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Sites to visit
http://www.art-pacific.com - Collectors of New Guinea art in the field since 1965.
http://tribal-artifacts.com - Collector quality art from Papua New Guinea, Irian Jaya, and the Solomon Islands
Port Moresby Tech
The Australian Government through AusAID has donated K675,000 towards a new library for PomTech. The library was handed over recently.
Stilt Houses
One of the oldest, possibly the oldest, stilt houses located at Hanuabada village in Port Moresby, recently collapsed into the water it was built above. It is believed that the house was built soon after the Second World War.
Bank of Hawaii
The Bank of Hawaii is set to leave the country at the end of this year. This was confirmed recently during an inspection by the president of the bank.
Elections
The Western Highlands Provincial Administrator has raised concerns that violations would occur during the 2002 elections if sufficient funds were not available to update the common roll.
European Union
The EU has given K348 million in aid to PNG for three already identified projects :- HIV/AIDS prevention, a fishing project and a capacity building training program.
Cancer Ward
The PNG Cancer Relief Society is hoping that with various fund raising activities there will be 30 beds in Port Moresby for cancer patients.
Angau Hospital in Lae is the only hospital that can treat cancer patients in PNG but it is run down and not operational. There has not been an oncology doctor since 1998.
A national cancer symposium has been planned for September to address some of the issues of not having a cancer clinic in the country.
Taurama Road
Despite heavy rain the Taurama Road upgrade is progressing well as are all the works around town.
The Electricity Commission has had to cut down many fine trees to make way for new power lines along the edge of the new roadwork.
Koki to Ela Beach Rd
The reclaiming of land for the road between Koki and Ela Beach is going to plan. A big crane is being used to hoist concrete blocks into position as a sea wall. The wall is almost 100 metres away into the water from the existing road edge.
Note the old road is shown at the bottom right and the new road is where the crane is located. Everythng to the left of the old road is reclaimed land.
HF Internet
DataNets (http://www.datanets.com.pg) and their Internet Company -- On-Line South Pacific http://www.online.net.pg -- have announced Internet access over High Frequency (HF) radio links. It is now possible for anyone in PNG with a HF radio and a computer to be able to hook into the Internet. Getting this project to work involved help from Christian Radio Mission Fellowship, New Tribes Mission, University of Goroka and Pacific Mobile Communications - http://www.pacom.com.pg.
East New Britain
A woman in East New Britain has been charged with trying to smuggle marijuana into the Kokopo police cells.
PNGBC Robberies
One of the people involved in the armed robbery of the Mount Hagen branch of the PNGBC has been jailed for 12 years with hard labour.
It has been rumoured that the brains behind the helicopter robbery of the downtown Port Moresby branch of the PNGBC just before the start of the year 2000 are back in town.
Rugby League
The Australian Rugby League Team is set to play the Kumuls sometime in October. I believe that Air Niugini management are attempting to get the flight attendants dressed in Kumul jerseys to welcome the Australian Kangaroos on board the flight to PNG.
World Bank
The World Bank has praised the efforts of the PNG Prime Minister in attempting to run an honest government.
Voting System
Some interesting figures have been released regarding the 1997 General Election Results.
Here is one of them. -- An average of 21.75 candidates stood for each electorate in the 1997 election, which compared with 5.5 in the 1964 elections.
Support PNG
Air Niugini (http://www.airniugini.com.pg) is well into its "I support PNG - I fly Air Niugini" campaign but is still having trouble getting that through to the troops for both purchasing locally and flying themselves on Air Niugini. You can hardly blame them when a competing airline offers Thursday, Friday, Sunday and Monday services to Brisbane where a large number of people like to visit. (Air Niugini does not fly to Brisbane on these days).
Kikori
Traditional dancers at the opening of the new Kikori Police Station recently entertained the Prime Minister and other high level politicians. Other projects in the area are an airport, police barracks and a proposed new high school.
World Airline Hockey
PNG Airlines - Airlink and Air Niugini are both sending teams off to the World Airline Hockey tournament in Fiji. Last time the Air Niugini girls played in Fiji they took out the World Airline Hockey Championship.
Japanese Volunteers
Although the US has already suspended the US Peace Corps here in PNG it has not stopped Japan from sending 11 more volunteers to bring the total number of Japanese volunteers in the country to 63.
Population
It has been claimed that as little as three percent of the PNG population is registered at the National Registry Office. Two percent are people from overseas and only one percent are PNG citizens.
Another claim is that over 2.5 million children of school age do not attend school.
