Although Prime Minister (PM) James Marape welcomes foreign investments into the country’s energy sector, what he wants to see in the future is major companies in Papua New Guinea (PNG) tapping into this area by making investments as well in electricity production. It was this that prompted him to make a call during his keynote speech at the Edevu Hydropower Reservoir Impoundment ceremony held in the Central province recently, to PNG companies to consider this in the future. “I call on those of you who have capacity in our country, including those superfunds to be adventurous. We have superfunds with K5billion, K6billion and over K7billion assets. We have MRDC (Mineral Resources Development Company Ltd), our landowner companies in our country, they have potential to move in the clean energy space,” said Marape. The PM gave the example of the developer of the Edevu Hydropower project, PNG Hydro Development Ltd, saying that the project was all done through their private investments with not much help from the state, but within 15 years the company has accomplished a milestone project that would benefit the country and the people. He said that this should set the precedence for other investors, including local investors to follow. The country’s energy demand is increasing due to major developments taking place in the oil and gas space and agriculture; therefore, there is a need to supply energy in the form of electricity to these emerging industries. The PM said the key to this, is by making more investments in the energy sector. It’s not only that, Marape said more investments in the energy sector should also lead to the government achieving its national goal to have 70% of the country have access to cheap and reliable electricity by 2030, which is only 6 years away.

The country continues to develop and the economy continues to expand as well meaning that there will be more demand for electricity supply for the industries and businesses for their operations, something which the government wants to address through private sector investments in the energy sector. That was made known by Prime Minister (PM) James Marape when giving his keynote address at the Edevu Hydropower Reservoir Impoundment ceremony for the new hydropower project in the Central province on Friday 21st April. Marape said that there is no doubt that demand will continue to increase with the expansion of Port Moresby city and the developments in the neighboring provinces like Central and Gulf. The PM said when the Edevu Hydropower project was at its initial stages in 2009, the energy demand for Port Moresby was below 100megawatt, but today Port Moresby electricity demand load has increased in the last 15 years. “The need of Port Moresby is approaching 200megawatt,” said the prime minister. “We will work to support the power expansion by building out of Port Moresby into Central province in a planned manner, partnering the Central Provincial Government,” said the PM. That support is the government funding of the electricity infrastructure, which is the 132KV transmission lines from Edevu Hydropower site to Port Moresby, where 54megawatt of additional power will be supplied. Marape thanked the developer PNG Hydro Development Ltd for this investment. He took the opportunity to also invite other investors to do the same, to tap into the energy sector so to meet the increasing demand of electricity. “This is because energy is a major focus of ours and we want the private sector to get engaged, freeing up government capital for us to invest in health, education and other enabling infrastructures.” On that note, the PM said that the investors must also look at other areas of energy generation like green energy solutions going forward when making investments in the Papua New Guinea energy sector.

Prime Minister (PM) James Marape has assured the landowners of the land where the new state of the art hydropower dam project in Edevu in Central province stands that their outstanding land issues will be sorted out in due course. The PM said this during the Edevu Hydropower Reservoir Impoundment ceremony on Friday 21st April. Marape told the landowners and their leaders that he and his team of ministers will be meeting with the Central Province Governor Rufina Peter and Member for Hiri Koiari Keith Iduhu on Tuesday 25th April to discuss and sort out the matter of the outstanding landowner issues, which includes royalties and equity for them. “We’ll get your two local members, Minister William Duma and the team to go through what happened thus far,” the PM told the landowners. Marape also told the landowners not to interfere with the operations of the new hydro dam project because their landowner matters are now the responsibility of the state to handle. “Any issues with the land, any issues going forward, it is no longer investor business; it is government business.” Meanwhile, both the Hiri Koiari Member and the Central Province Governor raised genuine concerns about landowner issues and benefits and would like to work with the Marape- Rosso Government to have better arrangements and agreements in place in the future for all project site landowners in the province going forward.

Fuel pumps at PUMA service stations in the city of Port Moresby are pumping Unleaded Petrol in full again after the resupply arrived a day early. Re-fueling commenced at all PUMA Energy locations covering Port Moresby since midday yesterday, Saturday 22nd April. “Our team has delivered a great outcome for Port Moresby and managed a potentially challenging situation both professionally and efficiently,” commented PUMA Energy Country Manager, Mr. Hulala Tokome. “While there were circumstances out of our control (weather related in Australia), it is vital that we manage any situation. Our team has done this, minimizing disruptions to all our valued customers.” “As soon as the re-fueling ship arrived at the port, our team moved efficiently and effectively to get the unleaded petrol off the ship and into re-fueling vehicles. They have achieved a re-fueling plan across Port Moresby one day ahead of schedule.” Mr. Tokome assured customers that from today onwards, there will be no more rationing of unleaded fuel across PUMA Energy locations in Port Moresby. “I applaud our PUMA Energy Teams' swift action to rectify this situation, and I thank all of Port Moresby for their patience and understanding.”

