Tribesmen from Papua New Guinea visit ahead of plans to build village in NYC

Mundiya Kepanga, a ritual wig man, and Fabian Paino, a well-known Malagan carver, visited New York City for the first time to attract tourists to their home.

NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

Sunday, June 15, 2014

 

Two tribesmen from Papua New Guinea hit the city last week to lure tourists to their island homeland.
This June, a Papua New Guinea village will be built in New York City, and Mundiya Kepanga and Fabian Paino flew in for the event — their first time in the big city.
Papua New Guinea, located around 100 miles north of Australia, is home to 7.5 million people with more than 800 languages and cultures.
"We had quite a large task of bringing that kind of diversity of Papua New Guinea to America,” says spokesperson Ally Stoltz.
Kepanga and Paino had the typical tourist experience — including a run-in with the Naked Cowboy — but their trip had a deeper purpose.

David Handschuh/New York Daily News Mundiya Kepanga checks out some 'I Love New York' T-shirts. Enlarge

 

David Handschuh/New York Daily News Mundiya Kepanga and Fabian Paino help the Naked Cowboy into a mask. Enlarge

 

“Essentially, they’re here to build a bridge,” Stoltz says. “They’re building a bridge back to Papua New Guinea, and inviting Americans to continue the journey that they started here today and actually visit.”
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Lost Australian soldiers buried with full military honours after nearly 70 years

Remains of two men killed by Japanese near the end of second world war laid to rest in PNG cemetery

 Australian Associated Press
 

The Bomana war cemetery in Port Moresby. Photograph: Alan Porritt/AAP

 

Two Australian soldiers killed by Japanese forces near the end of the second world war have been buried with full military honours.
Lance Corporal Spencer Walklate and Private Ronald Eagleton, both members of Z Special unit, were buried in a ceremony at the Bomana war cemetery, Port Moresby, on Thursday.
Their remains were recovered on Kairiru Island, off the north coast of Papua New Guinea, last year after a search by the army's unrecovered war casualties unit.
Both were members of an eight-man Z Special patrol in what was called “operation copper” to Muschu Island in April 1945 which aimed to investigate Japanese naval guns which could imperil the allied landing planned for Wewak.
The mission was a disaster. Japanese forces discovered the Australians and hunted them down. One, sapper Mick Dennis, managed to swim to the mainland, and survived.
It was thought Walklate and Eagleton drowned as they and others tried to escape. But it emerged they managed to reach Kairiru where they were captured, tortured and beheaded.
Dennis, 94, plus soldiers from the Special Air Service regiment and the 1st and 2nd Commando regiments provided the funeral party on Thursday.
Army chief lieutenant, General David Morrison, said the army was committed to honouring every Australian soldier lost in combat.
“We must never forget those who served before us, and whose legacy we live to today,” he said.
Brian Manns, manager of the unrecovered war casualties unit, said the funeral was the culmination of years of work.
“The investigation took several years and involved an immense effort,” he said.

Why PNG has gone backwards since 1975

Papua New Guineans just don't seem to take ownership of anything like cleaning up the clogged drain right next to them.
It's little things like this that are stopping the country from going forward and why we have gone back big time since Independence  in 1975, which we obviously didn't take ownership of as well.
While on taking ownership,  I wonder if the landlord (if there is any) at Malolo Estate, 8-Mile,  could put up a new signboard, patch the crater-like potholes, and clean the clogged drains.
And of course, control the sale of liquor and buai.
The once-premier housing estate in Port Moresby is becoming more like a slum every day...like all things Papua New Guinean..

 

The shame of Port Moresby's buses and taxis

 The buses (PMVs)  and taxis in Port Moresby and getting filthier and stinkier by the day.

Not to mention the thugs who drive the taxis, who could end up robbing you or worse, and the filthy bus stops which abound with petty thieves and drug dealers.

This is in a city which is said to be the "richesr and fastest growing in the Pacific" and will host the Melanesia Festival of Arts and Culture at the end of this month, Pacific Games in 2015, and APEC in 2018.

Last week, I posted on Facebook that Sports Minister Justin Tkatchenko  told me towards the end of last year that PMVs and taxis would be spic-and-span in time for the 2015 Pacific Games. 

It's June now and our PMVs are getting filthier and stinkier by the day.

Taktchenko replied:   "Instructions where issued to the transport department last year.

"If I was in control of that department you would see a difference,

" I can't personally do everything myself when relying on people that are not doing there job.

"I will push the issue again with the appropriate authorities.

"Why don't you do some productive reporting and ask the Transport Secretary what he's  doing to clean up the buses and taxis towards the games."

