O’Neill: Reports embarrassing

TREASURY and Finance Minister Peter O'Neill described the parliamentary Public Accounts Committee report to parliament yesterday as "embarrassing", The National reports.

O'Neill said this after PAC chairman Martin Aini presented its report.

"It is quite embarrassing. We all know of the systematic breakdown in the public service and it is a matter that the government is addressing," O'Neill said.

"We will take the PAC recommendations very seriously and we will deal with certain officers implicated in the report."

He said the national government was updating the public government accounting system, had transferred all trust accounts back to the Central Bank and was strengthening the internal audit for checks and balances.

O'Neill said the report cited serious cases of mismanagement and clear breaches of the Public Finance (Management) Act.

"We have disciplined one or two officers already to show that this government is serious in weeding out mismanagement of funds," he said

"This government is taking pro-active action and we will take all the recommendations and address them one by one," O'Neill said.

50% free education for primary schools

By ISAAC NICHOLAS

 

PARENTS can now breathe a sigh of relief after Education Minister James Marape announced the national government's intention to pay the first six months of school fees for students attending primary schools next year, The National reports.

Marape said during question time in parliament that it was the current government's policy on school fee subsidy beginning with free education for elementary schools from 2008 up to now.

"This year, the national government allocated K178 million for school fee subsidy which is in line with the government policy to give 100% access to basic education."

Marape said the policy towards 2013 was 100% school fee subsidy for elementary to primary schools.

"One of the fundamental reasons parents are not sending their children to school is school fees and this will complement the universal basic education policy."

Marape said the national government was responsible to help parents with school fees.

"By next year, the first half of the primary school year will be free," Marape said.

He said this in response to Enga Governor Peter Ipatas who said to succeed any nation must develop its human resources.

"The national government has rightly put resources into the education sector ... we must not compromise quality education for our children."

Ipatas said in Enga the provincial government had subsidised education for the past 12 years.

He commended the minister for his initiative but asked that the national government subsidy for elementary be worked out between the province and the department to ensure "there are no conflicting policies".

Marape said if there were parallel programmes in provinces "resources can be shifted to focus on school materials, infrastructure and library books".

High prices and increased coffee production: double blessing or double trouble?

By DAVID RUMBARUMA

General Manager

Awute Coffee Producers

 

This year the coffee industry is doubly blessed with a 14-year high coffee price and a huge crop never seen for many years.

These blessings are literally very good for the multitude of the coffee growers and many small village-based ground buyers.

Many of them have never ever held in their hands a thousand Kina at any one time in their lives.

This year, once in their lifetime they are able to hold a thousand kina.

What they do with such volume of cash is none of my business but it would be good for them to use wisely to improve their lives, solve many of their daily problems and social obligations, then, save some for the future.

But as is always the case during coffee season, many will turn to squander coffee money on alcohol and gambling.

 With these will come many social and community problems and thus, left with nothing to show by the end of the coffee season.   

 On the other hand, this dual blessing is already turning into nightmare for the middlemen who are the big coffee buyers: the processors and the exporters.

To them, these blessings are in fact curses. 

Prices are more than twice that paid for a kilo of coffee around this time of the year in 2010.

One has to spend more than twice the amount to buy same quantity of coffee.

 Already the increase in coffee production this year is putting a lot of pressure on the availability of funds and the processing capacities of many processing mills.

Banks in Goroka, Kundiawa and Mt. Hagen are running out of liquid cash very quickly and the risks involved in moving huge amount of hard cash around is costing more money too. 

These are readily transferred as added cost to the coffee stakeholders.

 Not only are those, the banks already putting minimum limits to how much each client can withdraw at any one time.

This too is having a negative effect going down to the growers. 

 Processors and buyers cannot get enough to do business resulting in many issuing credit receipts.

 All these combined to make doing business in coffee very difficult for the coffee buyers and processors.

Then again, there are big volume buyers who depend on stand-alone coffee processing facilities to process their parchment coffee into green beans for sale.

This lot of operators depends on each other for mutual benefit in the industry but many of these facilities have old processing machineries that cannot service everyone properly and on time.

 These machineries are working full steam non-stop seven days a week and are due to burst anytime. The cue is very long and valuable time is wasted.

The buyers are under pressure to deliver coffee to exporters from whom they got cash advances to buy coffee.

