Police Commissioner David Manning has re-iterated that the Royal Papua New Guinea Constabulary (RPNGC) is ready to provide security to ensure a safe, free, and fair in the upcoming 2022 National General Elections. Manning re-iterated this in response to an article published in one of the daily newspapers today stating that the police force may not be ready, especially with its stock of firearms and ammunition being down and the procurement taking longer than expected to get in new ammunition stock and the replacement of aging firearms. Manning said the message from his Deputy Police Commissioner Anton Billie, was taken out of context by the media and that the firearms matter is nothing to worry about as there are currently firearms available to use during the election to provide security, especially in the volatile parts of the country as experienced in previous elections. “The guns and ammunition, yes, we have an ongoing program to replace our aging weapons, of course over a period of time our weapons do become unserviceable, and of course the numerous incidences since the last election that has required members to use firearms has depleted our ammunition stock, but that does not mean that we are preparing for war come the elections. “Our intent in precuring firearms and ammunition is to ensure that our people (police officers) are provided the best possible protection, not only for themselves but anyone for that matter that is involved in the election process, including the voters,” said the police commissioner. Manning added that there are always risks during elections time in some parts of the country and there have been incidences where police officers lost their lives; thus, the use of firearms is sometimes necessary. “I need not remind you all that, elections in this country are quite volatile. we’ve suffered casualties, unfortunate loss of lives of members of the force due to direct armed attack by members of the community.” “Elections have its associated risks, high proliferation of high-powered firearms in our communities continue to be a risk that we work toward mitigating.” Manning went on to say the equipment such as personal body protection, uniforms, firearms and ammunition, and logistical support is budgeted for but when the budget is not enough, support comes from partners which he is grateful of, especially at a time like this when the RPNGC is preparing for a major event in the country. Nevertheless, Commissioner Manning is confident that police will provide the best possible security with the resources they have, after all the RPNGC has done so in the past elections along with its partner disciplinary organisations.

The Kairuku-Hiri electorate is one of the seven districts in the country that could be split into two separate districts just before the country goes into the 2022 National General Elections, something the current sitting member is quite looking forward to. The electorate’s incumbent Member of Parliament Peter Isoaimo, said the district itself is huge and often it is difficult for one sitting member to manage. “As your member for Kairuku-Hiri, I can honestly tell you it is one of the difficult electorates. I am caught in between managing two district governments. The Hiri administration and the Kairuku district administration as the political head of the two areas.” “So, obviously you will find that the scarce resources from the DSIP funding, which is one lot of funding that I use for service delivery in the hundred and twelve wards in six local level governments in one district, is quite difficult” Mr Isoaimo added that the DISP funds given by the government of about K10million had to be split so that each area can at least get some service delivered to the people. Nevertheless, where the member cannot assist is compensated for by the support from partners like ExxonMobil for the four villages in the Hiri West and the Kokoda Initiative under AusAID for the Kokoda Local Level Government (LLG). “I thank partners, stakeholder and everyone else who come to our aid to ensure they supplement in service delivery for and on behalf of our people,” he said. But, he said the good thing now to look forward is the possible split of the electorate, which would serve the people better because the two areas can each get the attention and focus they need by their respective parliamentary members. “Kairuku-Hiri is ready for split after of course debate and adoption of the Electoral Boundaries Commission (EBC) report in parliament. It is likely to come in the 22nd March session of parliament," added the member. The member made this statement in his keynote address during the grand opening of a community centre for the Boera village, where he was special guest at the event on Saturday the 12th.

The Mineral Resources Development Company (MRDC) Limited has spent over K17million to landowners of four PNG LNG impacted villages in the Central Province alone in four years for their community projects. Mr. Augustin Mano, the Managing Director of MRDC said this during his key note speech at the opening of a massive community center yesterday at the Boera village built with these funds from the Community Infrastructure Trust Fund (CITF) held by MRDC. Mr. Mano was happy with the way the landowners have used the funds from their royalties from the gas project to build more infrastructure to support the communities like this new Boera Community Centre. “Most of these projects we don’t get external contractors to come, it’s the directors and the communities and we provide employment to everybody to build, so I want to thank all of the directors who have put in their time and effort.” “It’s unique, most of the projects that MRDC manages, you don’t usually have directors living on project sites and doing the project in big part of the community, but for plant site it is the most unique so you can see the changes,” Mr Mano said. Meanwhile, Mr. Mano further stated that close to K5million was spent on Boera alone for the community infrastructure projects in the last four years. The new community centre is the latest of the funds put to good use by the landowners themselves. The new community centre at Boera village was built at a cost of K2.8million.

