Work has commenced on the sealing and upgrading of the remaining 27km of the Lihir island ring road, following a ground-breaking ceremony at Palie Catholic mission station on Lihir. The Lihir ring road is a project covered under both the 1995 and 2007 Benefits Sharing Lihir Memorandums of Agreement (MOA) – signed between the three levels of Government (National, Provincial and Local Level Government) and the Lihir Mining Affected Landowners Association (LMALA). As outlined in the MOA, Lihir Gold Limited is responsible for the upgrade of the component on the Eastern side from Zuen to Palie, which has already been completed. The remaining 27 kilometres on the western side of the main island is the responsibility of the National Government. The National Government has approved funding under its Tax Credit Scheme (TCS) Policy, using tax credit payments from Newcrest’s Lihir mine, for the completion of its obligation under the MOA. Villagers from all around the island joined in the celebration that was coordinated by the Nimamar Local Level Government headed by LLG President Stanley Tunut. He thanked and congratulated all stakeholders for their role in bringing the project to fruition. Minister for Civil Aviation and Transport, and Namatanai MP, Walter Schnaubelt, thanked the people of Lihir for their patience and said the ring road construction and sealing was just one of several projects identified under the MOA. “If there is any positivity or hope from day’s event – (ground-breaking), it’s the partnership between all stakeholders. This partnership is important to achieve the remaining projects under the MOA. It takes a partnership to deliver any kind of project,’’ Mr Schnaubelt said. “This partnership is like a marriage. All partners have their role to play, and the people of Lihir must also play your role,’’ he told the crowd.’’ Mr Schnaubelt commended Newcrest Mining Limited Lihir for doing its part by sealing the road from Zuen to Palie on the eastern side of the island and said the government will now seal the outstanding 27 kilometres from Palie to Zuen on the western side. Acting Lihir General Manager Patrick Fordyce congratulated all stakeholders on the historic occasion. He acknowledged and paid homage to the vision and commitment of Lihirian elders, both past and present, for setting the foundations of sustainable development that is currently seen in Lihir yesterday (02/04/23). “Today is a special day for us on the island. As a member of this island community, Newcrest is very pleased that this significant road sealing project will be completed to better serve our communities in Lihir,’’ Mr Fordyce said. The completion of this project will serve to improve current socioeconomic conditions on Lihir, such as access to vital services for people on the western side of the island to schools, medical, business, and other government services located in Londolovit township. Following an open and transparent tender process, consistent with Infrastructure Tax Credit Scheme Guidelines, the contract for the sealing and upgrade of the project was awarded to PNG company Dekenai Construction Limited. Dekenai has now immediately begun work on the project.

Prime Minister and Tari-Port District Development Authority (DDA) Chairman James Marape presided over his district’s first DDA meeting for 2023 on Thursday (February 2, 2023). The meeting was held at Pangale Haus in Tari which is the Tari-Pori DDA office. At the meeting, PM Marape announced that each district in PNG had been allocated K10 million in District Services Improvement Programme (DSIP) with an additional K5 million for priority infrastructure. He urged his DDA Members to work on Tari-Pori District priorities. “We have a K15 million envelope so the DDA must approve clear priorities to be driven by Local Level Government (LLG) and District leadership in support to our Provincial Government and National Government focus areas,” PM Marape said. “I have tasked the district administration to finalise the 2022 financial report and also update on all work which happened last year. “I have also asked all LLGs to put all their development aspirations for 2023 together. “The focus areas for Tari-Pori District in 2023 are Education, Health, Law-and-Order, SMEs and infrastructure development. This is consistent with the focus of the National Government. “Churches, women and youth will play key roles because they will be engaged as development partners.” Hela Governor Philip Undialu was also in attendance to give Provincial Government support to Tari-Pori DDA. “I commend Tari-Pori DDA for always being transparent in your development focus,” Governor Undialu said. “The Hela Provincial Government stands ready to support you in all your development aspirations.” Also at the meeting, Tari Town Mayor, Andaija ‘AJ’ Jeli, was reappointed as Deputy Chairman of Tari-Pori DDA to Chairman Marape

