The Prime Minister has confirmed that the government will be looking at putting together a relief package for the businesses that lost their properties during the riots on Wednesday 10th January, so to help them get back on their feet after their losses. Speaking at a press conference yesterday in Port Moresby city, Prime Minister (PM) James Marape said it was sad to see the business houses that have operated in Port Moresby and the country over the years, losing everything to the opportunists that ransacked their shops, supermarkets and warehouses. “We did inform that there will be full assessment…
Author: Emmanuel MAIPE
The opportunists that looted the major shops and warehouses in Port Moresby city during the riots on Wednesday 10th January, have been urged to surrender the stolen properties they are in possession of, to their nearest police station instead of waiting for the law to catch up with them. This was the instruction given by the State of Emergency (SOE) Controller, Acting Police Commissioner Donald Yamasombi today following initial police raids yesterday and this morning to recover the stolen items, especially the big white goods. The security personnel had started rescuing some of the stolen items and they will continue,…
The Prime Minister has announced the security measures to be taken during the 14 days State of Emergency (SOE) in Port Moresby, which does not include a citywide curfew as many city residents may think. Prime Minister (PM) James Marape said that there is no curfew but there will be restrictions along with certain powers issued to law enforcement personnel to apply during this SOE period. The security measures include a ban on large movements of crowds around the city with an exception to church activities. There is also a strict limit placed on the purchase and sale of alcohol…
A lot of shops, supermarkets and the major businesses that suffered at the hands of the opportunists on Wednesday during the unrest in the Port Moresby city have lost over K100 million worth of good and items, which cannot be replaced soon without some kind of government help. The Governor for the National Capital District (NCD) Powes Parkop in a press conference this morning in Port Moresby, said that this sort of help should come in the form of financial assistance and improving security in the city. Mr. Parkop said that he is glad that the government has put in…
The Prime Minister has declared a State of Emergency in the city of Port Moresby to give time for the city to recover and also investigations to be conducted in what had happened that led to the riots yesterday. Prime Minister James Marape said the recommendation put forth by the National Security Advisory Committee and the National Security Council was to have a 14 day period for the SOE. The Deputy Police Commissioner Operations Donald Yamasobi has been made Controller of the SOE and pushed to Acting Police Commissioner while Deputy Commissioner Sam Kua has been made Yamasobi’s second. Police…
Prime Minister (PM) James Marape is expected to announce to the country this afternoon whether a State of Emergency (SOE) will be declared in the city of Port Moresby with tough security measures to be put in place. The PM this morning in his address to the nation, said that the actions by the public, mostly opportunists yesterday, were uncalled for and unfortunate. However, he assured the public and business houses that there is now control in the city with additional police manpower flown in from Lae last night to assist police officers and Papua New Guinea Defence Force (PNGDF)…
The main shopping center of the Gerehu suburb in Port Moresby today fell to the hands of opportunists that broke in and stole everything, evening setting fire to them. People, ranging from little children to teenagers to moms and dads, and even some elderly folks were seen running in and looting all of the shops, risking their lives stealing items ranging from food to white goods, and with no police in site to control the situation, people ran riot for over an hour. The looting is part of a string of rampages and lootings in the capital city after some…
The Minister for International Trade and Investment has come out to respond to comments made by the head of the Papua New Guinea (PNG) Institute of National Affairs (INA) on the Special Economic Zone (SEZ) initiative of the government, which stated that SEZs encourage corruption. Minister Richard Maru said that the comments made by the PNG INA Director, Mr. Paul Barker in one of the daily newspapers yesterday, Monday 08th January, was simply misleading. “If the SEZs are encouraging corruption, then why have countries like China, Bangladesh, Indonesia, and t Philippines chosen SEZs as the major driver for sustainable and…
PNG Power Limited (PPL) could have restored full electricity supply on the Ramu grid to the upper Highlands region sooner, had it not been for landowners preventing workers from detecting a recent fault that disrupted power supply to five areas last week. According to the State-owned power company, some of the transmission line towers cannot be remotely accessed on the PNG Power system to locate a fault and therefore, PPL teams must physically access them to find out where a fault might be along the power grid. However, when PPL teams went in to investigate some of those towers, they…
Teams from PNG Power Limited (PPL) are currently working hard replacing High Voltage (HV) transmission lines that were apparently damaged over the weekend and shutting power to Wau in the Morobe province. According to PPL, the work on the lines and poles will take at least a day to fix before power can be restored to the residences, business houses and public institutions in the township. The replacing of the HV lines follows reports of people apparently cutting and stealing the transmission lines, while in another incident, vehicles ran into two separate power poles, affecting power supply along the Zenag…