Fourteen years of waiting has come to an end for the landowner groups of Hides 4 Petroleum Development License (PDL) 7 area in Hela province for their long overdue royalties from the gas resource from their lands that make up the country’s massive Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) project that has made billions for the country. Mr. Augustin Mano, the Managing Director of the company that looks after the resource project landowner royalties and equities- the Mineral Resource Development Company (MRDC) Limited, told the landowners of the six blocks that they will finally receive their long awaited K19. 6million royalty paid out to them. Mr. Mano explained that this amount is the 40% from the total K49million comprising of K31million royalty in 2021 total paid in since 2014, and the K18.5million equity. Of the royalty given, that 40% is cash benefit for landowners, 30% for Community Infrastructure Trust Fund (CITF) for community projects, 20% to go for investments for future use and 10% to church activities. Mr. Mano further added that these funds belong to the landowners for their resource used and it will continue from this time onwards until whenever the PNG LNG project wraps up operation, and the people must use it to better develop and improve their living standards. Meanwhile, Hela Governor Philip Undialu congratulated his people of Hides 4 for their cooperation in ensuring that this moment eventual takes place by sorting out their issues internally, electing their respective clan chairmen in preparation for the opening of the accounts, which led to the royalty and equities paid out to them. “This time the funds will come down to the hundred and seventy-seven accounts and will then reach each of your clans with your accounts opened,” said the governor. Governor Undialu then urged the clan leaders and the association chairmen to ensure transparency in the disbursing of funds from the funds paid out as it will directly benefit them. Meanwhile, the dummy cheque of the royalty payment was presented to the landowner groups and Gas Resources Hides-4 Limited at the Para Primary School in front of the landowners and delegates, including ExxonMobil PNG that were there to witness this significant event. The release of the royalty payment was significant because Hides 4 is the first upstream PDL to receive its payment. The other PDLs were from the pipeline segments and the plant site landowners. The agreement for the extraction of gas from PDL 7 was signed back in 2009 in Kokopo along with the other agreements for the other gas fields.

Intending candidates wishing to run under a political banner in the upcoming 2022 National General Elections, have been urged to only run under registered political parties and avoid the ones that are not recognised as legitimate ones. The Registrar of Political Parties and Candidates Dr. Alphonse Gelu said this will ensure the intending candidates are not fooled into signing up under unregistered political parties that could cost them during the elections. He said there have been cases of individuals and groups going around the country getting money from intending candidates. Under the Organic Law on the Integrity of Political Parties, there is a section that talks about misrepresentation and when groups claim to be political parties even though they are not yet registered, they are in breach of the provisions in the Organic Law. “You cannot go and misrepresent the public about your status, a number of authorities have come out demanding a free, fair and safe elections and with this kind of illegal activities, it does not contribute to that,” said Dr. Gelu. “The prime minister on numerous occasions has come out calling for our country to conduct a free and fair elections, the PNG Electoral Commission, the Electoral Commissioner, the Police Commissioner, our members of parliament, civil society groups, the media and of course the Registry of Political Parties have called for it as well.” Dr. Gelu said all they want to see is this election to be free, fair, and safe and not to see and observe groups and individuals doing illegal activities. “One of the issues that has also come out is that some of these groups are associations registered under the Investment Promotion Authority (IPA), they are not political parties until and unless they come to us to register themselves as political parties, under the organic law on the Integrity of Political parties and Candidates.” Meanwhile, a total of 43 political parties have registered and all set for the elections, while 11 have been de-registered just a couple of months before the start of the 2022 National Elections. According to Dr. Gelu, these political parties were de-registered on the 28th of January 2022 for non-compliance with the Organic Law on the Integrity of Political Parties and Candidates, and the decision was made by the Commission. “Those 11 political parties have been de-registered, but as required by the Organic Law these parties are given the opportunity to appeal and I believe a number of them have presented their appeal and the Commission will be looking at their appeal to see if their appeal is based on genuine reasons, then we will reinstate them.” In addition to this, Dr. Gelu said 6 associations have submitted their applications to them to register as political parties. “So apart from all this; the 43 political parties, the 11 that have been de-registered and the 6 that are still associations, other groups that are claiming to be a political party and a soliciting funds from intending candidates and also from the public are not political parties and they can be reported to this office, and those individuals who are responsible can be arrested for committing a criminal offence,” said Dr. Gelu.