Papua New Guinea does not welcome foreigners who consort with criminal elements and corrupt state agents, the Chairman of the Permanent Parliamentary Committee on Foreign Affairs, International Trade and Defence, Hon. Belden Namah said today. Mr. Namah made these remarks upon receiving information that a businessman, resident in Wewak, had been detained by officers of Immigration Office following strong allegations of "rogue and criminal activities" in the province. Mr Namah said: “I am informed that this man is not just happy with conducting business on PNG soil but is abusing his privilege by forming friendship and patronage with both criminals and police officers. “There is no place in this country for this kind of filthy criminal behaviour and those responsible must be dealt with in the harshest manner. “I am informed this man has been on the radar of our Immigration and Citizenship Office for some time. There are strong suggestions that he has been seen supporting known criminals and possibly benefiting from criminal activities. "Further, there are suggestions and strong evidence that he has strengthened his position and protection by forming friendships with officers of the local police force. “This associations are of the worst and most dangerous sort. It tends towards organised crime for which this country has very little response or protection. “I commend the Chief Immigration Officer, Mr. Stanis Hulahau and his officers for carrying out their duties diligently in the face of mounting resistance by elements of the police who were compromised.” Mr. Namah said the foreign businessman was extracted forcibly from a police cell in Wewak last week. When it was discovered there was an immigration sweep against him, this man was arrested, detained in a locked police cell and the officer with the key disappeared. Immigration officers forced open the lock and extracted the Person of Interest (POI) from the cell and replaced it with a new padlock before escorting the businessman to the Moem Airport to catch a Port Moresby bound flight. The businessman is currently in custody at the Bomana Immigration Centre in Port Moresby. Mr Namah said: “While this country invites foreign direct investment, it does not and will not welcome business people who will consort with criminals and corrupt state agents. “This is the cheapest and the most dangerous sort of business activity. Such people will build their empires on criminal proceeds and will next go into drugs, arms and human trafficking. "They will pay for protection from the police force and other state agencies and then we are lost.” Mr Namah said as soon as his Committee is properly established and resourced, he will carry out sweeping public inquiries to identify, investigate and remove shadowy operations and individuals right around the country. He called on people to be ready with information to submit to his office. “I am not against genuine businesses," Mr Namah said. "I will screen all information received by my committee so those who might have ill will towards honest businesses will not use my office to gain mileage, of that be certain.”

The Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) and the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) have signed an agreement they say will see more matches between the two continents. The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed in Bahrain during the Asian body's annual congress. Oceania President Lambert Maltock said the agreement is hugely significant and beneficial for football in the Pacific. "We are pleased that the implementation of this agreement means a focus on high level competitions between representative teams from both confederations," Maltock said. A joint statement said the MoU would result in "high-level competition" for men's and women's teams and the exchanging of knowledge, experience and resources. The statement does not say whether the new competitions would be for clubs or national teams. Both continents have their own men's Champions League competitions. An OFC spokesperson said the MoU opens up the possibility of the OFC Champions playing in the Asian equivalent competition; and vice-versa, the top Asian side playing in the OFC competition. The spokesperson also said it could result in more pan-continental matches, for example, New Caledonia or Solomon Islands playing against China, to test them against higher-ranked and more experienced national sides. It would not mean, however, that the respective World Cup qualifying competitions would be merged. AFC President Salman bin Ibrahim Al Khalifa said both organisations share similar challenges as well as common interests and he was "confident the exchange of best practices will provide fresh impetus to take the beautiful game to even greater heights." There are 11 national football associations in the OFC and two associate members, and 47 in the AFC. At the 2022 men's World Cup, Asia was represented by hosts Qatar and five qualifying nations; Oceania's top team New Zealand fell to Costa Rica in the Intercontinental Playoff. The top-ranked Asian nation is at Japan at 20, followed by Iran (24) and South Korea (25). New Zealand is the best-ranked Oceania side at 105 with Solomon Islands at 136. Source:rnz.com

The PNG University of Technology and the PNG Joint Forces Academy (Igam) signed a MOU for training and technical cooperation and implementation of Learning Management System (Moodle) at the academy. The signing of the MOU that took place yesterday morning between Unitech Vice Chancellor Dr Ora Renagi (Unitech) and PNGJSA Commanding Officer Lt Colonel Donald Aisuk enables Unitech to install Moodle software on all computers and servers at the Igam based academy. The MOU is to promote closer cooperation and exchange of information on Moodle Platform between the two institution to improve delivery and learning for instructors and officer cadets at the academy. Unitech will now work with PNGJSA to design, develop and test the mechanisms, methods, procedures and the implement steps necessary to transition management responsibility for the Moodle software at the academy. Commanding Officer of PNGJSA Lt Colonel Aisuk said that the implementation of this learning management system was part the Defence Force’s digital transformation which the academy now is implementing. It was also part of the Defence Force aim to digitalise all its operation by the end of the year and it was a positive step forward for the academy said Lt Col Aisuk. Vice Chancellor Dr Renagi thanked the academy for seeking out technical expertise from the University, and was overly excited about the prospect for further collaborative and partnerships with the Defence Force. Dr Renagi said that there was a lot of areas that both neighbouring institutions could work together in terms of technology and using skillsets from both organisations to better and improve lives of rural based people of the country.

