Links
Do you have a web site or link to a PNG related area on the WWW? If so do you want it mentioned here? Then send an email to -- pngnewsqueue @ pnggossip.com
Jane's PNG
Jane's Papua New Guinea web site -- A pictorial insight with comments on Papua New Guinea traditional culture, art and history. Contains a series of excellent photographs and can be located at -- http://www.janeresture.com/png_home/
PNG Orchids
If you are interested in PNG Orchids then I suggest visiting -- http://www.orchidspng.com -- this is another web site with layout and design by Wolfgang H. Bandisch.
Internet Service Providers
Daltron -- http://www.daltron.com.pg
Data Nets -- http://www.online.net.pg
Datec -- http://www.datec.com.pg
Global Technologies -- http://www.global.net.pg
Real Estate Agents Association
The Real Estate Agents Association has advertised their web site. It is located at -- http://www.reia.org.pg.
Real Estate Agents
Arthur Strachan (Lae) -- http://www.arthurstrachan.com.pg
Century 21 -- http://www.century21.com.pg/ -- and -- http://www.siule.com.pg
Kohoy Real Estate -- http://kohoyrealestates.tripod.com/
L.J Hooker -- http://www.ljhooker.com
Ray White Real Estate -- monian[@]online.net.pg
Strickland RE -- http://www.sre.com.pg
The Professionals -- http://www.theprofessionals.com.pg
Misc
http://www.treehouse.com.pg -- Tree House Village -- For those who want a truly tropical style accommodation package then I suggest the exotic Tree House Village. The village is about 15 minute along the scenic Buluminski Highway from Kavieng in the New Ireland province. If anyone wants further details then please write to
Tree House Village
PO Box 351
Kavieng, PNG.
Phone +675 984 2666 / facsimile +675 984 2693 or
email albeck@global.net.pg
http://www.pomcci.org.pg -- Port Moresby Chamber of Commerce
http://www.rotary.org.pg -- Rotary Club of Boroko
The East New Britain Chamber of Commerce and East New Brisbane Tourism
Bureau has a web site at --
http://www.eastnewbritain.com
Port Moresby Rotary
Rotary is an organization 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
Rotary Club of Boroko -- http://www.rotary.org.pg
Rotary against Malaria in PNG -- http://www.rotarymalaria.org/rampng.htm
Adventure Kokoda
Adventure Kokoda is a professional trekking company with 15 years experience on the Kokoda Trail. Their treks have featured on the Channel 9 (Australia) Getaway program and numerous other television documentaries. Battlefield treks are led by experienced expedition leaders with a comprehensive knowledge of the history of the Kokoda campaign; a keen appreciation of
Koiari/Orokaiva culture; and a respect for the environmental integrity of the track. -- http://www.adventurekokoda.com.au
News Items
Teacher's Leave Fares
Many teachers around the country are finding out that there is no
money to send them off on their annual holidays. Teachers in West New
Britain have been told that the provincial government simply has no
money to pay for leave entitlements at this time. Morobe province is
complaining that it costs as much as K20,000 to fly each teacher and
his or her family home during the Christmas holidays. Many teachers
have been missing out on their entitlements for several years and have
not threatened to go on strike at the start of the new academic year.
Currently all teachers are entitled to air travel for themselves and
their immediate families regardless of where they reside and this has
been so for many, many years so should not be a surprise for provincial
governments.
Contractors in West New Britain have also joined the queue of people
demanding outstanding payments. Some contractors have claimed that
they have not been paid for seven years.
Scouts
Dame Carol Kidu has presented the PNG Scout Association with a cheque
for K50,000. This is part of K100,000 endorsed by the National Executive
Council and will be shared between the Scouts and the Girl Guides.
Provincial Budgets
Many provincial governments have passed their annual budget. With
2007 being an election year some of them appear to be interesting.
