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PNG Chill
A new PNG web site is now up and running. It can be found at -- http://www.chill.net.pg
Wewak Guest House
A new web site developed by Michele at Bluefin Consulting Ltd is now
online advertising the Wewak Guest House -- http://www.wewakguesthouse.com
National Statistical Office
The National Statistical Office has a web site located at -- http://www.nso.gov.pg
Ever wondered what is the population of various PNG towns? http://www.citypopulation.de/PapuaNewGuinea.html
-- makes a reasonable guess considering the last census held in PNG
was in the year 2000.
New Guinea Traders
New Guinea Traders have a website located at -- http://www.newguineatraders.com
-- the company is a limited liability corporation importing green Arabica
coffee beans. Originally established by Aarlie and Larry Hull for the
purpose of helping indigenous Papua New Guineans realise a greater return
on their labours and a more equitable profit from the magnificent natural
resources of their country.
National Disaster Centre
A web site for the National Disaster Centre has come on line recently
. It can be found at -- http://www.pngndc.gov.pg
-- worth taking a look.
Budget Travel
Budget travel web site can be found at -- http://www.budgettravel.com/png.htm
Wuvulu
For information about the small island of Wuvulu please visit -- http://www.wuvulu.com
Wikipedia
Wikipedia is a free web based encyclopaedia and the information it
has on PNG can be located at the following web address -- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Papua_New_Guinea
Port Moresby Rotary
Rotary is an organization consisting of business and professional leaders
united worldwide who provide humanitarian service, encourage high ethical
standards in all vocations, and help build goodwill and peace in the
world. In more than 160 countries worldwide, approximately 1.2 million
Rotarians belong to more than 30,000 Rotary clubs. The Port Moresby
Rotary Club has a website located at -- http://www.pomrotary.org.pg
Internet Service Providers
Originally there were five Internet Service Providers distributing
the bandwidth allocated by the government body Tiare. This has been
reduced to four. Bandwidth into and out of PNG has been hampered with
the "loss" of an Intelsat satellite. Bandwidth has been reduced
to 75 percent making it very difficult for people to access their favourite
websites. The four surviving ISP's are -
Daltron -- http://www.daltron.com.pg
Data Nets -- http://www.datanets.com.pg
Datec -- http://www.datec.net.pg
Global Technologies -- http://www.global.net.pg
Tourism Offices
http://www.tourismmorobe.org.pg
-- Morobe Tourism site
http://www.milnebaytourism.gov.pg
-- Milne Bay Tourism Site
http://www.pngtourism.org.pg
-- Main Government Tourism Site
http://www.pngbd.com -- Papua New
Guinea Tourism and Business Directory
http://www.eastnewbritain.com
-- East New Britain Tourism Promotion Web Site
http://www.tourismwestnewbritain.org.pg
-- West New Britain Tourism Promotion Web Site
News Items
East Sepik Governor
The court has ordered that there must be an election to elect a new
governor for the East Sepik province. The vacancy occurred when Angoram
MP, Arthur Somare, vacated the post to take up a cabinet post in the
National Government. A councillor was elected to fill the post in 2003
but because he did not meet the qualifications his election has been
declared null and void. Under Section 21 of the Organic Law on Provincial
and Local Level Government only members of parliament are eligible to
run for election of the Governorship.
Law Awareness Book
Stanley Kuli Liria has produced a book to raise awareness of the law
for non-legal professionals. It has been written to be as simple as
possible. The book explains the rights, freedoms, court processes and
other basic areas of law which the grass roots people need to understand
to appreciate relations and interaction with others in the society.
The author comes from the Southern Highlands Province of PNG and is
a practising lawyer. -- http://michie.net/pnginfo/law.html
Civil Aviation
Civil Aviation in Port Moresby was thrown into chaos recently when
back up generating equipment failed to start during an electrical outage.
The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), responsible for the supply of electricity
to Jackson's Airport, are investigating the reasons. Several CAA workers
have been suspended during the investigation. The travelling public,
including the Prime Minister, Sir Michael Somare, were inconvenienced
for almost a full day. International passengers arriving on the early
morning flight from Singapore had to be checked into the country under
the light of a candle. CAA workers have indicated that they would go
on strike over a wage related issue. It is not known whether the loss
of power and absence of staff was related to any strike action.
Power Shedding
PNG Power has had to commence load shedding in Port Moresby due to the
shutdown of one of the generators at the Kanudi Power Station. Load
shedding is being carried out between 8am and 4pm during weekdays until
the Kanudi machine has been brought back online. Currently Port Moresby
uses 78MW during the daytime but the remaining generators can only produce
68MW.