Five members of a criminal gang responsible for hurling a grenade that killed two men in Goilala were ambushed and killed in a retaliatory attack in December. Acting Provincial Police Commander of Central Province Senior Inspector Patterson Birigi said the five suspects were slain by angry relatives of the bomb victims, who went after and found them holed up in a remote village in Fane LLG. The gang led by a renowned criminal identified as Awa Pilot were responsible for various other crimes around the Tolokuma area until they met their fate, acting PPC Birigi said. He said since the closure of the Tolokuma mine in 2017, the neighbouring communities lived in fear because of the menace and terror imposed on them by the Pilot gang. The acting PPC said when reports of the bomb attack reached Port Moresby, a composite team comprised of Central Police, the SSD and CID personnel were deployed into Tolokuma to investigate the killings, but the vigilant villagers had gotten to them first before the police arrived. The villagers had raided a village and killed Pilot and his four accomplices. Mr Birigi said the police deployment was initially hampered by Goilala's tough geographical settings especially the rugged terrains, but the policemen managed to walk to some of the far flung village communities and spoke to them about the importance of law and order. He said the police team was extracted back into Port Moresby and on 19th of January, five police officers from Central were shuttled by helicopter into the mine site to provide police presence there. Upon their arrival, the policemen met with the Guard Dog security officials who briefed them on the law and order situation at the mine site and the surrounding villages. With the information provided, the police officers went out to the villages to conduct more awareness on law and order issues. The policemen also told the people about the developments happening back in the city. They also met with the youths and informed them about the newly amended laws, more particularly the new Dangerous Drug Act, which stipulates harsher penalties for offenders. While interacting with the community the police officers received some vital information that led them to a notorious criminal linked to the Pilot gang. The police officers were quick to respond to the information provided and walked to a location away from the mine and apprehended the suspect. The suspect was apprehended, flown back into Port Moresby and referred to the CID.  

Based on advice from Civil Defence authorities, Auckland mayor Wayne Brown has formally extended the local state of emergency, but expects it will be lifted early. The mayor was advised at 9am today by Civil Defence Emergency Management, to extend the state of local emergency. He considered the advice and signed the declaration at 11.30am, ahead of the existing declaration expiring this evening. While the rain has eased up somewhat, a week on from the record-breaking downpour that caused widespread damage across the city, it continues to fall. "We are hoping for a better weekend so we can continue the clean-up, but there is still a bit of bad weather on the way today," Desley Simpson, the deputy mayor, told RNZ's Morning Report. The city is "fully waterlogged", its infrastructure struggling to handle the ongoing wet weather. "Even the areas that are designed to carry water and hold water," Simpson said. "We've got aquifers underneath Eden Park that are challenged… we're doing as much as we can. We're just hoping that this rain is temporary." Despite the ongoing conditions, building assessors have managed to inspect about 3500 homes across the region. So far about 200 have been red-stickered, meaning they're off-limits, and nearly 800 yellow-stickered. The most red-stickered areas are Mt Albert/Mt Eden (54) and the North Shore (32). "We think we'll have the majority of rapid building assessments we need to do completed by Sunday, but that's really only the beginning of the process," Auckland Council general manager building consents Ian McCormick told Morning Report. He said it was the second-largest operation of its type ever conducted in New Zealand, after the Christchurch quakes. [caption id="attachment_35513" align="alignnone" width="788"] These two homes on Scenic Drive in West Auckland's Swanson have been given red stickers. Photo: RNZ / Mohammad Alafeshat[/caption] "I reached out to colleagues from Hamilton and Tauranga. By Saturday we had inspectors from Hamilton and Tauranga arriving, and we've subsequently had staff turning up from Dunedin, Wellington, Otorohonga, Christchurch, all around the country." Next week his team will be getting in touch with homeowners whose properties have red or yellow stickers, checking what their plans are and whether they need any assistance or advice. "There's a lot of flooding… sodden carpets, potentially electrical systems being affected, impact on internal wall linings… cases where the floodwaters have lifted houses off their foundations. "And of course then we've got situations where there's been landslips which have impacted on houses, sometimes with fatal consequences." Simpson said the mayor was getting advice on whether to extend the state of emergency, and a decision would be released later on Friday. Even if the state of emergency is allowed to expire on Friday evening, council building staff will still be able do what they need to, to ensure affected properties are safe. The Auckland region on Monday was "designated" under the Building Act 2004, giving the council "a number of powers that may be exercised in respect to all buildings within the designated area", including entry, ordering evacuations and directing works to be carried out. As for Mayor Wayne Brown's claim hundreds of people were trapped in high-rise buildings due to broken lifts, Simpson said her "understanding is Auckland Emergency Management are not aware of anyone trapped". Asked if the mayor was misinformed, Simpson said she didn't think so. "Look, I think the mayor lives in a multistorey apartment himself and his lift isn't working, so I think he has a personal experience of that. But I just don't know any further details." Source: rnz.com