The multi-national coffee exporters are and have been acting as the banks for the coffee industry. They in turn are faced with the mammoth task of forking out more than twice the amount of money into the industry this year.

 They too are already feeling the pressure.

This year sees the demise of national aspiration for localising coffee export.

 The national coffee export companies are finding it extremely difficult to trade and few successful medium-sized exporters are already foregoing export and are selling locally to the big multinationals.

This in fact is a step backwards and signals a very sad turning point in the life of the coffee industry. Papua New Guinean companies are finding the going very tough and cannot maintain the pace year in year out anymore without government and the bank support.

Such financial and management problems in companies only become very obvious during such a time of high prices and bumper crop. 

Coffee processing capacity of the industry is now being tested.

 Enga, Western Highlands, Southern Highlands, Chimbu, Morobe and Madang do not have the capacity to process their respective production, while Eastern Highlands has, but the fact is in coffee business most of unprocessed coffee from these provinces are brought into Goroka and Kainantu to be sold. These are already putting excessive pressure on the number of coffee processing facilities in Eastern Highlands.

We have a big quality problem waiting to happen.

If it does, it will kill many businesses and destroy PNG's high standing on the world coffee market.

The danger of the highly distasteful chemical taint (Rio Flavor) reoccurrence this coffee season can not be ruled out in coffees from those areas known to have these problems before.

Here, Coffee Industry Corporation (CIC) must be very vigilant in, to ensure that its quality laws are adhered to by the licensees and the coffee buyers and processors.

CIC coffee inspectors, extension officers and scientists must ensure Rio Flavor does not pop up again. Measures must be taken now to ensure that it does not happen, because if it does, it will definitely:

(1)   Mean buyers will refuse to buy our coffee as experienced a decade ago;

(2)   Quality rating of PNG coffee will be destroyed that it will be very hard regain; and,

(3)   We will lose many good buyers who will be very difficult to get back later. 

The industry should be concerned that the highly-sophisticated chemical analysis laboratory funded by European Union and built in Lae in early 2000 for the purpose of carrying out analysis and research on the chemical taint in coffee has gone to the rats, so to speak,  and are now of no value.

This asset belongs to the stakeholders, therefore,  the facilities must be brought back to function and be put to use as safeguard against this potential quality threat by Rio Flavor.

Finally, companies and businesses involved in coffee that are not careful in their activities will find out by the end of the year that they made huge loses instead of profit.

 The danger is great and it is in one's interest to take measures to ensure that sound business decisions and acceptable industry quality practices are employed from the outset to protect themselves to make profit and in doing so also play a responsible role in protecting our industry as a whole against such problems and we can continue to enjoy the high prices that will remain for a long time yet. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then again, there are big volume buyers who depend on stand-alone coffee processing facilities to process their parchment coffee into green beans for sale.

This lot of operators depends on each other for mutual benefit in the industry but many of these facilities have old processing machineries that cannot service everyone properly and on time.

 These machineries are working full steam non-stop seven days a week and are due to burst anytime. The cue is very long and valuable time is wasted.

The buyers are under pressure to deliver coffee to exporters from whom they got cash advances to buy coffee.

The multi-national coffee exporters are and have been acting as the banks for the coffee industry. They in turn are faced with the mammoth task of forking out more than twice the amount of money into the industry this year.

 They too are already feeling the pressure.

This year sees the demise of national aspiration for localising coffee export.

 The national coffee export companies are finding it extremely difficult to trade and few successful medium-sized exporters are already foregoing export and are selling locally to the big multinationals.

This in fact is a step backwards and signals a very sad turning point in the life of the coffee industry. Papua New Guinean companies are finding the going very tough and cannot maintain the pace year in year out anymore without government and the bank support.

Such financial and management problems in companies only become very obvious during such a time of high prices and bumper crop. 

Coffee processing capacity of the industry is now being tested.

 Enga, Western Highlands, Southern Highlands, Chimbu, Morobe and Madang do not have the capacity to process their respective production, while Eastern Highlands has, but the fact is in coffee business most of unprocessed coffee from these provinces are brought into Goroka and Kainantu to be sold. These are already putting excessive pressure on the number of coffee processing facilities in Eastern Highlands.

We have a big quality problem waiting to happen.