HOPE Worldwide in PNG
Hope Worldwide is currently trying to collect a large quantity of second-hand
computers from Australia this year to send them here (PNG). The computers
will be used to establish and / or boost 15+ computer classrooms, including
connecting at least two schools to the Internet. As this is a project
at the very beginning and knowing the generosity of companies around
Australia Hope Worldwide is hoping that they do not get an avalanche
of Personal Computers this year although by the sound of it an avalanche
next year after they have set up a few schools and have more expertise
would be appreciated. Hope ship items to PNG every three to four months.
Hope are also approaching IT companies in an effort to raise money for
this project.
Hope reports a success at Gumine in Simbu province. With mostly AusAID
money that have been able to establish a solar-powered computer classroom
with eight new computers, a scanner and a printer. The set up is operating
well.
Coming Events
The Game Fishing Titles will be held between the 19th and the 28th of
March in Madang.
Mining Conference -- PNG's premier mining conference will be held between
the 23rd and 25th of May at the Lae International Hotel. This will be
the seventh Geology, Exploration, and Mining Conference. For further
information please contact the PNG Chamber of mines -- conf[@]pngchamberminpet.com.pg
- Telephone +675 321 2988 and Facsimile +675 321 7107.
The Royal Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals of PNG will be
holding its annual general meeting on,2nd of April 2005 at the St Martin's
Anglican Church Hall in Boroko.
Coming soon is the East New Britain Cultural Festival consisting of
two main events. The Warwagira July 4th to 12th 2005 (mostly singing/choir,
string bands groups both Ancient & Modern) followed by the + Mask
Festival July 13th to 16th, 2005 (Traditional Masks and ancient culture
ONLY)
Pokies Govt Payout
Over a period of nine years the pokies have collected K900 million
from players. Of this the government has been a winner and collected
K522 million, provincial government have had a small share (K48 million),
gambling operators (K106 million) and site owners (K223 million). Port
Moresby is the unofficial gambling capital of PNG with the most money
being lost by the players. Players are losing an estimated K6 million
a month in Moresby.
Here are the figures outlaid since the machines were officially introduced
in 1995
1995 - K6.7 Million
1996 - K57 Million
1997 - K77.5 Million
1998 - K86 Million
1999 - K106 Million
2000 - K100 Million
2001 - K106 Million
2002 - K110 Million
2003 - K116 Million
2004 - K128 Million
E-Ticketing
Air Niugini has introduced e-ticketing for staff members travelling
on international flights to and from Brisbane. The trial will be progressively
extended, as more experience is gained and any problems are ironed out,
to Executive Club members. Airlines currently using paper tickets pay
a royalty to the International Air Transport Association of about $US5.00
per ticket. E-ticketing requires that the person booking a seat on a
plane has photographic ID so that they can be clearly identified. This
could be in the form of a passport, driver's licence, work identity
card etc. All airlines in PNG currently suffer from the illegal sale
of tickets to other people. E-ticketing will help stamp out this practice
as well as giving the traveller more security when a ticket is lost
or misplaced because without the correct form of ID the e-ticket is
worthless. E-ticketing will eventually be introduced to all passengers
that require the service.
Home Brew
Eight people have died after drinking an unknown alcoholic beverage
in Lae. It is believed that the beverage contained methanol or ethanol.
Reports indicate that a quantity of methanol or ethanol could have been
stolen and used to concoct a powerful drink. A survivor said the drink
tasted like kerosene. A ninth victim has since died.
Private Hospital
Does any one know what is happening to the unfinished private hospital
at the back of the University of PNG Medical Faculty? The hospital was
partially completed years ago by the Motor Vehicle Insurance Limited
and has sat vacant since then. It was intended to be a 79-bed hospital
but it is possible that the buyers will have to use it for other purposes
as other private hospitals have sprung up in Port Moresby.
Languages of PNG
PNG has three national or official languages -- they are Hiri Motu,
Tok Pisin and English. Overall in the whole of PNG the number of languages
listed equals 832. Of those, 823 are living languages and nine are considered
to have become extinct in the last fifty years as some groups are absorbed
into others and more influence is exerted by tok pisin speakers to make
it a truly national language for the country.
Sex Education
A study carried out by Geraldine Maibani and Tony Lupiwa of the PNG
Institute of Medical Research in the Eastern Highlands recommends that
there is a need to promote responsible and safe sexual behaviour and
to conduct formal sex education in the province at school level. The
study carried out recently shows that children as young as 10 are actively
participating in sex. The age group studied, from 10 to 24, make up
31.5 percent of the PNG population.
