to fund mine planning and development.
He explained that this year’s income was expected to improve in terms of percentage returns but the size of the investment portfolio had been reduced as a result of the continued tax dispute in court.
Taylor pointed out that the election of John Momis as Bougainville president for the next five years was seen as an important development for BCL.
He said in this period, Panguna mine should be reopened to take advantage of the resurgence in mineral commodity prices and demand, with considerable support from Momis, the cabinet and the landowners.
He said although there was much to do, the common agreement that operations at the mine could continue would deliver significant benefits locally and regionally.
“There is increasing acknowledgment among stakeholders that Bougainville’s economic future needed mining if it were to be able to fund basic services from its own resources,” he said.
Taylor said among other issues, BCL’s non-profit arm Bougainville Copper Foundation had continued giving out scholarships to students for training in safety, risk management, corporate governance and litigation.

Abal:Hate no more

ACTING Prime Minister Sam Abal has called on Papua New Guineans to abandon hatred and to make PNG a God-loving and fearing nation, The National reports.
In his Easter message, Abal called for resolve to stop discrimination and fight off endemic corruption “that is clogging the wheels of development”.
“Let us translate our ethnic and linguistic diversity into something that can infuse unity and harmony in this country,” he said.
“I thank Sir Michael Somare for allowing me the privilege of standing in for him as acting prime minister.
“I am sure the people of Wabag and Enga are equally appreciative of this gesture. Their prayers are with you at this time.”
He urged the people to use Easter to take stock of their lives and to identify and secure a place with God.
Abal said alcoholism had caused misery and destruction in the lives of families.
“We try at every festive occasion to spice it up with alcohol, which has never been part of our culture of remembrance.
“We must not do that this Easter as it will lead to disharmony and even tragedy for many.”
He said the gun culture gripping PNG must go and there must be common resolve to eradicate it, particularly in the highlands where it had destroyed traditional leadership and social control.
“A compensation culture is before us. We must replace it with the desire for honesty and truth.
“Unreasonable compensatory claims camouflage laziness and a beggar mentality.
“We must rise above these if we are to achieve nation-building and development which, together, ride on sheer hard work and self-sacrifice.
“The PNG LNG project, which promises to transform the economy in the not-too-distant future, comes with its short-comings.
“We are in business with new players regarding new and unfamiliar resources and its economics of business.
“But, as a host country and people, we must play our part to welcome such developments.
“We must allow for compromises where necessary at the same time we expect our investors to understand and respect our rights to land and property where these life-changing projects are situated.”
Abal said, as acting prime minister, he was confident of the support of all other hardworking ministers who are committed to repositioning the country to deliver the PNG Vision 2050, the development strategic plan and the medium-term development plan.
He said the state enterprises ministry, under the leadership of Arthur Somare, “is driving the sovereign wealth fund initiative which, when realised, will result in the growth of consolidated revenue”.
“Only recently, Papua New Guineans themselves met in Kokopo in common resolve to request the government to pay attention and support the fertilisation and development of an indigenous business class in the country.
“The government has promised to assist them. We will do that immediately.
“As we reflect this Easter, let us give thanks to God Almighty and Jesus Christ for their grace in giving us this beautiful and resource-rich nation.”

Tribal gunfight leaves 11 dead

By JAMES APA GUMUNO
ELEVEN people have fallen victims to high-powered guns used in a tribal fight in the Southern Highlands’ Kagua-Erave district, The National reports.
Many are unaccounted for, believed dead, while others were wounded, assistant police commissioner and highlands divisional commander Simon Kauba said yesterday.
He said many people from the warring tribes, Kandine and Mui, were killed within a short time because of the use of high-powered guns.
Kauba said provincial police commander Teddy Tei organised 15 policemen to accompany the provincial peace mediation team to Kagua yesterday.
He said the team would be camping in Kagua and would call on the leaders from both parties together to work out a peace process.
He said police and concerned authorities in the province would not allow people to kill each other using high-powered guns.
Kauba said the people should lay down their arms and cooperate with the developers in their province to bring in tangible improvements and services.
He said such tribal fights would not bring anything good into the area.
He said fight would cause more destruction, deaths and deprive the people of basic services.
He appealed to the tribal leaders of the warring tribes to encourage their people to lay down their arms and work closely with the police and provincial peace mediation team in Kagua to restore peace.
Kauba said whatever damage and loss of life in the past “is gone and it is time the fighting stop”.
The fight started two weeks ago over the death of a senior public servant from the Kandine tribe.
The Kandine blamed Mui for the death and killed six of them with one seriously injured.
The Mui retaliated and killed three people from the Kandine tribe.