Air Niugini management is working hard to reduce some recent effects on the airlines schedule which has been affected by several external factors. While the airline ended 2022 on a high note with excellent OTP (On Time Performance) the new year has to date not continued this trend. Air Niugini’s General Manager, Commercial Paul Abbot said that several factors have combined and as a result has unfortunately meant customers are seeing a higher number of disrupted or downgraded flights than the airline would like. Urgent runway repair work being conducted by National Airports Corporation in Mount Hagen has meant that flights have had to be downgraded from Fokker 100 to smaller Fokker 70 and Dash 8 aircraft without advance notice, and with up to 5 flights a day into Mt Hagen this had meant a backlog of passengers affected by the airline having to operate these smaller aircraft. In the past 3 days alone, this has seen 22 flights to Mt Hagen affected by aircraft downgrades. In addition, the Dash 8 fleets (Q400 and Classic) which make up more than 30 flights of the daily schedule have been undergoing unscheduled airworthiness reviews as mandated by De Havilland, the aircraft manufacturer, with the flow on effect to the schedule being quite significant. Air Niugini is also working with NAC to reactivate the runway lights at Nadzab and Kavieng which will enable the airline to resume night operations to both of these critical airports. The airline apologises to its customers for the reduction in service levels. “This is not a situation we are happy with but rest assured we continue to work hard on the elements we can control in order to minimise the impact on our customers”. On a more positive note, Air Niugini will run two Monthly Madness sales in February, noting the massive interest last week’s sale created and the opportunity that these low fares provide to enable Papua New Guineans to travel. The travel periods for these sales fares will be in the next month or so when the current operational issues with Mt Hagen and the Dash 8 fleets will have been resolved.

PNG will host the First Edition of OFC Women’s Champions League in Port Moresby from March 7-18, 2023. The Women’s Champion League will see top club around the region contesting for prestigious Women’s Champions tag. Teams confirmed are Labasa (Fiji), AS Academy Feminine (New Caledonia), Eastern Suburbs AFC (New Zealand), Hekari United (Papua New Guinea), Kiwi FC (Samoa), To be Confirmed ( Solomon Islands).

New recruit Lachlan Miller has signaled his intent to hit the ground running with the Knights by playing in the first trial game against his former club. With the Knights officially confirming the three-year deal on Wednesday, the Coffs Harbour product said it was a “surreal” feeling to arrive in the Hunter as the earmarked No. 1 after playing most of the 2022 season in reserve grade for the Newtown Jets. “12 months ago I wouldn’t have dreamed of being in this situation but I’m lucky to be here and I’m very grateful for both clubs for that,” Miller said. “If you go back to this time last season, I didn’t have much of an idea of what I was doing or what I was getting into. [Now] I feel settled, I feel good and I feel like we’re in for a big year. “That opportunity to play fullback was pretty appealing. I have a young family so the three-year deal secures our future.” After representing Australia at the Tokyo Olympics, Miller caught the attention of the Sharks and signed a contract in late 2021 before making his NRL debut in April last year. Ironically, the fleet-footed fullback will not only face his ex-teammates in Newcastle's first Pre-season Challenge match on February 10 but play in front of a home crowd in Gosford at Industree Group Stadium. “There’s obviously mixed emotions, I’ll get to play in front of my friends and family hopefully but then also play against some of my good mates,” he said. “I got to go back [to Gosford] last year but I just didn’t get on the field which was unfortunate so hopefully this year I’m fit and healthy and I get picked. “I still trained down there, obviously I wanted to keep fit and I wanted to keep my skills up to get here and hit the ground running.” With the new signing all but confirming Ponga’s switch to the halves for the 2023 season, 28-year-old Miller said fans will be "shocked" to see what the Maroons star is capable of in the No. 6 jersey. “Everyone knows how good of a fullback he is but just what I picked up when I watched him was his playmaking ability and his decision-making is obviously a very high level,” he said. “I think he’s going to shock a couple of people if he switches to five-eighth; he looks really good and to play off the back of that is pretty exciting. “My strength is my running game so hopefully I can just hover around the ruck and hopefully get some playmaking in there too.” Newcastle hooker Jayden Brailey said his brother Blayke endorsed Miller as a good addition to Adam O'Brien's roster and is excited to see what the new recruit will bring to a new-look Knights spine. “He’s going to be a real asset to the spine and to us as a team. He’s got great speed, great footwork and I saw at training he’s got great skill as well. “He’s definitely a handful. Watching him from afar he’s definitely a tackle-breaker, he completes really hard. “Blayke has spoken really highly of Lachie, more of the person he is and how good of a bloke he is. “He was pretty upset to see him leave the Shire but we're excited to have him and build that combination with him.” Source: NRL.Com