Police Reforms
Senior police have been given a year to reform by the Internal Security
Minister. Police who do not pull up their socks by the end of the year
will be issued with "show cause notices" as to why they have
not performed to expectation.
PNG Religious Sites
Anglican Church of PNG (Diocese of Port Moresby) -- http://portmoresby.anglican.org
Bible Society Work in PNG -- http://www.biblesociety.org/bs-pap.htm
Catholic Church of PNG and Solomon Islands -- http://www.catholicpng.org.pg
Christian Brethren Churches of PNG. -- http://www.dg.com.pg/~cbcpng/
Church of God in PNG -- http://www.zip.com.au/~openshaw/begin02.html
Evangelical Lutheran Church of PNG -- http://www.lutheranworld.org/Directory/ASI/EvangelicalLutheranChurchofPapuaNewGuinea.EN.html
Hetune - Community of the Visitation, Popondota -- http://orders.anglican.org/arcyb/cvl.html
MAF Service in PNG -- http://www.maf.org.au/png/pnginfo.php
Melanesia Field is part of Nazarene World Missions. It is part of the
Asia-Pacific Region and has its headquarters in Kudjip, PNG -- http://www.melanesianaz.org/
Nazarene Hospital at Kudjip in the Highlands of PNG is a mission hospital
operated by the Church of the Nazarene, serving the people of PNG since
1967 -- http://www.kudjipnazarenehospital.org
New Tribes Mission Aviation in PNG -- http://www.ntmpng.org/ntma.htm
PNG Christian Links -- http://www.geocities.com/jbnirenga/christ-a.html
PNG Church Partnership -- http://hometown.aol.co.uk/pngcpluxton/PNGChurchPartnership.htm
Pioneer Bible Translators: PNG. -- http://www.pioneerbible.org.pg/
Religious Television Association of PNG -- http://www.rtapng.com.pg
Society of St Francis -- http://orders.anglican.org/arcyb/ssf-pac.html
The meaning of the Vow of Poverty in the third world -- http://orders.anglican.org/arcyb/2000-RichardCarter.html
The United Pentecostal Assemblies of PNG. -- http://www.upcpng.org/
HIV/AIDS Update
PNG has over 9000 confirmed cases of HIV/AIDS out of a population of
approximately 5.5 million. This is the highest number of confirmed cases
in the Pacific region. It has been reported that 14 people die of AIDS
every day at the Port Moresby General Hospital and a further 115 new
cases are diagnosed every month at the same hospital.
PNG Information Technology
Currently PNG is rated one of the lowest among other Pacific Island
nations in telecommunication that comprises of the fixed line segment,
mobile and internet segment and television segment and the lowest fixed-line
density. PNG has 700 payphones, by far the lowest per capita phone coverage
of all Pacific nations. PNG also ranks with the lowest in internet penetration,
less than one per cent of the population, while its internet access
costs are among the most expensive in the Pacific Island Nations States.
PNG also ranks among the lowest of television receivers in the PINS
with a TV penetration accounting for only eight per cent of the population.
Coconuts and Tearooms
Do not forget to try and get a copy of an excellent book that covers
an attempt by one person to record some of the history of coconuts,
tearooms and Rabaul. The book, called appropriately Coconuts and tearooms,
covers the eruption of the volcanoes around Rabaul in 1937 and the preface
covers the reason why Pat's book is of extreme historical value. In
1942 the Japanese invaded Rabaul and destroyed irreplaceable records.
I recommend that you somehow get to a library and grab a copy of the
book titled "Coconuts and Tearooms" by Pat Boys. National
Library of New Zealand ISBN 0-473-01724-5
It is copyrighted in 1993 but covers a six-year period in the 1930's.
The book started out as ten foolscap, single-spaced pages that Pat's
mother had written about her experiences. With this meagre beginning
an a keen interest to preserve a little bit of the history of the Rabaul
area and helped by over 200 photographs taken by her father Pat has
been able to produce a wonderful 140 plus page book. The only complaint
I could find about the book was that I wish the photos were in colour!
Now if I could only buy a plantation for the price mentioned in Pat's
book but using the money I earn today without subtracting anything for
inflation!
The Drum
The famous Post Courier Column "The Drum" has been in the
electronic age for sometime now. For all of those people who are familiar
with The Drum you can now email titbits of gossip to -- thedrum@spp.com.pg
-- or you can still send a facsimile message to +675 320-1781. For those
not familiar with The Drum then I suggest taking a look at the Post
Courier website located at --http://www.postcourier.com.pg
-- and follow your nose to "The Drum".
PNG Media
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