If it does, it will kill many businesses and destroy PNG's high standing on the world coffee market.

The danger of the highly distasteful chemical taint (Rio Flavor) reoccurrence this coffee season can not be ruled out in coffees from those areas known to have these problems before.

Here, Coffee Industry Corporation (CIC) must be very vigilant in, to ensure that its quality laws are adhered to by the licensees and the coffee buyers and processors.

CIC coffee inspectors, extension officers and scientists must ensure Rio Flavor does not pop up again. Measures must be taken now to ensure that it does not happen, because if it does, it will definitely:

(1)   Mean buyers will refuse to buy our coffee as experienced a decade ago;

(2)   Quality rating of PNG coffee will be destroyed that it will be very hard regain; and,

(3)   We will lose many good buyers who will be very difficult to get back later. 

The industry should be concerned that the highly-sophisticated chemical analysis laboratory funded by European Union and built in Lae in early 2000 for the purpose of carrying out analysis and research on the chemical taint in coffee has gone to the rats, so to speak,  and are now of no value.

This asset belongs to the stakeholders, therefore,  the facilities must be brought back to function and be put to use as safeguard against this potential quality threat by Rio Flavor.

Finally, companies and businesses involved in coffee that are not careful in their activities will find out by the end of the year that they made huge loses instead of profit.

 The danger is great and it is in one's interest to take measures to ensure that sound business decisions and acceptable industry quality practices are employed from the outset to protect themselves to make profit and in doing so also play a responsible role in protecting our industry as a whole against such problems and we can continue to enjoy the high prices that will remain for a long time yet.

WIB promotes enterprising PNG woman

By PATRICK TALU

 

THE days of being seen as housewives and second class citizens is over for Papua New Guinean women, The National reports.

PNG women are now competitive and just as   business minded as their male counterparts.

Thus, the women's dreams and aspiration is now being motivated and empowered through Women in Business (WIB) initiative, a desk created by Small Business Development Corporation (SBDC).

Managing director for SBDC Diri Kobla, manager, business development and information services division, Nathan Timo and WIB officer Maria Kalap said SBDC had recognised PNG women as important development partners and endeavoured to promote and empower them in their business aspiration.

Kobla said the purpose of setting a desk for WIB at SBDC was to empower and assist women in business in PNG align with Vision 2050 and to achieve its development aspiration.

"More importantly, our focus is on women who are doing small business at informal sectors like selling ice block, small scale faming, and textile businesses.

"We do that by way of sponsoring them for skilled training.

"We also provide seed capital to the women to start up their small businesses with the skills they have acquired from the training," Kobla said

Kalap said SBDC had many success stories from the first batch of women trained in Port Moresby under WIB sponsorship at the Women Textile Training centre.

"These women have progressed well in various businesses they are engaged after being skilled and trained here.

"Most prominent is one of our first batch graduands operating a successful business in Goroka town in Eastern Highlands," Kalap said.

She said the second batch sponsored by WIB would end their training next week.

They are Regina Wani, originally from East Sepik but based in Madang representing Momase region, Betty Daniel from Wabag, Enga (highlands) and Veronica Stevens form NCD (southern).

At a low key ceremony, yesterday, Kobla presented two industrial and one locker machines to the women with a small unspecified seed capital to start their business.

The women were grateful for the training and support from SBDC.

Freeway ban

Police stop truckies from using Burns Peak road

 

By ANGELINE KARIUS

 

HEAVILY loaded trucks and semi-trailers will be banned from using the Poreporena Freeway in Port Moresby as police and transport authorities review the use of the freeway by other types of heavy vehicles, The National reports.

The ban order was issued by acting deputy police commissioner and operations commander Fred Yakasa.

It followed a road second accident inless than a week involving a heavy vehicle along the Burns Peak section of the freeway – a steep downhill section that connect downtown Port Moresby CBD and the wharf with the rest of the city's industrial, commercial, administrative and residential suburbs as well as Jackson International Airport.

Although no casualties were reported in the Tuesday night accident, it happened several hundred metres from the Konedobu police headquarters.

However, last Wednesday, another heavy vehicle caused a fatal accident in the same area, nearer to the busy SVS supermarket, in which two people were killed and several others injured.

The accident spot in this area has come to be known as the "deadman's corner" by city residents.

