ExxonMobil PNG reopens Komo Airfield

*Flights resume into Komo airfield, APNG:WLN-donated humanitarian supplies on board
*ExxonMobil PNG assistance to rebuild infrastructure and key roads

Flights have resumed into the Komo airfield, operated by ExxonMobil PNG on behalf of PNG LNG, following the Feb 26  earthquake.
The first flight with staff on board arrived at Komo airfield on April 26, 2018.
A cargo plane delivering earthquake relief landed shortly after.

Jukuli Kapiako of APNG;WLN and ExxonMobil PNG staff arriving on the first flight that landed at Komo airfield

Relief items included household goods such as clothes, shoes, kitchen items, bedding and toys collected by the Advancing PNG: Women’s Leaders Network (APNG:WLN) and the Salvation Army from public relief drives and ExxonMobil PNG staff donations. APNG:WLN representatives were also on the first flight to coordinate distribution of the items within communities.

Cargo flight arriving at Komo airfield with APNG;WLN humanitarian relief supplies

ExxonMobil PNG managing-director Andrew Barry said the reinstatement of Komo airfield in such a short timeframe is a testament to the hard work and dedication of those involved.
“The Komo airfield is an integral piece of infrastructure, its reopening is a significant step forward and restores important transport and logistics infrastructure to assist with our operations and delivery of relief and recovery support for communities," he said.

Cargo flight unloading APNG;WLN humanitarian relief supplies at Komo airfiel

“We’d like to thank the Civil Aviation Safety Authority for accommodating timely inspections of the repaired runway to ensure we could resume flights into the airfield as quickly as possible.”
In consultation with aircraft operators and design contractors, ExxonMobil PNG repaired cracks and depressions to the runway, re-marked the entire airstrip and repaired fencing in line with the highest safety standards.
Local landowner company, Hides Gas Development Company assisted with the repairs along with teams from Wood Group and Aurecon.

ExxonMobil PNG Hides Gas Conditioning Plant Community Affairs team and Advancing PN; Women’s Leader’s Network representatives with the humanitarian relief supplies that arrived on a cargo plane at the Komo airfield

Non-critical repairs to various Komo airfield facilities will be finalised in subsequent phases.
ExxonMobil PNG is also assisting the government to build infrastructure and key roads and bridges for Hela and Southern Highlands orovinces that were destroyed during the disaster.
Humanitarian support provided by ExxonMobil PNG includes 50 tonnes of food and drinking water, 600 tarpaulins, 1,020 solar lights and other essential items such as purification tablets, cooking aids and hygiene kits.
 Exxon Mobil Corporation has also provided nearly K3.5 million towards humanitarian relief.
Longer term support is being provided for the restoration of health care facilities, education services and community food gardens. 

Protecting women and girls after the earthquake in Papua New Guinea

unfpa.org | April 26, 2018

MENDI, Papua New Guinea – When a 7.3 magnitude earthquake struck the remote Southern Highlands Province on 26 February, 18-year-old Julian Ako was heavily pregnant with her third child.

In earthquake-affected Tamande, Mendi, local emergency responders meet with UNFPA staff. © UNFPA

She and her family emerged unscathed, but their home, like many others near the earthquake’s epicentre, was severely damaged.
A landslide contaminated their sole nearby source of safe drinking water. The earthquake’s aftermath brought strong aftershocks, while newly impassable roads and disruption of vital services made it hard for Julian to provide for her two young children.
February’s earthquake, perhaps one of the most under-reported natural catastrophes so far this year, has affected over half a million people, with over 270,000 still in need of vital aid as of April 2018.
Even in the best of times, inadequate infrastructure makes many parts of this impoverished country hard to access, and the number of health facilities is insufficient to meet the population’s needs.
Since the earthquake, landslides and sporadic unrest in some areas have made delivering aid even harder. Meanwhile, many critical health stations are out of commission.

Birth and death in the aftermath

For Julian, the effects of the earthquake and its aftermath compounded the challenges of a difficult birth.
“When my contractions started,” she recalls, “the local nurse told me she couldn’t help, and sent me off to Pimaga hospital to give birth.” This larger facility had already received safe birthing kits from UNFPA.
Early the next morning, after Julian had laboured for hours, midwives discovered that her baby had hydrocephalus. The baby died, and Julian’s life was in serious jeopardy.