The residents of Central province and the nation’s capital Port Moresby should soon receive uninterrupted power supply from the Edevu Hydro Project in the upper Brown River in the Hiri Koiari district of Central province as the massive hydro dam prepares to come on line. This after the Prime Minister (PM) James Marape pushed the button to flood the valley floor with water to signify the final stages before the dam becomes operational. The significant ceremony took place on Friday 21st April at Edevu and was witnessed by the project developer, the landowners, and the provincial government and national government delegates. The new massive hydro plant, which was built from private investments from Chinese owned company- PNG Hydro Development Ltd, will supply 54megawatt of power to the Port Moresby power grid and from there it will be distributed to Central province, as per the arrangement. PM James Marape thanked the company for having confidence in Papua New Guinea (PNG) to set up a big operation like this dam to supply energy to the country, where it is needed. Perhaps the significance of this project was that it comes in line with what the government aims to achieve by 2030. “We are a nation in pursuit of development. In the power sector, we want our country by 2030, to have 70% of our country have access to cheap, reliable and even green energy,” said Marape. PNG Hydro Development Ltd Managing Director Mr. Allan Guo said the project took close to 15 years to come to this final stage and cost K650million. He said all these would not have been done without support; therefore, he extended his appreciation to the landowners of Edevu, the provincial and national government, and its partners for the support and approvals given to achieve this hydro project. The project received a lot of support from the leaders of all consecutive governments, with the current Marape- Rosso government providing desperately needed funds for the 132kVA transmission lines to make it a complete success. “In the last two years, over K200million worth of support was given to PNG Power and close to K100million was invested for the power line that will uplink power to the city (Port Moresby) and to the neighboring areas,” the PM explained the government support. Marape said that with the demand of energy increasing, power is a necessity for development and investments, and as such, his government will continue to support such investments in the country.

Fuel consumers should see the issue with fuel rationing in the city of Port Moresby ease up by this weekend when fuel distributor PUMA Energy receives its re- supply of fuel. The current fuel rationing carried out by PUMA in the city is due to the recent severe cyclonic weather in Northwest Australia, preventing the supply ship from heading out. According to PUMA Energy, the re-supply ship has been delayed by several days and is now planned for arrival on Saturday 22nd April to correct the Unleaded Petrol (ULP) shortage being experienced. “PUMA Energy is constantly monitoring our fuel supplies across PNG. We know exactly the volumes of ULP, Diesel and other oil products needed for the country.” “We hold large volumes of backup supplies that are sometimes called upon, or we may experience some rationing in severe and unexpected circumstances.” “This is one of those occasions, and we have implemented the appropriate steps to ensure minimal impact occurs to our customers in Port Moresby.” That is according to PUMA Energy Country Manager, Mr. Hulala Tokome. PUMA Energy further clarified that the implementation of the Unleaded Petrol rationing program is only for Port Moresby city and no other parts of the country have been affected. “I must stress that this is only Port Moresby and only Unleaded Petrol. The Rationing of ULP is from Wednesday until Saturday, 22nd April.” “The re-supply ship will arrive on Saturday, 22nd April, with our professional PUMA Energy team ready to receive the shipment and distribute to Port Moresby immediately, we will see normal supplies on Sunday 23 April.” “PUMA Energy distributes millions of litres of Unleaded Petrol, Diesel and JetA1 fuel across the nation every week covering airports, commercial operations and our retail network.” “Our national team of over 500 team members work around the clock to ensure communities are energized throughout PNG,” added Mr Tokome.

The BSP Financial Group Limited (BSP) is advising its customers that some of them will not be able to access the mobile banking services at this time as it continues to fix up its new Banking System glitches. In a notice today, BSP advised that the customer balance view function on BSP Mobile Banking *131# is unavailable at this time. The bank said that some customers may not be able to view their account and balance information. BSP team is working on fully restoring the services for customers to access. BSP once again apologizes for the inconveniences caused and thanked its customers for their patience and understanding.

The residents of Kerema town in Gulf province have been in total darkness for two weeks now following issues with the only PNG Power diesel generation in town. Initially, the issue was with the supply of fuel to the town after a portion of the road leading to Kerema from Central province was damaged due to the bad weather and affecting transportation of fuel. But now the issue is with the only power generator in town going out of action, that’s after the matter of fuel supply was addressed. PNG Power Limited (PPL) in a notice just this week confirmed this by saying that the capital of the Gulf province has been without power as a result of a total shutdown of electricity supply to homes, government institutions and business houses. “This is due to an unexpected mechanical failure on our only operational generator at our power station that is supplying the province.” The power company also said that its technical team is currently working on the fault and will notify as soon as the generator is operational; however, the residents in town claimed that there has not been a team yet on ground attending to this matter. The main places affected by this blackout include the general hospital, the provincial police headquarters, schools and the provincial administration. Meanwhile, those with standby generators have been requested to utilize them during this time.

