This week in Kokopo the Businesses for Health (B4H) TB project partnered with leading businesses to address PNG’s ongoing Tuberculosis crisis. Even though drugs that eradicate TB have been around since 1944, worldwide 1.5 million people still died of the illness in 2020. TB has been in PNG a long time. In the 1930s it was the largest cause of death at the Nonga hospital in East New Britain. In 2022, TB remains the most common reason for admission to hospital both in ENB and at the Port Moresby General Hospital in the National Capital.  T his year PNG will record at least another 4300 deaths from TB. B4H is working with businesses to change this. B4H works hand in hand with business to generate workplace TB leaders who learn to address TB issues in their workplaces as well as with their families and local communities. “TB is a serious development challenge for Papua New Guinea. At B4H we work to grow leaders in the workplace who can speak up and act.  Awareness alone is not enough.  Ignorance, stigma and complacency about poor health kills people, says Dr Ann Clarke B4H project manager, “to help address this every workplace needs policies and people trained to deliver activities to enable early case finding and swift return to work. This is why Kokopo businesses sent people to our 3-day workplace TB course. They will now go on to change the mindset and improve health seeking behaviour. Employees leave our training knowing that coughing is not normal. They learn coughing is a sign of disease, and all people with persistent coughs need kindly and respectfully to be supported to get checked. It is completely unacceptable to let workers, family or community members die of this preventable and treatable disease.” Over thirty local business leaders attended our TB update evening hosted by the Rabaul Hotel in ENB. PNG Air flew us here, The Gazelle Hotel hosted our team to deliver workplace training, the Remington Group printed our training manuals. These businesses know exactly how much just one ignored, or badly managed case of TB can impact their people and profits. TB is a massive burden on the PNG economy, Dr Clarke continued. “By teaching people about the long and complex clinical pathways for TB, introducing them to the provincial health teams and services we build confidence in and access to free TB services. We are so pleased to include local experts like Dr Grace Baiwan, Physician at NONGA. Dr Grace made it very clear, we can end TB if people bring her patients quickly before they create more TB patients. The trainees also met the TB and HIV teams at Butuwin Health Centre as part of our course. This is not just sit-down training. This is about building health leadership and learning to speak up, B4H TB HEO Koratsi explained. TB is not just an East New Britain issue; this is a regional issue. We need everyone in our region to pitch in with all their political, economic, and humanitarian might. The suffering generated by 40,000 TB cases in PNG is a crisis for anyone seeking to live, work or study overseas or enjoy a long and healthy life in PNG. B4H is grateful for some support for the project managers role from the Global Fund’s COVID-19 response grant to PNG. Without it, Dr Clarke would be unable to be here at all. Her task is to restore business participation in their mission to end TB. The trainees in Kokopo are strong women (and a few men) who are now empowered to speak up. We leave ENB knowing we have 19 more loud and informed voices to drive change and save lives.  B4H is a brilliant example of what we achieve in partnership with the Department of Health, the private sector and donors.  Dr Clarke said. PC: Businesses4Health: TB FB Page

Prime Minister James Marape, MP has welcomed King Charles III as the Head of State of Papua New Guinea at the Proclamation Ceremony held at the Parliament House yesterday. In his speech before the Governor-General His Excellency Sir Bob Dadae proclaimed King Charles III as the King of Papua New Guinea, he said as he watched the developments in the United Kingdom on Friday, 8th of September 2022, (PNG Time), and knew we would be witnessing some historic events happening in the life of our country as an Independent State and a member of the Realm of the Commonwealth. Prime Minister Marape said at the passing of Queen Elizabeth II, a new King has ascended the throne at the recommendation of the Queen’s Privy Council. He said he and the Governor General together with their spouses, are expected to have an audience with King Charles III on the 16th of September, which coincidently falls on the Day of our Independence. It is also the day that connects the history of the newly ascended Monarch to our country’s history as he was the one who represented the Queen at the lowering and changing of the flags on 16th September, 1975. “As a member of the Commonwealth nations, it is a monumental time to be in London also to mark the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace. The Prime Minister said during his audience with the King, he will also take time to convey the congratulations of the people of Papua New Guinea to King Charles III on his ascension. “The Governor-General and I will be traveling to London to attend Queen Elizabeth’s lay-in-state at Westminster Abbey, the signing of the condolence book, have an audience with the new King, attend the funeral service and the burial of her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II,” Prime Minister Marape said. “It will be our honour to represent our people from our 600 islands, from the mountains, from the valleys, along the rivers and the coastlines of the entire length and breadth of our country and convey our deepest condolences to the royal family and the people of the United Kingdom.” He said the passing away of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II is an event of monumental proportion in our history because she is someone who connected our past to the present in her 70 year reign. “Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II was requested by our then, the Constituent Assembly in 1974 to be the Head of State for Papua New Guinea, a provision that also extends to the Heirs and Successors,” Prime Minister Marape said. “She had performed her duty to us continuously for the last 46 years. Her reign of 70 years and 214 days was the longest of any British Monarch and the second longest recorded of a Monarch of a sovereign country.” Prime Minister Marape said since the ascension of the then Princess Elizabeth Alexander, at age 27 to Queen Elizabeth II in 1953, she had been a symbol of grace, dignity, loyalty to duty and the commitment to the cause she believed in. She exemplified leadership of global standing. The Prime Minister said she also exhibited strong ethical standing and her willingness to embrace all before her was notable. “Papua New Guinea has learnt to embrace royalty because of her outlook within the realm and her long life. She was a defining and a steady influence over many countries within the commonwealth and her life was totally the anchor of our nation’s life,” he said. Prime Minister Marape said Her Majesty is affectionately known as Misis Kwin and had been a part of the entire lifetime of our country, as the Head of our State, stopping short of reaching 47 years of our nationhood by just eight days.

