Expat killed on way to meet caller

By JUNIOR UKAHA

 

A MYSTERIOUS phone call to an expatriate man resulted in his death on Saturday in Port Moresby, The National reports.

John Hulse, 62, of European-origin and who held dual passports of Australia and the United States of America, was killed and his body thrown near bushes on Napanapa Road.

NCD metropolitan commander Supt Joseph Tondop said, Hulse, after receiving a phone call from an unknown source, decided to meet the person and reclaim his lost passport.

Police said the caller rang Hulse from Napanapa and wanted to meet him there to give back his passport.

“He went there on Saturday but never returned until his body was found yesterday,” Tondop said.

He said the body was found about 200m from Napanapa Oil Refinery’s entrance by security guards.

Tondop said before meeting his fate Hulse last talked to his friends around 10am and told them of his plans.

Tondop said how the killers got Hulse’s number and what they wanted from him were not known.

Hulse was the operations manager of Alliance Group Ltd, a catering company that provides rationing for workers engaged by the LNG downstream plant at portion 152.

“Police found stab wounds on the corpse.

“I appeal to Baruni, Roku and Napanapa residents who may have seen Hulse or his killers to come forward and assist police in its investigation,” Tondop said

DSTP victory for Ramu NiCo

THE National Court in Madang has given the green light to Ramu NiCo, developers of the US$1.4 billion Ramu nickel project, to dump its waste into the sea off Basamuk in Madang’s Astrolabe Bay, The National reports.

In a landmark decision yesterday, Justice David Cannings said although there would be a significant environmental impact, he refused the landowners’ application seeking a permanent ban on the use of the deep sea tailings placement (DSTP) system to dispose of the nickel and cobalt wastes.

He also said in his 65-page ruling he was not convinced by Ramu NiCo’s assurance that the tailings from the Basamuk nickel and cobalt refinery would not be toxic.

Cannings also refused the ban application because the government had already approved the dumping through the DSTP system.

Also, there would be adverse consequences for the mine and investor confidence if it did not go ahead, he said.

The matter had been before the court since last March, delaying the project which started in 2008.

Immediately following the ruling, lawyer representing the plaintiffs, Tiffany Nonggorr said her clients were considering an appeal.

Ramu NiCo released a short statement saying it could now proceed with the commissioning of the mine in order to start full operation in line with the company’s intention that the project meet best international practice standards in design and operation of its DSTP System.

“While the Company is pleased with the outcome and the finding that DSTP is lawful, Ramu NiCo will not be making further comment on the court’s decision until it has reviewed the whole 65-page judgement with its legal advisers.”

Up to the end of last year, Ramu NiCo had spent US$1.3 billion out of the total development cost of US$1.4 billion.

It said yesterday the project was at the end of the construction stage and had been scheduled to start trial operation late last year.

Cannings found that it was difficult to predict what the overall effects of the DSTP would be but he highlighted three:  

. Smothering of benthic organisms which would affect the ecology of the bay;

.Food chain of the ecology to be affected; and

. Plumes, upwelling and ocean currents were likely occurrences to affect the Madang town area and north coast villages in the province.

He ordered the plaintiffs (landowners) must be consulted and kept informed by Ramu NiCo, the state and the Department of Environment and Conservation at least every three months on tailings and waste disposal issues for the life of the mine.

Land deal ends in arrest

By JACOB POK

 

A SENIOR government official was yesterday arrested and charged in connection with a K3 million land deal, The National reports.

Police confirmed that Acting Lands secretary Romily Kila-Pat, 43, of Hula village, Central, was brought to the Boroko police station yesterday afternoon.

Police alleged that he had used his position to extort a land title worth more than K3 million.

The police report said between Jan 20 and Jan 24 this year, Kila-Pat, while using his position as the secretary of lands, conspired with others and issued land titles intended for TST 4-Mile, to another person.

Kila-Pat allegedly signed the land titles and issued them to Eleana Tjandranegara, a PNG citizen of Indonesian origin.

Tjandranegara was recently charged with stealing and conspiracy to defraud and is out on a K1,500 bail.

The subject property is described as section 387, allotment 19, Hohola.

The land was originally re­gistered as PATU 27 Ltd by TST 4-Mile, the mother company, when it obtained lease for the land in early 2001.

TST 4-Mile engaged a consultant to change the title of PATU 27 Ltd into its name (TST 4-Mile) and also apply to sub-divide the land into two allotments, allotment 22 and 23.

The consultant submitted an application to the PNG Lands Board which was approved by the NCD Physical Planning.

The Department of Lands and Physical Planning notified the consultant that the application was successful and was gazetted last Dec 20.

An agreement was reached and K24,116 was paid as annual rental by TST to the Department of Lands and Physical Planning.

But, before the land title was issued to TST, it was alleged that Kila-Pat and other senior officials conspired with Tjandranegara and issued the title of the same property to her.

Kila-Pat was released on a K1,000 bail yesterday evening.

He was issued a strict bail condition not to interfere with state witness, especially employees of Lands Department.

He was also warned against accessing any files in the department while police finalised their investigations.

Police expect to make more arrests in connection with this particular land transaction.

SPSN linking civil society with government

PORT MORESBY: Eight people have been appointed to two key decision-making bodies within the Strongim Pipol Strongim Nesen Programme.

The representatives come from a wide range of civil society and private sector roles.

Some will join the existing national government representatives on SPSN’s peak governance body, the Joint Governing Council (JGC), while others will be the first members of SPSN’s newly established National Grants Committee (NGC).