Julian (left) with her mother (centre) and UNFPA officer Debbie Kupesan (right) after Julian's life-saving surgery. © UNFPA

But thanks to a swift referral made by a midwife from Papua New Guinea’s Family Health Association and a reproductive health officer from UNFPA, Julian was quickly airlifted to the larger, better-equipped Mendi provincial hospital, where her life was saved.
Julian was one of approximately 3,200 pregnant women caught up in the disaster who, along with an estimated 35,000 earthquake-affected women of reproductive age, were targeted by UNFPA as part of the government-led joint international and United Nations emergency response.
With support from Australia, the government has distributed around 700 of UNFPA’s dignity kits – containing vital health, hygiene and safety products to meet the needs of women and girls – in the worst-hit areas. Many kits were dispatched quickly through a joint Asia-Pacific pre-positioning initiative between the government of Australia and UNFPA. Another 500 kits are now pre-positioned in the hard-hit province of Hela.
In some of the worst-affected areas, UNFPA has distributed reproductive health kits containing supplies related to clean delivery, sexually transmitted infections and post-rape care.
Other UNFPA efforts target violence against women, which often spikes in emergencies.
Working with government and partners, such as the International Planned Parenthood Federation, UN Women and UNICEF, UNFPA is working to establish five women-friendly spaces in earthquake-affected areas, where women and girls can seek services for gender-based violence and receive counseling, awareness and support for referral services.
UNFPA staff have trained humanitarian aid workers in hard-hit communities on stress management, psychological first aid, and the Minimum Initial Service Package for sexual and reproductive health and gender-based violence in emergencies.
Julian, meanwhile, is now safe, recovering and looking to the future.
“I’m happy to be alive,” she says. “I’m looking forward to getting back to my husband and children at home so we can get on with rebuilding our house and our gardens.”

Prince Andrew: 'Huge opportunities' for trade between UK and Papua New Guinea

Comments by HRH Prince Andrew, the Duke of York, at the closing of the UK-Papua New Guinea Trade and Investment Forum, London, April 24,  2018.

“All of you are here because you want to know what Papua New Guinea is about.
“I hope that you have heard from the Prime Minister what the opportunities actually are on the ground.

Longtime PNG tourism operator Sir Bob Bates talking with Prince Andrew at the UK-Papua New Guinea Trade and Investment Forum in London on Tuesday. With them is Prime Minister Peter O'Neill.

“The conversations that I have had, and the conversations other members of my family have had over the last week, give a huge amount of confidence in the Commonwealth’s ability to work together in so many different areas.
“Investment and trade are just part of a whole series of activities the commonwealth is good at.
“You have had an exposed time today of concentration on what is available in Papua New Guinea in the coming years.
“I can see that there are huge opportunities.
“I hope today has been useful, I would like to say to the Prime Minister thank you very much indeed for the numerous offers that I have had to go to Papua New Guinea over the last few years.
“I will be going back to Papua New Guinea in the not too distant future.
“Thank you for your participation today.
“I hope to visit you when you have made your investment, increased you investment, traded more actively and increased the amount of actual trade that is going on between the UK and Papua New Guinea.
“It has been a pleasure visiting your country in the past and I look forward to visiting on many occasions into the future.”

Agriculture and tourism opportunities focus at UK-PNG Investment Forum

Agriculture and tourism provide substantial future growth opportunities for foreign investment in Papua New Guinea, and British investors are being given the opportunity to play an active role in these growth sectors.

Prince Andrew with Prime Minister Peter O'Neill at the forum.

Speaking to more than 150 participants at the UK-Papua New Guinea Trade and Investment Forum in London this week,  Prime Minister  Peter O’Neill  said alongside the resources sector, agriculture and tourism expansion was broadening the economic base of the nation.
“For many years, the Papua New Guinea economy has been based on the resources sector,” he said when opening the forum.
“We have delivered the most efficient LNG project in the world, and now with our partners we are initiating our second LNG project with Total from France.
“Demand for LNG will continue to increase in the next 30 years and this provides opportunities for investment with a healthy return.
“At the same time, as an economy, we must broaden our horizons so that we are not held captive to the boom-and-bust cycles of the global resource sector.
“Over the past few years we have been broadening the base of our economy focusing on sectors such as agriculture and tourism to be the key drivers of the economy in the years to come.
“Our people were some of the first in human history to establish organised agriculture.
“We have some of the most fertile soil in the world and a great landmass available for agriculture.
“We need to mobilise the capital that is needed to open up opportunities to produce more food for our growing population, and access the huge export markets in Asia.
“We are commercially producing milk, expanding production of cocoa and coffee and embarking on producing more of our own rice.
“Just as an example, we have demonstrated that double the yield of rice per hectare can be grown in our soil than is possible in other parts of South East Asia.”
O'Neill further highlighted the substantial potential PNG had as a tourist destination.
“Unlike many parts of the world where tourism is just one product based on sand and the ocean, Papua New Guinea has much more to offer," he said.
“We are a very culturally rich country, with a wide diversity of places where people from around the world can visit and engage with our people.
“As one off our tourism pioneers, Bob Bates, who is here with us today, will tell you, Papua New Guinea is a country that once people have visited they want to come back.
“Our Government is embarking on a programme that will provide incentives to increase investment in tourism.
“We are piloting a programme in East New Britain Province, working with landowners and Mineral Resources Development Company, and we are developing a master plan that will encourage investment in the tourism industry.”
 O’Neill told the forum that expanding opportunities in agriculture and tourism, requires ongoing investment in infrastructure.
“To grow future sectors we are investing heavily in new roads, bridges and airports that will get agricultural goods to market and enable tourists to travel in our country," he said.
O'Neill thanked the government of the United Kingdom, and the Duke of York, HRH Prince Andrew, for their commitment to strengthening economic relations between the two countries.
“Papua New Guinea’s relationship with the United Kingdom is growing" he said.
“I thank the UK Government for expanding more opportunities in Europe, and Papua New Guinea will continue to work with investors from the United Kingdom to increase opportunities, particularly in oil and gas, mining, agriculture and tourism
“Papua New Guinea has proven that it will deliver strong return on investments
 “We have demonstrated the political stability that our country is experiencing, and this is essential for business to expand investment.”
At the conclusion of the forum, O’Neill further extended his invitation to investors to visit PNG as part of APEC in 2018, and attend the APEC CEO Summit that will take place in Port Moresby in November.
UK-Papua New Guinea Trade and Investment Forum was opened by the Prime Minister on April 24, and included a key-note address by the British Foreign Minister, Mark Field MP, and was closed by the Duke of York, HRH Prince Andrew.
Other speakers at the forum included PNG  Foreign Minister Rimbink Pato, Bank of PNG Governor Loi Bakani, and representatives of leading PNG businesses.