It’s all a go for the Australian Football League (AFL) Junior Program in the city of Port Moresby with the Junior Development program already given the go ahead to hosts its activities for 2022, which includes the schools’ competitions. According to the Manager of the AFL Junior Development Program Mr. David Topeni, the Education Department along with the Papua New Guinea (PNG) Sports Foundation has given the go ahead with strict COVID-19 measures in place to be followed during the running of these programs. Mr. Topeni said that they will commence with the Smart Start Niukick awareness program at the schools, both primary and secondary schools in the National Capital District (NCD). “The awareness program will include awareness as well on COVID-19 and the measurers taken or put in place to be followed as part of safety measures to run the activities. This is in addition to the normal footy skills theory and practical program.” Topeni said due to the pandemic, the Niukick program will run in Port Moresby first for the schools during the first and second terms. Meanwhile, the Smart Start Niukick program will lead the way for the start of the actual schools’ competition program for 2022, which should be towards the middle of the year. Mr. Topeni said the schools’ competition will see the primary schools go first and then followed by the secondary schools’ competition. For the primary schools, there will be the under-13s for the boys and under-16s for their girls, while the secondary schools will see the under- 17s for both boys and girls, participate. This year will see a total of eight schools in Port Moresby city participate in the schools’ competition.

Consumers should expect the price of goods and services to increase in the country in the months ahead, something which the Independent Consumer and Competitions Commission (ICCC) says it does not have a direct control over and that the people should brace for it. ICCC Commissioner and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Mr. Paulus Ain, said the increases are due to factors like the weak exchange rate of the Kina, the increase of global food prices due to the covid-19 pandemic, and the increase of international and domestic fuel prices. In terms of the value of the Kina, Mr. Ain said Papua New Guinea (PNG) is heavily dependent on the importation of goods. Therefore, whenever there is a depreciation of the kina it tends to drive up the cost of goods imported in the country. “Over the past 12months the PNG kina to US dollar was generally stable; however, it has been trading at around K1 to $0.28, which is very weak. A stronger kina makes its cheaper to import goods into the country and subsequently result in lower prices being passed on to consumers,” he said. He said the Food and Agriculture Organization also reported that global food prices have been rising in 2021 due to the coronavirus pandemic, which has caused supply chain disruption and rising shipping costs in food exporting nations. “So, in addition to the weak exchange rate, we have been importing goods into the country that have risen in prices in their countries of origin,” added the Commissioner. In addition to the higher prices of imported goods, domestic fuel prices have also increased significantly over the past 12 months in PNG and globally. The fuel price increase is mainly driven by the increase in world market price for crude oil and PNG’s weak exchange rate. “Crude Oil is an international traded commodity; hence, its pricing is usually driven by the world market prices and is often traded in US dollars. The increase in crude oil prices since last year is mostly due to the demand greater than the supply, due to the re-opening of economies around the world and geopolitical issues in the middle east, which often affects the stability of the supply of oil in the world market.” “Domestic fuel prices are a significant driver of the cost of goods and services in PNG because it is an important input in the production and delivery of good and services in the country,” said Mr. Ain. He further added that all these factors are contributing to the rising cost of goods and services in the country and therefore businesses must put up prices in order to cover these rising costs. The ICCC is doing all it can to protect consumers through the monitoring of prices and the monthly inspection of pump prices to ensure that service stations are charging the correct retail fuel prices. “Consumers must note that there are also other costs that are incurred in the production and provision of goods and services in the country and ICCC has no control over these other costs that are recovered at the retail end through higher prices of goods and services. Therefore, ICCC does not have any direct control over the prices of all goods and services in the country.”

The announcement by the Minister for Public Enterprise William Duma in parliament this week on the government making funding available to pay outstanding payments owed to service providers, should be welcoming news for many that are still waiting, including the Independent Power Producers (IPP). NiuPower Limited is one of that IPPs and its External Affairs Manager Mr. Wellington Bellawa, has welcomed the announcement and said this should ease things a bit with payments owed for the company’s service to the people, which it provides through its partner PNG Power Limited (PPL). “The minister has made that commitment to ease some burden of debts that independent power suppliers are carrying and one of them is us. All I can say is thank you very much, if they’re thinking of paying some money, we are happy.” Mr. Bellawa added that it is through these funds that a lot of things such as the company’s operational costs and its Community Investment Program, are being supported and implemented. Currently, the private power company is implementing several projects under its community support initiatives in the four PNG LNG impacted villages in the Central province. These projects include water and sanitation, education and health, sports, and life skills development and training. Meanwhile, Minister William Duma said that the Cabinet recently approved nearly K100million to pay several service providers that a still owed outstanding payment, they include PNG Power as well and the IPPs.