The newly-appointed civil society representatives for JGC are former Coffee Industries Council CEO Mr Ricky Mitio ML from Eastern Highlands, Ms Rachael Pokesy from Port Moresby, Mrs Cathy Rumints from Hagen and Mr Bonnie Keoka from Lae.

Members appointed to the NGC are Naomi Yupae from Eastern Highlands, Loa George Kevau from Port Moresby, Wasi Koni from Wewak, and Brian Paiferi from Bulolo.

SPSN programme director, Peter Aitsi congratulated the appointees, saying their wealth of experience in development and governance was crucial to SPSN and PNG.

“These individuals come from diverse backgrounds and will provide SPSN a strong community based perspective to ensure the programme continues to improve service delivery outcomes to bring about meaningful change to the lives of the rural majority,” he said.

“The appointment of civil society representatives will complement the existing expertise provided to the programme by its current national government members.

“Together,  this committee will ensure SPSN is well placed to bring together civil society, government and key stakeholders through offering resources and support, including grants, capacity building, networking opportunities and research.”

The members of the JGC will be led by National Planning and Monitoring Acting Secretary, Ruby Zarriga, as chair, with other representatives including Mollie Willie, deputy Secretary for Department for Community Development, Simon Kunai, director for local level government division at the Department for Provincial and Local Government Affairs, and Kath Taplin, acting counsellor governance, AusAID Port Moresby.

The JGC plays a crucial role in strategically guiding SPSN towards its goal of encouraging government to connect with civil society and other development partners to meet PNG communities’ needs.

This includes ensuring the programme is in line with PNG government’s priorities such as improved health and education outcomes, as well as working as much as possible within PNG government's own systems.

The NGC is the highest funding decision-making body in the SPSN structure, and will ensure that grants and other forms of funding support are provided to credible organisations to deliver real results to communities living in all provinces around PNG. 

The NGC’s first task will be to select 35 organisations for grant funding from over 250 expressions of interest that were submitted this year for SPSN’s medium and large grants programme. 

Programme Background:

 

SPSN is an Australian Government-funded initiative in partnership with the Government of Papua New Guinea that will contribute results to the government’s priority areas.

Its goal is to enable civil society with the state and others, to better meet the needs and priorities of men, women and children in communities across PNG.

SPSN supports improved good governance for service delivery that reaches the local level in PNG, including health, HIV, education, gender, and disability.

It provides civil society, government at all levels, and other key stakeholders with a range of support and resources, including grants, capacity building, networking opportunities and research.

Liquor smugglers raze cop's vehicle

 By JAMES APA GUMUNO

ALCOHOL smugglers overpowered a team of Margarima policemen on Sunday and set a new police vehicle on fire  in the Hela region, Southern Highlands, The National reports.
Highlands divisional police commander and assistant police commissioner Simon Kauba yesterday said police had been following a tip-off when they stopped a vehicle transporting cartons of alcohol.
But he said the smugglers turned around, pushed the new police 10-seater Landcruiser into a drain and set it on fire.
He said the attack took place near the border of Margarima and Nipa on Sunday afternoon.
He said about 20 people on the vehicle overpowered the seven policemen and attacked them before running away with the cartons of beer.
Kauba said the police vehicle, which was only a few months old, was destroyed in the fire.
He said he had yet to get a full report from the Hela new provincial police commander.
Kauba said community leaders from Margarima surrendered three of the suspects to police yesterday.
He said police went into the area yesterday and talked to the leaders. He expected those still at large to be handed over to police too.
He appealed to the leaders to work closely with police in their district to maintain order.
Kauba said this was a bad sign for the ExxonMobil, the developer of the natural liquefied gas project, in the Hela region.
He said the Southern Highlands provincial government had banned alcohol in the province last year and the ban was still in place.
He said he could not understand why the locals attacked the officers and set their vehicle on fire when they were only carrying out their duty.
Kauba said the alcohol smugglers did not have any respect for law and order.

 

Corpse of expat found

 A partially-burned corpse of a white male was discovered yesterday afternoon at Napanapa outside Port Moresby, The National reports.
The body is believed to be that of an expa­triate who police said was reported missing last Saturday.
Calls made to NCD metropolitan commander Supt Joseph Tondop last night were directed to his voicemail, but police sources said foul play had not been ruled out.
Police said security guards of a company had gone to check on a bushfire near the Napanapa project area and came across the body about 10m from the main road.
Police were called in and took the body to the PMGH morgue.
They said while the corpse’s identifiable features fitted the missing person’s description, a post-mortem would be conducted to confirm his identity.
Police said the person, reportedly missing, was the general manager of a catering company in Port Moresby.

 

Ahi census stalled

 CENSUS operations in the Ahi local level government area of Lae have been stalled since last week because the interviewers are holding onto census pads, The National reports.
This means the population between Bumbu compound to Poahom area bordering Situm, in Nawaeb district, have not been accounted for yet.
Disgruntled census officials spoke out over the weekend, saying they had been protesting for two weeks and had since held on to all 300 pads containing the forms for 65 respondents. 
The interviewers said there were around 360 officers covering the area who had yet to be given their advance payment of K40 a day for the seven-day counting exercise.
They claimed there was no training manual but they were expected by authorities to collect high quality data.
The officials said they were instead asked to accept a meal allowance of K105 for the seven-day period of the census.
The prolonged rainy period since last month also did not help interviewers who have been visiting the Ahi local level government office at Malahang for their payments.
The group of interviewers did not want to be named out of fear of being targeted individually by the authorities. 
Ahi census coordinator Kissu Lucas could not be reached for comments