Prime Minister James Marape assures Roselyn Alog and all students, either national or international who received acceptance letters to study at the University of Papua New Guinea that they (UPNG) are not in the business of turning away students and will not be turning away students this year. Prime Minister Marape says the University of Papua New Guinea will honour the acceptance letter that was sent to Roselyn and they will also assist her and her family to come up with a plan to meet her tuition requirements. He said in fact, the registration team at the University did not turn Roselyn away even after they found out that she has decided to honour her Filipina heritage by choosing to hold a passport for the Republic of Philippines. Prime Minister Marape said because the student’s family is not here in country at the moment, the University has put aside the issue of full payment of her tuition fee and have assisted her secure lodging and she will be able to formally register today for classes. He said, however, as Roselyn holds a Philippines passport, that makes her a Philippines citizen despite being born and raised in Papua New Guinea. Therefore, as per the university’s guidelines on national and international students, she now falls under the category of International Student and will have to pay the tuition fee of an international student. Prime Minister Marape says he knows that the erroneous headline and story on the front page of the Post Courier of the 2nd of February 2023 has caused so much distress for all students who are registering at the University of Papua New Guinea and assures them that all students, including Roselyn, who have received an acceptance letter from the University will be registered and where possible, assistance will be given to find other ways to pay off your tuition fees. He emphasised that Roselyn was never turned away nor was she discriminated against. All citizens of all nationalities who meet our institutions entry requirements are welcome to come and study in Papua New Guinea.

Ok Tedi Mining Limited (OTML) hosted a combined graduation ceremony in Tabubil on 27th January for 25 trainees under its Graduate Development Scheme (GDS) and Preferred Area Development (PAD) programs. A total of 15 trainees from various disciplines of Accounting, Electrical Engineering, Environmental Health, Geology, Human Resource Management, Information & Communications Technology, Mechanical Engineering, Mining Engineering, Mineral Processing and Surveying graduated from the GDS program, while 10 graduated from the PAD program. The PAD graduands were from Business Studies, Power Operations, and Process Plant Operations. Apart from the GDS and PAD trainees that received their certificates, five Trade Test Candidates also received their Trade Test Level 1 – 3 Certificates in Business Studies. The certificates were presented by members of the OTML Executive Leadership Team (ELT). Acting CEO and General Manager Mining, Derrick Kelly, congratulated those who graduated and urged them to put to good use what they have learnt at OTML. “Every class you’ve taken, every skill you’ve learned, and every certification you’ve earned, they’ve all been preparing you to adapt to change and challenges. But as you know it’s a tough world out there, nothing will be handed to you; you have to earn it,” said Mr Kelly. Speaking on behalf of the trainees, Graduate Geologist, Dauba Dauba, thanked OTML for investing its time, money, and expertise to develop the trainees into world class professionals. Manager Training & Organisation Development, Ian Strachan, thanked OTML management for supporting the training programs. “Today is yet again a testimony to your commitment to the development of PNG’s most valuable resource, which is our future leaders. To the graduates, this is a moment in your life’s journey where one door opens, and another closes. I strongly encourage you to make the most of this opportunity,” said Mr. Strachan. Ten trainees from both the GDS and the PAD programs that graduated have been offered permanent roles with OTML. Since 1982 OTML has graduated 579 GDS trainees, 1,139 tradesmen and women from its Apprenticeship Training (AT) Program and 679 PAD trainees.