Unrealistic HIV Treatment
Sister Rose Bernard, the coordinator for the Shalom HIV/AIDS Centre
in Banz, Western Highlands province has called on individuals not to
capitalise on people living with HIV/AIDS. The Catholic nun said she
was not condemning anyone but wanted producers of herbal medicine,
faith healers and others to be realistic in how and what they presented
to people living with HIV/AIDS. She went on to say that there has been
no record of any person whose HIV/AIDS status has been confirmed being
healed as has been claimed by some herbal doctors and faith healers.
PNG FAQ's
Here are some of the more common frequently asked questions that keep
cropping up.
What is the land area of the provinces in PNG?
National Capital and Central, 29940 sq kms
Oro Province, 19827 sq kms
Milne Bay Province, 14000 sq kms
Morobe Province, 34,500 sq kms
Madang Province, 28000 sq kms
Eastern Highlands, 11706 sq kms
Simbu Province, 8476 sq kms
Western Highlands, 8288 sq kms
Southern Highlands, 25988 sq kms
East Sepik, 43000 sq kms
West Sepik (Sandaun),36000 sq kms
East New Britain, 15500 sq kms
West New Britain, 21000 sq kms
New Ireland, 9500 sq kms
Manus Province, 2100 sq kms
North Solomons Province, 9400 sq kms
Enga Province, 10790 sq kms
Western and Gulf Province, 135,000 sq kms
More PNG Frequently Asked Questions can be found at -- http://www.michie.net/png_faqs -- If you can help expand the FAQ's then visit the site and leave a
message. If you find a question with an incorrect or outdated answer
please also let the site owner know. -- png.faqs[@]michie.net
Sepik River
The Sepik River is PNG's equivalent to the mighty Amazon or the Congo
rivers. For people who live along its banks the river is central to
everyday life, and they depend on it for transportation, water and
food.
http://diversionoz.com/en/toursp-sepik.htm
http://au.travel.yahoo.com/great-outdoors/papua-new-guinea/sepik-river-papua-new-guinea.html
http://www.pngtourism.org.pg/png/export/sites/TPA/provinces/esp/espindex.htm
http://www.airniugini.com.pg/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=94&Itemid=44
Moti Case
Julian Moti may have fled the country on the 10th of October 2006
in a Defence Force Casa plane but before leaving he left a telephone
bill of K4600 at the Solomon Islands High Commission. The Post Courier
reported that the PNG Defence Force inquiry into the escape of Mr Moti
to the Solomon Islands had been disbanded. This has been strongly denied
by the PNG government. The paper claims that papers to gazette the
change on the 28th of December were withheld on advice from the First
Legislative Counsel's office which wanted to seek further legal advice
on the move. Evidence given so far to the inquiry suggests that Prime
Minister Sir Michael Somare and then acting Defence Force Commander
Captain Tom Ur were aware of, and at some stage discussed the operation.
Fast Money Schemes
The Bank of PNG has issued yet another warning to people stating to
be wary of fast money schemes and scams. The Bank advises that such
scams are illegal and that you have a good chance of losing your money.
The Bank also warns that the Bank of PNG does not deal with fast money
schemes/scams or private individuals and does not issue guarantees
or warrantees.
Carteret Islands
A television news crew from London will be visiting the country this
month to film a documentary on the sinking Carteret Islands. The program
will be part of a series of reports into climate change showing the
environmental threats on the planet due to rising sea levels. The crew
is expected to arrive in the country on the 10th of January with the
series being broadcast in the United Kingdom by ITN TV between the
15th and 19th of January.
The Newsletter
The newsletter may or may not be delayed this time around due to travel
commitments. The newsletter may be about Papua New Guinea but I can
remember sending it from many parts of the world. Ask Sharon who used
to live in San Diego where it was sent from in the early part of the
year 2000. The newsletter has also been sent from some small country
town in New Zealand that just happened to have an Internet cafe. It
has also been sent from Thailand, many locations in Australia, Singapore,
Hong Kong and even London. This time, if all goes well, it will be
sent from Suva in Fiji. If it arrives a day or two late then you will
know that I was not able to find an internet connection wired or wireless
that allowed pen drives to be connected until I returned to PNG.
Police Commissioner
The appointment of a Police Commissioner drags on due to an outstanding
court case against Gari Baki the man nominated to become the top cop.
