Today's buai pekpek (betelnut shit) in Port Moresby

Meantime, while campaigning reaches its climax, Port Moresby gets filthier and filthier, as seen in this photo of the bus stop at Malaoro Market on Saturday.

Buai pekpek and other pipia at Malaoro Market bus stop

Noone seems to care!

Indifferent to the pipia

What is supposed to be a bus stop has become a rubbish stop!

This is just beside the fish market!

Pipia, pipia everywhere!

The good news is that we at least have some sensible people!

Daru runs out of store food

By MALUM NALU

All major shops and tucker shops in Daru, Western province, have run out of rice, sugar and other basic necessities because the regular cargo ship has not arrived from Port Moresby.

This was confirmed by several residents of Daru today (Monday).

Daru resident Kevin Korei said that the island town been experiencing food shortage since last week when the cargo boat failed to arrive as scheduled.

 Major Daru supermarket New Century, which is out of basic food supplies.-Picture by MALUM NALU

“Currently there’s hardly any food,” he said,

“All shop shelves are empty.

“Since the beginning of last week, we have been experiencing shortage of food like rice, flour, sugar, tinned fish and other basic necessities.”

Korei said he had talked to the ship’s agent, May Fuel Distributors, and was told that it was busy with LNG duties in the Gulf province.

He said he had been told by the agent that the ship would arrive next week,

Black market prices of basic store goods have skyrocketed.

“Right now we’re paying K20 for a 1kg bag of rice which would normally cost K3 or K4,” Korei said.

“Bundles of sago, which normally sell for K10-K15, have now gone up to K70.

“The situation is such that people go out to sea and buy from villagers bringing their food to market in Daru, rather than wait at the market.

“Some people are sending their money to Kiunga and Balimo to buy rice, sugar and basic food stuff.”

Neither the shipping company, agent, nor major shops in Daru could be reached for comment today because of the public holiday.

Is drug-resistant ruberculosis spreading from PNG's Western province into Australia?

By JOHN FOWKE

Is it possible that drug-resistant TB is spreading from PNG’s Western province into Australia?

 The answer according to a  Queensland Health Department spokesman is “Yes. We have not seen a case yet in an Australian resident of the Torres Strait, but the likelihood is that the disease is there and will show up in the next two or three years.

“ PNG has not been able to cope with the TB problem and for this reason we have helped as much as possible. 

"We have been running clinics for Papua New Guinean TB-sufferers on Boigu and Saibai Islands for some years now, and funds have just been provided to PNG to take up this work themselves.”

Papua New Guinea once maintained an active TB Control Unit with teams operating throughout the nation, but this activity ceased many years ago, and treatment for TB sufferers, like medical treatment in general, is hit-and-miss at best.

Papua New Guinea - with AUD 8 million in Australian project aid - has taken a big step towards tackling drug-resistant tuberculosis.

The disease is a major problem in Papua New Guinea's remote Western province, which is just a short boat ride from far north Queensland.

The new moves mean locals should no longer have to travel south for treatment, as PNG correspondent for ABC Liam Fox reports.

LIAM FOX: Western Province is one of the most remote and least developed corners of PNG.
So when a purpose built water ambulance was launched at the wharf in the provincial capital of Daru Island it was a cause for celebration.
 The boat was christened PNG-style with a coconut, instead of a champagne bottle, cracked over the bow.
It'll be used to transfer patients and deliver drug supplies to communities around the mouth of the Fly River. It'll also help health workers monitor tuberculosis patients and make sure they're sticking to the lengthy treatment of drugs needed to beat the disease.

When they don't, and in the past many haven't, they develop drug-resistant TB.
Alice Honjepani is the director of Rural Health Services in Western Province and says the ambulance is a huge boost to their capabilities.
The water ambulance is just one part of an $8 million AusAID package to improve health services here. The Daru hospital also has a new digital X-ray machine.
And soon to arrive is equipment that can diagnose drug-resistant TB within two hours - the first of its kind in PNG. It'll mean patients will no longer have to wait weeks for the results of samples sent to Australia for testing before the can start treatment.
Dr Rendi Moke is the AusAID funded TB physician at the Daru Hospital and says bringing drug-resistant TB under control is a huge task.
Aniwa Sasua is the chairman of the Daru hospital's board and last year his 20-year-old son died from drug-resistant TB. He says he's grateful for Australia's help in tackling the disease because successive PNG governments have done nothing.
All but 16 of the 80 PNG citizen patients who were being treated in the Torres Strait have now been transferred back to Western Province.

