The government’s regulating agencies were put in the spotlight today at the 2nd Business Regulators Summit in Port Moresby city, with calls from business houses and stakeholder partners, urging them to shape up in enabling a conducive business environment for Papua New Guinea (PNG). The first critique came from the PNG Chamber of Resources and Energy (PNG CORE) when the Ms. Gretel Orake, who is the Managing Poly & Analysis, plainly stating that the regulators in the mining and petroleum sectors need to pull up their socks when it comes to going through the process of approving and issuing of…
Author: Emmanuel MAIPE
Enhancing interoperability between state agencies and regulators using technology, is something that must be further improved to enable the ease of doing business in Papua New Guinea (PNG). This was stressed by the Minister for Information and Communication Technology, Tomothy Masiu when highlighting its importance during the 2nd Business Regulators Forum in Port Moresby city. The minister made mention that it was for this reason to enhance this connectivity between regulators like NICTA or the National Energy Authority with the government agencies that the national government has invested in significant strides in adopting digital transformation in the last four years.…
The two- day PNG Regulators Summit commenced today with much to discuss and cover on improving digital connectivity and interoperability between government agencies and regulators, to improve the ease of doing business and overall service delivery in Papua New Guinea (PNG). The Investment Promotion Authority (IPA) in partnership with the Department of Information, Communication and Technology (DICT) is hosting this 2nd PNG Business Regulators Summit in Port Moresby city with the theme, “Interoperability; Connect and Co-Create.” The IPA Managing Director, Mr. Clarence Hoot, in his opening speech said the Summit aims to identify synergies amongst the government and the statutory…
The Minister for International Trade and Investment in a recent statement says Papua New Guinea (PNG) is all set for the 2025 World Expo in Japan; however, the matter with the space limitations at the Expo, could see PNG resort to other methods to showcase the country to the world. But before this statement was releases, Minister Richard Maru was interviewed by PNG HAUSBUNG after coming back form the recent 10th Pacific Island Leaders Meeting (PALM) in Tokyo, Japan where he said the upcoming World Expo in Osaka, Kansai, Japan will be very different from the last one held in…
Cheques from private sector companies are no longer being accepted by the BSP Financial Group after the bank phased out the acceptance of these cheques late last month. “As of 30th of June 2024, BSP Group has successfully phased out private sector cheques from our banking system, aligning with Bank of PNG’s directive,” said BSP Group CEO Mr. Mark Robinson. Mr. Robinson said Bank of Papua New Guinea’s decision discontinues the use of cheque payments among private sector banking service users; however, cheques issued by the public sector and state-owned enterprises will remain valid and accepted. “To ensure a smooth…
The Investment Promotion Authority (IPA) in partnership with the Department of Information, Communication and Technology (DICT) will be hosting the 2nd PNG Business Regulators Summit in Port Moresby next week starting on Tuesday 30th July. The theme of the summit is “Interoperability; Connect and Co-Create” and aims to identify synergies amongst the government and the statutory regulatory agencies to take stock of reforms and progress being undertaken to achieve the National Government’s e-commerce agenda and digital transformation. The IPA hosted the inaugural Regulators Summit back in 2019 from 19th – 20th September, under the Theme: ‘Efficient Regulations; Productive Economy’. The…
Four people including a nine-year-old girl, are now safe and sound after being rescued from their recent ordeal on the waters of Morobe province all thanks to the swift response by PNG Ports Corporation Limited (PNG Ports). According to a statement from PNG Ports, the group was en route to Lae city from the Morobe Patrol Post when their boat capsized at around 6pm in the evening on Tuesday 23rd July. On board were the skipper of the boat, a young man, and a mother with her daughter. When the boat overturned, three clung to the floating vessel while the…
Prime Minister (PM) James Marape has commended New Porgera Ltd (NPL) for remaining on track with production at Porgera Gold Mine and meeting its initial targets, despite the operational challenges presented by the recent Mulitaka landslide in Enga province. He made this statement while welcoming the announcement that Porgera Gold Mine has met or exceeded its targets since resuming mining in December last year, with gold production for the first half of the year above guidance and all-in sustaining costs trending lower. Marape also highlighted his privilege of meeting Barrick President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Mr. Mark Bristow, who…
Transport and Civil Aviation Minister Walter Schnaubelt says there has not been any changes nor increase in airport levies and fees, charged by the National Airports Corporation, since 2013, despite inflation and the increased cost of doing business since then. “For the past 11 years, despite the high costs of operations due to inflation and other economic factors, National Airports Corporation (NAC) has not increased airport levies and charges as it should.” The Minister was responding to calls made by Member for Bulolo, Sam Basil Jnr, to review and reduce all unnecessary airport levies and charges. “While we understand the…
The landowners from upstream Petroleum Development License (PDL) areas, must really organise themselves properly so to benefit from the funds from the PNG LNG project, which are still sitting idle in trust accounts for several years now. Prime Minister (PM) James Marape stressed this recently when stating that only by doing so, the concerned landowners can access the over K1 billion worth of royalties and equities that are still sitting in trust accounts. He said landowner direct royalty and equity entitlements from what was signed in the Umbrella Benefits Sharing Agreement (UBSA) at Kokopo and split by percentage at all…