The Opposition has made itself clear that it will not support the ratification of the defence agreements signed between the United States of America (USA) and Papua New Guinea (PNG), citing its implications to the country’s foreign policy interests and standing in the pacific region, and the sovereignty of the country. Opposition Leader Joseph Lelang when giving his statement during grievance debate in parliament, in response to the ministerial statement by Prime Minister James Marape on the Defence Cooperation Agreement and the Ship Rider Agreement, plainly stated that the agreements would bring PNG into the geopolitical fold of the current…
Author: Emmanuel MAIPE
New Porgera Limited (NPL) is pleased to announce that it today filed an application with the Mineral Resources Authority (MRA) for a Special Mining Lease and supporting tenements for the Porgera gold mine. Chairman of Kumul Minerals Holdings and Director of New Porgera Limited, Dr IIa Temu, hailed the lodgement of the application by NPL as a significant step towards the restart of the mine. “The lodgement of the SML application is an important milestone for the reopening of the Porgera gold mine.” “This follows the approval and registration of the transfer of Exploration Licence No. 454 and SML 11…
The law and order situation in the country continues to deteriorate, prompting calls to the government to seriously address this matter so to minimize it to manageable level. The Governor for Enga province, Grand Chief Sir Peter Ipatas, said that this is a cause for concern for the government, and that it falls back on the political leaders to address these issues within their own provinces and districts. Sir Ipatas said the recent kidnapping of the 17 school girls at Mt Bosavi in the Hela province shows just how the crime trend is also changing and it is very scary.…
The Papua LNG project is moving further closer to its eventual commencement of the construction phase following the recent submission of six required petroleum license applications to the Department of Petroleum and Energy. Deputy Secretary of the Department Mr. David Manau, was there when the license applications were submitted. Mr. Manau said that his department will continue the review and evaluation of each submission and as the Front End Engineering and Design phase progresses, they will work to complete the process. Petroleum and Energy Minister Kerenga Kua also applauded TotalEnergies EP PNG (TEP PNG) for filing the application for a…
Prime Minister (PM) James Marape has assured the Governor for Western province that the matters relating to the disciplinary issues caused by the Papua New Guinean Defence Force (PNGDF) personnel in Kiunga town, will be addressed. Governor Taboi Awi Yoto was talking about the poor discipline portrayed by the members of the defence force at the forward operating base at Kiunga and requested for the base to be relocated our to a place outside the township. Governor Awi Yoto also said that justice has not be delivered yet for the deputy president of the Morehead Local Level Government (LLG) who…
The national flag carrier Air Niugini is taking steps to improve its services to the people with plans to bring in new fleet of aircrafts and also to recruit new pilots and aircraft engineers. The Minister for State Enterprises, William Duma, said that a lot of pilots and engineers have moved on to greener pastures overseas, living gaps to be filled. To compensate for this, the minister said the airline is embarking on a recruitment drive with the introduction of a training scheme for national pilots to be recruited and trained. “This was a scheme that was in place couple…
A taxi driver escaped death this morning in the city of Port Moresby after a terrifying road accident at the traffic light intersection at Waigani. According to eye witnesses at the scene, the PMV bus number 7 smashed into the side of the small taxi sedan, squeezing both the front and back doors in and pushing the taxi onto the traffic island. The driver, Mr. Justin Aris was lucky to walk away with just minor scratches to his head, arm and leg. “I was driving towards Sports Inn when I was hit on the right side by this PMV bus,”…
The Governor General Sir Bob Dadae by way of official gazette has revoked he appointment of Monday June 12th as public holiday to commemorate the birthday of late Queen Elizabeth II. Friday the 16th of June has now been appointed new public holiday to observe the official birthday of His majesty King Charles III in lieu of Saturday 17th June. Earlier, the Chief Secretary to Government, Ivan Pomaleu, announced late Thursday evening that the National Executive Council (NEC) had revoked the declared public holiday for Monday 12th June 2023 and endorsed Friday 16th June 2023 as the day to observe…
A transition back to the old structure of the court system and the increase in the number of judges has been proposed by the Judiciary arm as a means to improve on the delivery of the justice services to the people. The Minister for Justice and Attorney General Pila Niningi, said the issues now with the current system is that it’s not enough to cater for the number of cases going through each day, week and month. He said there is a backlog of 25, 000 cases to be presided over by a judge. And to make matters worse, there…
The prime minister has put through to parliament proposed amendments to the constitution that would see the term of suspension for a political leader in office extended, and to bring in public enterprises under the radar of the Ombudsman Commission (OC). Prime Minister (PM) James Marape when presenting the proposed amendments to parliament, said the reason for this is to improve the functions of the OC and as a deterrence to any malpractices from people in office. PM Marape said the penalty regime of the OC legislation has been outdated and not reviewed for a long time. and…