Promoting a clean and green Earth Day 2011

Bank South Pacific’s Go Green ambassador Rachael Sapery James announced today the bank will be promoting awareness and conducting Go Green activities to coincide with Earth Day Friday 22nd April, 2011.

Ms James at Ela Beach today to launch the activities she has planned for Earth Day 2011. She is pictured with children, who were enjoying the sand and sea. Ms James gave them a pep talk on protecting the environment. Photo by BSP Media 

Activities planned encourage students and communities to look after their environment and the world they live in.
Ms James will host Earth Day events in her home province New Ireland with students from local schools and surrounding villages learning the importance of Earth Day’s vision of helping the environment via conducting tree plantings and clean-ups.
Through such Go Green campaigns it is envisaged students and communities involved can spur others how strongly they care about the sustainability of the environment.
“At BSP we recognizs today’s students are tomorrow’s environmental leaders.
“We are thrilled to be a part of Earth Day, which is observed globally and to help students and communities understand the importance of our environment,” said Ms James.
Her visit to Kavieng, is part of her current campaign during which she has already visited Goroka and Lae.
She will encourage school students to plant one tree of importance on Earth Day.
“Students gain education and awareness and appreciate the importance of planting activities, importance of trees in our environment- through celebrating by planting a tree on Earth Day.
This will be an ongoing campaign as part of the Go Green initiative. Earth Day is observed on April 22nd every year and is a day designated for fostering appreciation of the earth's environment and awareness of the issues that threaten it.
Earth Day is observed in 175 countries globally. BSP recognises that many environmental threats and challenges cannot be solved in just one day. Longer-term commitment and action is necessary to combat these problems and restore the environment to a balanced, healthy condition.
The long term solution is to change mindsets and attitudes so everyone takes responsibility.
At BSP we are doing just that, with all our staff, including promoting awareness in schools and in the community.

Airlines PNG gets new Dash 8

AIRLINES PNG (APNG) yesterday announced a further expansion to its fleet with the purchase of a De Havilland DH8-100 (Dash 8) aircraft from Canadian operator North Cariboo Flying Service, The National reports.
These announcements come on the heels of the recently announced financial results for last year and the airline’s K27.2 million improvement in operating performance from the 2009 financial year.
The aircraft will be delivered later this month and will bring the company’s total Dash 8 fleet to 12.
APNG also welcomed back earlier this month a Twin Otter (TO) aircraft from maintenance in the US while another TO recently bought in January was due to enter service later this month.
This would bring the TO fleet to 10 aircraft and the total APNG fleet to 22 aircraft.
As the largest corporate charter airline in PNG, APNG flies contract charters for almost every major resource company in the country and is ExxonMobil’s exclusive fixed wing charter airline for the PNG LNG programme.
While this involvement in the major resource sector growth has fuelled much of the airline’s expansion, scheduled services continue to grow at an encouraging rate signalling the general improvement in business confidence in the country.
“We have been greatly encouraged by the growth in the market and the feedback received from our charter clients in particular,” Scott Roworth, APNG chief commercial officer said.
“The airline’s charter customers have no easy task in making air travel decisions which ultimately affect their operating performance and bottom line.
To have the lion’s share of the charter market is a reflection of the commitment we make to serving our customers’ specific needs and understanding their businesses. Our fleet expansion plans will further improve our customer service for charter and scheduled service passengers alike.”