Mr Baki was arrested and charged on October 8 with one charge of causing
disaffection within the police force, a charge that is similar to that
of mutiny in the military. He was charged under section 136 (1)(a)
of the Police Force Act.
PNG's Future
The World Bank has forecast a bright future for PNG. The Bank said
that the country's economy has been improving due to high commodity
prices over the first three quarters of 2006. The Bank also said that
the agriculture sector was slowly making its way into contributing
to the economy.
It was reported in mid November during the handing down of the 2007
PNG Budget that PNG's foreign reserves were at a whopping K4.5 billion
and that economic growth was expected to reach 4.5 percent. This is
well above the expected population growth and a significant improvement
from the first part of the decade.
New Year
The New Year for Moresby residents was hot and humid. Despite the
hot weather the fireworks at the Lamana Motel were a success. Hundreds
of onlookers and patrons braved humid weather to watch the half-hour
fireworks display.
Power Woes
The New Year was only minutes old and PNG Power failed and then continued
to fail until about 4am due to over exuberant people celebrating the
birth of a new year by throwing things at the power lines and shorting
out the electricity supply.
One benefit is that many residents were able to see the Lamana fireworks
without all the street and security lights interfering with the view.
PNG Power has announced a 2.56 percent increase in the price of electricity.
It had earlier been given clearance by the price controller, the Independent
Consumer and Competition Commission, for a possible average increase
of almost 12 percent (11.93%). The Port Moresby Chamber of Commerce
has praised PNG Power for a lower increase than what was anticipated.
Corruption
Without revealing their source Transparency International (TI) estimates
that the government of PNG loses K150 million through corruption each
year. TI state that the majority of people in the rural area miss out
on essential health and education because of corruption.
The PNG chapter of Transparency International has a web site located
at -- http://www.transparencypng.org.pg.
HTML Version
Did you know that there is an html version of this newsletter? The
only real benefits are that links to other sites are coded into the
html document so, if the link is still valid, it is simply a matter
of clicking on the link. Some email clients do not convert links in
the text version correctly and some readers have to cut and past the
links into the browser. -- http://pnggossip.com/news/apply -- is
the link where you can change your subscription.
Hospital Donation
The Yamka Pepka tribe near Mt Hagen has donated K45,000 towards a
heart unit for the Mt Hagen General Hospital. With this latest donation
the hospital has now managed to raise K183,200 towards the cost of
the equipment.
Harbours Board
PNG Harbours Limited has changed their name to PNG Ports Corporation
Limited. Along with the name change a new company logo has been adopted
and an increase in harbour fees.
2007 Elections
Peter Yama, the parliamentary leader of the People's Labour Party
says that the 2007 elections will be his last. Another politician has
announced that he will be leading his new party into the elections
and expects to be able to become the next Prime Minister. Yet another
politician has unveiled a new political party. Southern Highlands Governor,
Hami Yawari, unveiled his PNG Conservative Party with 24 intending
candidates recently. His first task is not to aim for the Prime Ministership
but to organise the new party and win as many seats as possible this
year.
Coming Events
National Surfing Association will be hosting the National Surfing Titles
in Vanimo in mid-February 2007.
32nd Gaming Fishing Association of PNG titles will be held from the
1st to the 4th April 2007
May Coffee Festival 2007 - cancelled due to 2007 National Elections.
Tufi Cultural Show, Oro Province -- 9th to the 11th June
National Mask Festival, Kokopo - East New Britain Province -- 12th
to the 15th of July
International Orchid Spectacular -- 5th and 6th of August
Lukim PNG NAU Tourism Expo -- 9th to the 11th September
National Tourism Conference -- 12th September
Hiri Moale Festival, Port Moresby - National Capital District -- 15th
to 18th of September
PNG 30th Independence Day Celebrations -- 16th September
Morobe Show, Lae -- 4th to 5th of November
The Milne Bay Canoe and Kundu (drum) festival is to be in November.
Do you have an event that you want advertised? Send email to -- PNGNews[@]pnggossip.com
PNG Media
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