The road to nowhere

Twas total chaos on the Erima to 9-Mile Road yesterday as traffic came to a complte standstill and it was much faster walking than driving. 

The public relations of the contractir, Dekenai Construction,is so poor that the thousands of people who use this road don't know what the hell is going on. 

I remember, back in Lae in the late 1990s and early 2000s, when Australian company Barclay Bros was carrying out roadworks, they had a very popular and successful radio programme where one of their managers would talk rugby league and then give a roads update.

 Unfortunately, Dekenai doesn't fall into that class, and we continue to suffer every day. and I know this only too well as an 8-Mile resident.

Gordon Market Pig Sty

For a city that hosts the Melanesian Festivalf of Arts and Culture at the end of this month, Pacific Games in a little over 12 months from now, and APEC in 2018, , Port Moresby continues to have pig stys in its midst, filthy and stinking buses and taxis, and litter, litter everywhere.
 This is Port Moresby, home of the LNG processing plant, and said to be the richest and fastest-growing city in the Pacific...in a country that has gone backwards big time since 1975.

Why ExxonMobil's US$19 billion LNG project is a big deal

By Bob Ciura
June 10, 2014 

The Motley Fool

 

The role of liquefied natural gas, or LNG, is increasing among the integrated oil and gas super-majors. Giants like ExxonMobil (NYSE: XOM  ) and Chevron (NYSE: CVX  ) are spending huge amounts of money to build massive LNG plants around the world.
For these two behemoths, the tantalizing potential of emerging market energy demand has prompted each one to build LNG facilities in the Asia-Pacific region. Chevron management stated in its last presentation that LNG demand will nearly double by 2025.
For ExxonMobil, its Papua New Guinea LNG plant is an exciting catalyst because of its enormous production potential. And, this potential is getting very close to materializing since the company just took the first LNG shipment.
This marks the beginning of a long and highly profitable journey for ExxonMobil, one that will leave it and its shareholders measurably better off.
LNG from PNG
ExxonMobil has a large number of high-profile projects lined up this year, so it might be easy to overlook an individual project in such a far place as Papua New Guinea. But you'd be wise to pay close attention to this particular LNG project because its production potential is truly amazing.

Source: pnglng.com

Over the $19 billion project's expected 30-year lifespan, ExxonMobil expects to produce 9 trillion cubic feet of gas. Each year, project capacity is pegged at 6.9 million tonnes. The first shipment just occurred, headed to Tokyo Electric Power in Japan, ahead of schedule. Other major customers for the project's output include China Petroleum and Chemical and Osaka Gas. Production toward a second shipment is ongoing now that additional wells are coming online.
The project is an integrated one, with gas production and processing facilities stretched across several provinces of Papua New Guinea. These facilities, which include a gas conditioning plant and liquefaction facility, are connected by roughly 435 miles of pipelines.
In a statement, Neil W. Duffin, president of ExxonMobil Development Company, stated:

The PNG LNG project exemplifies ExxonMobil's leadership in project execution, advanced technologies[,] and marketing capabilities. Our demonstrated expertise will enable us to progress other LNG opportunities in our portfolio, including expansion opportunities in Papua New Guinea and to meet growing global demand.

This project mimics Chevron's own huge LNG projects, which are situated in Australia. The end result for both companies is to serve the large (and growing) demand for energy in the emerging markets, Asia more specifically.
Chevron is nearing completion of two separate projects in Australia called Wheatstone and Gorgon. Wheatstone is a $29 billion project which includes two LNG trains with a combined capacity of 8.9 million tonnes per annum and a domestic gas plant. First shipments are expected in 2016. Meanwhile, the Gorgon development is one of the world's largest LNG projects. Gorgon is about 80% complete, and management expects first shipments next year.
Why LNG matters
Liquefied natural gas holds great promise. As a liquid, it's much easier and more cost effective to store and ship. In fact, LNG occupies up to 600 times less space, according to an industry report from Royal Dutch Shell.
And, since energy demand across the globe is set to rise in the near future, LNG represents a huge opportunity.
It should come as no surprise, then, that integrated super-majors ExxonMobil and Chevron are getting ready to begin production on their own LNG projects. Both companies have situated massive LNG production facilities near Asia to easily accommodate the rising demand from Japan, China, and other nations.
ExxonMobil's $19 billion LNG facility in Papua New Guinea just shipped its first cargo, an exciting start to a long and highly productive venture. LNG will surely assist in getting production going in the right direction again for both companies, which couldn't come at a better time.