Pictures of the inaugural Air Niugini Q400 flight to Daru

By MALUM NALU


Air Niugini will begin regular flights to Daru, Western province, on Thursday, June 21, 2012, after a 12-year absence which has seen airfares between Daru and Port Moresby rise to among the highest in the country.

Air Niugini acting general manager-commercial, Dominic Kaumu, confirmed to me in Daru on Friday, June 1,   after one of its Q400 aircraft landed there to break the 12-year drought, that the airlines would resume flights later this month,

Hundreds of people lined up the perimeter of Daru Airport on June 1 to watch the Q400 land with many openly shedding tears of joy.

The last Air Niugini flight to Daru was on March 4, 2000, after which it had to stop services because of the unsafe state of the runway.

The Q400 was able to land because of a K40 million airport upgrade funded 50-50 by PNG Sustainable Development Program (PNGSDP) and Fly River provincial government through South Fly funding, with construction undertaken by Global Construction and supervised by National Airports Corporation.

Airlines PNG has had a virtual monopoly in the Daru-Port Moresby route over the last 12 years, with airfares now being K999 one way.
Here are pictures of the historic Q400 flight to Daru on June 1.

Rumble in Daru!

By MALUM NALU

I've seen Kiwai dances in my life, but never one of this scale, as men from Tureture lined the United Church oval in Daru on Friday, June 1, 2012, to celebrate a nuber of multi-milion dollar PNG Sustainable Development Program projects on the South Fly island.
.Their voices rose like a crescendo, their feet stamped like thunder, as they sang to the memory of their great seafaring grandfathers whose canoes plied the Torres Strait between Daru and Australia in days of yore.
It was a moment I'll never forget!

Air Niugini resumes flights to Daru on June 21, 2012

By MALUM NALU


Air Niugini will begin regular flights to Daru, Western province, on Thursday, June 21, 2012, after a 12-year absence which has seen airfares between Daru and Port Moresby rise to among the highest in the country.
This was confirmed today (Sunday, June 10), by Air Niugini corporate affairs manager Eva Arni.
The schedule will be twice weekly on Thursdays and Sundays and  lowest one way fare is K352.20 - a big drop from the K999 currently charged by Airlines PNG.

Air Niugini acting general manager-commercial, Dominic Kaumu, confirmed to me in Daru on Friday, June 1,   after one of its Q400 aircraft landed there to break the 12-year drought, that the airlines would resume flights later this month,

A proud moment...Captain Tauedea Ugava, who flew us on the Air Niugini Q400 to and from Daru on Friday, June 1,  with PNGSDP CEO David Sode after the historic Q400 landing in Daru, which heralded the return of Air Niugini to Daru after 12 long years of suffering for the people of Daru and Western province.

Hundreds of people lined up the perimeter of Daru Airport on June 1 to watch the Q400 land with many openly shedding tears of joy.

The last Air Niugini flight to Daru was on March 4, 2000, after which it had to stop services because of the unsafe state of the runway.

The Q400 was able to land because of a K40 million airport upgrade funded 50-50 by PNG Sustainable Development Program (PNGSDP) and Fly River provincial government through South Fly funding, with construction undertaken by Global Construction and supervised by National Airports Corporation.

Airlines PNG has had a virtual monopoly in the Daru-Port Moresby route over the last 12 years, with airfares now being K999 one way.

Kaumu said in Daru that Air Niugini fares would be cheaper than Airlines PNG, however, could not disclose the figures.

“We will begin operations about mid-June,” he said.

“We will be using the Dash 8 to Daru.

“We will also be using the Q400, but at a reduced capacity (passengers) because of the length of the runway.

“At this stage, not daily (flights), but at least three flights a week and we build up from there.

“I’ve spoken to a number of people and the information we’re getting is that everyone wants Air Niugini back.”