Independent Power Producer (IPP) NiuPower Limited, continues its Community Investment Program with the delivery of the 9, 000 liters water tanks for the PNG LNG impacted villages in Central province. This time, it’s the Papa village’s turn to get another lot of six new water tanks for the community which will be place in locations in areas that are considered suitable by the villagers themselves. Papa village Councilor Mr. Alphonse Nao thanked NiuPower for its continuous support with the water tanks and other projects, which it supports the villages with under its community investment. “The tanks you have provided have made it easy for the women folk who are always rushing to our main taps to fetch water to sustain their homes. But thanks to NiuPower, the tanks that have been provided have reduced that burden,” said Councilor Nao. Meanwhile, NiuPower has changed its mode of delivery of the 9, 000liters water tanks to the villages for this year. According to NiuPower External Affairs Manager Mr. Wellington Bellawa, this time NiuPower will not wait for quarterly delivery of tanks, instead which village that finishes the setup of the foundations for the installation of the tanks quickly, won’t have to wait but to come forward to get new water tanks right away. This way should ease burdens of sourcing water for homes for many. Sourcing water for the home is often a job which is challenging for the women folk in these villages. “We thank NiuPower Management and our CEO in changing that approach because he has seen the difficulties the women face,” said Mr. Bellawa. NiuPower today gave six more water tanks for the village, the third batch of tanks so fare for a village that has a population of over a thousand people. [caption id="attachment_19472" align="alignnone" width="651"] Papa village Councillor Mr. Alphonse Nao. Picture by Emmanuel MAIPE[/caption]

Air Niugini has confirmed one of its Q400 aircrafts encountered technical problems while on a flight to its destination yesterday. It is understood the aircraft was on its way to Goroka in the Eastern Highlands from Port Moresby when the technical fault forced the aircraft, its crew, and passengers to return to Port Moresby city. Airport police also confirmed that all emergency units were at the Jackson International Airport to prepare to attend to the emergency if things turned out badly. Air Niugini said the Q400 aircraft made a safe landing at Port Moresby that afternoon, following a false light indication. “The landing occurred without any issues, with Air Traffic Control advised in advance in accordance with normal airline operating procedures.” Meanwhile, according to Captain Ted Paki the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the provider of Air Navigation Services for Papua New Guinea- NiuSky Pacific Limited, the aircraft crew did an excellent job in following flight emergency procedures to take the aircraft and its passengers safely to land.

Independent Power Producers (IPPs) owed funds by the state owned PNG Power Limited (PPL) from the purchase of electricity under their respective power purchase agreements should see this matter resolved now that the government has approved funds to pay outstanding debts owed to service providers. This was revealed by the Minister for Public Enterprise William Duma in parliament when he said that Cabinet recently approved a big amount of funding to pay some of the service providers, including the IPPs. "Today we will be paying out nearly K100 million starting with K50 million for one Independent Power Producer which has helped us in terms of providing reliable power services to cities like Port Moresby and Lae," said the Minister. However, Duma added that this does not mean that PNG Power has financial difficulties in paying its debts to its service providers. PNG Power is not technically insolvent, it has got good income producing assets and all it needs now is change in the way people have been conducting business starting from within PNG Power, and the way some of the independent power producing arrangements were put in place. Meanwhile, the ministerial announcement should come as good news for one IPP- NiuPower Limited, which came out on the media stating just how much PPL owes for its services. NiuPower claimed that PPL would owe them K200 million by this month in outstanding payments, for its service in providing electricity to the National Capital District (NCD) and Central province power grid, which PPL owns. However, PNG Power came out to clarify that the claim was not true with the Acting Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Mr. Obed Batia in a statement saying that the outstanding balance is actually less because of its weekly schedule payment plan for all IPPs. Nevertheless, the announcement this week by the Public Enterprise Minister should ease things a bit for the time being.

Perhaps the one group of people that will ensure a project or development get off the ground are the landowners and as such deserve the appreciation and support from the state and developers of a certain project taking place on their land. That was the case for landowners of the proposed P’nyang gas project in Western province when the Petroleum Minister Mr. Kerenga Kua, thanked them for their support in having the agreement finally signed to pave way for the development of the next LNG project. “The landowners and the leadership from the province, they are the most important people in this whole thing,” said Minister Kua. “We can talk about the project and other issues, but if we cannot connect it to the ground then it won’t work. I find the landowners of Western province in this instance to be of great support.” The minister added that they have been supportive in the process of getting the agreement signed and have always respected the process. Meanwhile, Minister Kua also extended his gratitude to the Western Governor Toboi Awi Yoto, for his supporting role as well in seeing the project eventually signed. “His also been exceptional in his support for the project, he said the things that needed to be said and allowed the project to continue.” This support eventually led to the project agreement signing after two years and four months of negotiations between the state, the developers, and the landowners and provincial government of Western province. The signing took place on Tuesday 22nd February at the Government House in Port Moresby