During the past two years, at least 13 people, both motorists and pedestrians, had been killed as a result of mechanical failures by mostly heavy vehicles.

Acting police commissioner Tony Wagambie was understood to have written to the road transport board and the PNG Road Safety Council to review and impose laws aimed at stopping heavy vehicles from using Poreporena Freeway – either downhill at speed or at a snail's pace up the Burns Peak.

"Police will put up road blocks at the Hohola and Konedobu roundabouts to divert trucks and semi trailers from accessing the freeway," Yakasa said.

"The roadblocks will begin from 5am to 9pm beginning (immediately) to monitor the roads until an alternate route is sorted out by relevant authorities," he said, adding that people's lives were more valuable and were irreplaceable and must be protected at all cost.  

 

Counting begins in Bougainville

By STEPHANIE ELIZAH

 

COUNTING for the North Bougainville by-election began at midday yesterday at the United church building in Buka town under tight security by the Bougainville police service, The National reports.

The counting was officially conducted by the Bougainville Electoral Commissioner and North Bougainville by-election returning officer Reitama Taravaru.

In his opening remarks, Taravaru urged the officials to do good work so that the result "is accepted by all parties".

He thanked the people of North Bougainville for the peaceful polling.

A crowd of curious onlookers and scrutineers gathered at the church observed in silence as the first batch of ballot papers from the Atolls and Nissan constituencies were counted.

At first count, candidates Lauta Atoi received 119 votes, second was Dr Joseph Vilosi on 97 votes and Taehu Pais on third with 36 votes.

The result was from 265 ballot papers counted of which 258 were valid votes.

The second counting began immediately last night with preliminary indications expected to unfold later today.

"Despite the late start to counting, we will finish on Friday because there are not many ballot papers to count," Taravaru said.

He attributed the number of votes to the poor turnout of voters at polling sites last week.

"Not everyone turned up for voting mainly because many voters believed that the candidate who wins this by-election will not have enough time to deliver impact projects before the national election in 2012," he said.

He said counting was to have started on Monday but counting officers needed to be paid their allowances as well as undergo training on counting.

Ok Tedi gets new hydraulic shovel

Caption: The new shovel making its first load of copper ore at the Ok Tedi mine after the commissioning.

 

Ok Tedi Mining Limited (OTML) has received a new hydraulic shovel.

The shovel, known as the Bucyrus RH200, was commissioned on  May 21.

The shovel was purchased for US$10 million (K24 million).

This is the first hydraulic shovel owned by OTML since the mine started operation 30 years ago.

The company previously owned and operated a fleet of electric shovels but since decommissioning them a few years ago, OTML has been contracting Star West Limited, a part locally-owned contractor company, to supply and operate hydraulic shovels.

OTML's purchase of the new hydraulic shovel also signifies a start for OTML where it will start owning and operating most of the heavy mobile equipment in preparation for mine life extension.

OTML mine executive manager Alan Merritt while commissioning the new shovel said the shovel will produce 2,200 tonnes of ore an hour.

He said OTML is expected to experience less downtimes with the new shovel now operating.

"It's a big day for us at the Ok Tedi mine as we take delivery of our first hydraulic shovel. The shovel will help boost production, initially the production of limestone for the river system," Mr Merritt said.

Ok Tedi mines limestone so that it can be added to the river system to neutralise the sulphur in the waste rock.  

Bucyrus project manager Russell Jenkinson, who was at the Ok Tedi mine supervising the assembly of the shovel over the last seven weeks, said the Bucyrus RH200 shovel is popular with other mining projects in PNG such as Newcrest Lihir Gold and the Porgera Joint Venture Project.

Ok Tedi last year produced 159,821 tonnes containing copper, 15,131 kilograms of contained gold and 45, 774 kilograms of contained silver.

OTML's export earnings last year was K 4.741 billion, which represented 18 per cent of the Papua New Guinea's gross domestic product.

In February 2011, OTML became a company owned fully by Papua New Guinea interests.

 This followed the exit of Toronto (Canada) listed company, Inmet Mining Corporation as a shareholder. Inmet Mining's 18 per cent share, which it held since 2002, was bought by OTML for US$335 million and cancelled, leaving OTML as a company owned today by PNG Sustainable Development Program Limited with 63.4 per cent and the State of PNG with 36.6 per cent.