The Chief Secretary to Government, Ivan Pomaleu, announces today to the People of Papua New Guinea that Tuesday, 18th April 2023, is declared a public holiday in respect of the Late Sir Rabbie Namaliu’s State Funeral. Chief Secretary Pomaleu said this holiday was recently approved by the National Executive Council to give time to public servants and the general public to pay their last respects to the fourth Prime Minister of PNG. The Late Right Honourable, Sir Rabbie Langanai Namaliu, GCL, KCMG, died of a sudden illness on Friday, 31st of March 2023 at the age of 75, leaving behind a public service, political and diplomatic legacy that is yet to be matched. In his distinguished public service career, he served as the Chairman of the Public Service Commission for three years (1976 – 1979) and in the lead up to self-determination in 1975, he served as the Principal Private Secretary (1974 – 1975) to the Chief Minister and the first Prime Minister, Sir Michael Thomas Somare. Sir Rabbie was the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade from 1982 – 1984 and negotiated a Treaty of Mutual Respect, Friendship and Corporation with Indonesia to address the issue of incursions of the Indonesian Military into Papua New Guinea and the influx of refugees from West Papua, which at that time was creating a humanitarian crisis in PNG. “We now enjoy a peaceful relationship with Indonesia.” He was also instrumental in bringing on board the Australian Funded Scholarship Scheme, enabling a lot of Papua New Guineans to study in Australia to this day. Sir Rabbie became the fourth Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea from 1988 – 1992 after serving briefly as the Leader of the Opposition in 1988. He also served as the Speaker of Parliament from 1994 – 1997. “We pay homage to our great leader, Sir Rabbie, for his contributions in nation building,” he said.

The Nasfund Contributors Savings and Loans Society Limited (NCSL) has started processing members’ fund transfers to BSP accounts, but it’s being done manually. This was confirmed by NCSL Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Mr. Vari Lahui this afternoon. “All our payments have now been processes but it’s a manual process because BSP still has some issues with its system.” The CEO said the outstanding payments to customers totaling K4.6million for one week, is now being processes for the NCSL members who are BSP account holders. Just last week, NCSL was unable to process their members’ withdrawals or loan drawdowns to BSP bank accounts following the BSP Financial Group Limited implementation of its new Banking System. The NCSL CEO then, said that they continued to work closely with the BSP team to have this matter sorted out. A short notice was also put out by NCSL today stating that all transfers to BSP accounts made from Thursday 06th April to Friday 14th April, have now been manually process and that members that made the transfer during this period from their Poro account to BSP account, should have access to these funds now. Caption: .

After two years in the Port Moresby Australian Football League (AFL) competition, the Daltron Alavana Swans club from Hula is looking to expend its participation in the competition, but it will need the support of the folks back home. The club’s new coach, Mr. Pepe Kila said that the club needs the support of the youths in the village in order to be successful. “I want all the young people in Hula and Kalo villages to come support us in the club play in the league,” he said. “I just want the young guys hanging around and doing nothing to come play AFL with us.” The coach said they are looking at including a women’s team as well for the club in the competition in the near future because currently, the club has only a men’s team in the A grade division. He added that this is an opportunity as well for the young people to make something for themselves in the sport of AFL. This is because just recently one of the young players from the club was selected by the AFL team to further his opportunities in the AFL junior programs. The Alavana Swans Club comes from the big village of Hula in the Central province, but plays in the Port Moresby competition because there is no established AFL competition in the province itself. Meanwhile, the club received new player uniforms all thanks to its new sponsor, Daltron. The club was presented with the new uniforms on Saturday 15th April just before the kick off of the 2023 Moni Plus Port Moresby AFL season.  

Ok Tedi Mining Limited (OTML) now has a new boss after the mining company’s Board made the appointment recently. The Board of OTML appointed Mr Kedi Ilimbit as the company’s Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer (CEO), which comes into effective today Monday 17th April. Chairman of the Board, Mr Jeffrey Innes said that Mr Ilimbit was appointed following an international search campaign and a thorough assessment of candidates. Mr Ilimbit was originally employed by OTML from 1995 to 2004 starting as a graduate mechanical engineer and working in various roles. He left OTML and worked at various mines in Australia including Blackwater, Peak Downs, Saraji, Prominent Hill, Cannington and Koolyanobbing, in senior and managerial roles. He returned to OTML in 2015 and has worked in Mine Maintenance, Processing, Asset Management and Operations & Community Support and is the current Acting CEO. “The Board looks forward to working with Kedi and the leadership team to ensure the continuing success of Ok Tedi and the satisfaction of all our stakeholders’ expectations,” Mr Innes said.