2000 PNG Population by Province
Province Population Central 183,153 Chimbu 258,776 East New Britain 220,035 East Sepik 341,583 Eastern Highlands 429,480 Enga 289,299 Gulf 105,050 Madang 362,805 Manus 43,589 Milne Bay 209,054 Morobe 536,917 National Capital 252,469 New Ireland 118,148 North Solomons 141,161 Oro (Northern) 132,714 Southern Highlands 544,352 West New Britain 184,838 West Sepik 185,790 Western 152,067 Western Highlands 439,085
2000 PNG Population by Region
Region Population Southern 1,034,507 Highlands 1,960,992 Mamose 1,427,095 Islands 707,771
Teachers
It has been reported that some provinces are finding it difficult to recruit teachers. It is estimated that over 500 people teaching do not have the correct qualifications.
Boroko Rotary
The Rotary Club has donated 100 treated mosquito nets to the Port Moresby City Mission. Students at the Bootless Bay vocational centre will use the nets.
Milne Bay
It is anticipated that the Chief Justice, Sir Arnold Amet, will appoint resident judges for both Milne Bay and Oro Province. The appointment will not go ahead until the Milne Bay Government allocates accommodation for the Judge.
Milne Bay Power
Port Moresby is still having power problems and now Alotau, the provincial capital of Milne Bay, is facing even a more serious threat of a total loss of electricity for the whole town. At the moment even the hospital is facing a complete blackout for some parts of the day.
South Pacific Forum
The Deputy Prime Minister will attend the 32nd South Pacific Forum to be held in Nauru.
National Provident Fund
The fund is now on strong financial ground and on track to being profitable. It has been reported to have over K14 million in the bank and is expected to be able to pay between six and seven percent interest this year to members.
Prices
- Stop and Shop have advertised the following:
- 340g Island Corn Beef - K2.99
- 125g National No. 1 tea - 89t
- 1 litre Pauls UHT milk - K2.60
- 115g Vegemite - K3.99
- 200ml Fountain Tomato Sauce K2.85
- 200g Cold Power Detergent K1.69
- 500g Saxa Salt K1.29
- 1 Kg lamb forequarter chops K7.99
- 1 Kg Ramu Sugar K2.99
- Imported cauliflower K6.99 per kilogram.
Endeavour Properties
The float of shares in Endeavour Properties has seen keen interest.
The lead broker, Syd Yates, has said that there are many benefits for investors. Some of the benefits being an opportunity for grass root people to share in the purchase of prime properties such as the ANZ bank building in Lae. Purchases will need to buy an initial parcel of 1000 shares to participate in the scheme.
Kick Boxing
PNG will have six representatives at the World Kick Boxing Championships to be held in Vienna from the 22nd to the 26th of August.
From all reports one of them, Stanley Nandex, should be able to finish in a very high position. He currently holds the PNG, Australian and Malaysian national titles in kickboxing.
Aussie Rules Football
The Sydney Swans Aussie Rules Club have made a suggestion to the Australian Football League to play an annual match to honour the battle of the Kokoda Trail.
Kokoda could be called the greatest untold story of Australia's history of the Second World War.
Eda Nambawan Pati
Bill Skate has announced that the People's National Congress political party is dead and that a new party called the Eda Nambawan Pati has replaced it.
PNG labour Party
Yet another political party has been established. This time it is the PNG Labour Party.
SP Exports
Frequent visitor to Port Moresby and indeed the whole of PNG, Peter Goleby, is leaving his long association with St Lucia Electronics and setting up his own company called SP Exports. sp.exports@bigpond.com
Tribal Fights
In the last issue I mentioned several tribal fights. In this issue there is yet another one to report. This time it is in Enga Province and five children are the victims. Warring clansmen have been at war for a long time and compensation payments have recently been made between the clans but one clan was not happy with the amount of compensation that resulted in the deaths. Two adults have been killed in retaliation for the slaying of the children.
Standard and Poors
The Standard and Poors rating for PNG has dropped again. This time the long and short-term foreign currency credit rating has dropped from B to C. The downgrade reflects on the failure of the country to attract must needed investment.
Rising Seas
It has been reported that children who live on the Carteret Islands of Bougainville are starving as a direct effect of the rising sea levels that continue to kill off the remaining food crops on the island.
Carteret Island
As reported above the Island of Carteret is suffering from rising sea levels that are washing away valuable food gardens. The Bougainville administration has now stepped up emergency food relief for the island along with other areas of the province, which have been affected by heavy rain.
Electoral Reforms
The new electoral reforms are having trouble passing through Parliament. On one part of the various amendments the government could only muster 72 votes and this was after the Speaker of Parliament cast his vote. For this part the proposal required 73 votes. Other parts will require an absolute majority of 82 votes.
PNG media related sites
- Post Courier Newspaper -- http://www.postcourier.com.pg
- The National Online Newspaper-- http://www.thenational.com.pg
- Chin H Meen (Music) -- http://www.chmsupersound.com
- EM TV (Television) -- http://www.emtv.com.pg
- Hitron (Cable TV) -- http://www.hitron.com.pg
- Pacific View Multimedia http://www.pvm.com.pg
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