ICTSI agrees to reinstate PNG dock workers' pay

porttechnology.org | April 25, 2018

Workers at South Pacific International Container Terminal Limited (SPICT), Lae, Papua New Guinea. Image courtesy of ICTSI

The PNG Maritime and Transport Workers Union (PNGMTWU) signed a Memorandum of Agreement with International Container Terminal Services (ICTSI), the Philippine port operator, following building pressure from the local workforce and international sources.

ICTSI and PNG officers after signing the agreement. Image courtesy of ICTSI

ITF president and chair of the ITF docker’s section, Paddy Crumlin, said: “This Memorandum of Agreement is a significant victory for workers who were looking down the barrel of a 50% wage cut.
“The ITF congratulates the PNGMTWU and its members for digging in and demanding the pay and conditions that PNG dockworkers have fought for over decades.
“However the ITF remains concerned that 213 workers are still without a contract after receiving termination notices from the former concession holder at Port Moresby.
“The transition of these jobs to the new Motukea terminal needs to be urgently addressed by ICTSI.”
The agreement follows months of disruption and protests after the ICTSI was awarded concession agreements for the operation PNG’s two major ports in October 2017, and cut in worker’s pay down to the legal minimum — impacting overall working conditions.
Paddy Crumlin continued: “This sits in sharp contrast to ICTSI’s industrial relations practices elsewhere in the world. For this to be real progress ICTSI must extend this respect for workers’ across the entirety of the company’s global operations.
“The ITF is prepared to work with ICTSI to progress the fundamental rights of all workers across its global network, to end the exploitation of its global workforce, recognise trade unions and stop undermining the wages, conditions and safety of its workforce.”
The ITF recently released a shareholder advisory note detailing governance issues at the ICTSI, and recently exposed the company when an Indonesian worker died at its facility in Jakarta in November 2017.

Papua New Guinea: Highlands Earthquake Snapshot - Community Messaging Uptake (as of 23 April 2018)

reliefweb.int | April 23, 2018

Digicel network users in Hela and Southern Highlands Province continue to receive life-saving messages and access pre-recorded automated voice messages. Over 38,000 callers have listened in on the automated voice messages in 2 weeks. An increase of 20,000 calls were made this week targeting 50,000 automated voice messages.Click for full report.

Papua New Guinea: Measles - Emergency Plan of Action Final Report (Operation n° MDRPG006)


reliefweb.int | April 30, 2018

Summary:

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies’ Disaster Relief Emergency Fund (DREF) was granted on 1 November 2017 for CHF 88,808 to the PNGRCS. The DREF reached 9,132 people, of which 57 cases were identified as directly reached through vaccination/mobilisation messages; over 50,000 people were indirectly benefited from social mobilisation campaign in 33 villages.

Since 19 October, no new measles cases were reported and the epidemic is completely under control. The declaration of measles outbreak was lifted on 19 November and the Department of Health has since diverted the focus to a “mopup” Measles-Rubella (MR) vaccination campaign. The Vanimo-Green District Health Manager requested the PNGRCS volunteers to focus on social mobilization in the three target areas. Changes in the operation’s targets and activities were reported in Operation Update -1. These included scaling down the target numbers from 60,000 to 50,000 people and adding a new activity - mass awareness campaign through radio programming.

With the DREF allocation, PNGRCS met the needs of affected people and implemented a strategy that included hygiene information dissemination and community awareness to minimize or contain the spread of measles over the three-month timeframe. The scope and budget for this operation enabled the targeted population of approximately over 9,000 people to be reached directly, and a further 50,000 people indirectly.

The implementation of activities for the operation was successfully concluded by 31 January 2018. A total of CHF 45,674 was returned to DREF. The final financial report is available here.