A preparatory Games Workshop for Team Papua New Guinea (Team PNG) was held at the Gateway Hotel on Saturday 10th September by the Papua New Guinea Olympic Committee (PNGOC). The workshop covered analysis of Team PNG’s performance at the 2022 Pacific Mini Games and 2022 Commonwealth Games, and preparations for the upcoming 2023 Pacific Games (PG2023) in the Solomon Islands scheduled for November . With a total of 27 sports highlighted for Team PNG national representative selection opportunities, the workshop has provided an avenue for both the PNGOC and the respective National Federations to set out very clear strategic planning pathways and programs as the games are only 14 months away. PNGOC President Sir John Dawanincura in welcoming all the participants to tha one-day workshop emphasised the importance of the games itself and partnerships. He acknowledged Mr Albert Veratau, Executive Director of the PNG Sports Foundation for the close collaboaration between the government agency, the PNGOC and National Federations. Sir John said, “The Pacific Games is a multi-sport event that provides a wide platform for many of our people to be part of national sporting representation, as well as to interact with our brothers and sisters from across the region”. He added that it was an iconic multi-sport event in the region that not only unites the region, but will also be now used as a platform for some sports as qualifiers for the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris. On that note, he encourage each National Federation to work together with the PNGOC and to comply with all performance and administrative requirements, and to adhere to the timelines provided by the PNGOC. Sir John also took the oportunity to introduce Kini Karo as the new Justification Committee (JC) Chairperson to the 19 National Federations and PNG Sports Foundation representatives who were present at the workshop. Kini also serves on the PNGOC Executive Board as the Male Vice President and is also the President for Badminton Papua New Guinea. In his presentation on the JC requirements and timelines, Kini also stressed on the importance of compliance to selection and performance standards Team PNG Chef de Mission (CdM) to the 2023 Pacific Games, Faye-Zina Lalo encouraged and stressed on the importance of being good sports ambassadors of PNG and to embody the Team PNG HERO values of honesty, excellence, respect and openness. CdM Lalo called on all the sports to have workable and achieveable plans to emulate the good performances set at the 2015 Port Moresby Games and 2019 Samoa Games, as achieved and exemplified in the recent 2022 Pacific Mini Games with Team PNG topping the medal tally with 80 medals. Apart from the 2022 Games annalysis and preparations for the 2022 Games, representatives from High Perforamance Sport PNG and the National Sports Institute in Goroka also presented on the services they continue to provide for athletes in PNG. A total of 60 participants from 19 National Federations, the Executive Board of PNGOC and PNG Sports Foundation attended the day-long event at the Gateway Hotel, in Port Moresby. This games workshop brings the total number of workshops held to assist the National Federations in their respective preparations to represent the country to three (3). Similar workshops were held in 2019 and 2020 to set clear games targets, programs and plans to achive Team PNG success.

Trends Beauty International has come on board the PNG Fashion Week platform as a sponsor to this weekend’s NGCB Paradise Runway. Advertising & Marketing Manager of Trends Beauty International Ms Rhoda Vere said they are delighted to once again partner with PNG Fashion Week to deliver a world class fashion event this weekend. Ms Vere further added that the company has always shown support to PNG Fashion Week especially for the POM Fashion Week events including the Grand Finale shows in the last five years where they provided hair and make up for PNG Fashion Week models. She further added that Trends beauty International has been in the hair and makeup industry for a very long time and have been doing so at a larger scale due to their capability and manpower which is inclusive of local make-up artists and hairdressers who have runway experiences. “These are the opportunities we use to get our local staff out there to experience what high end fashion is all about and we are grateful for the opportunity to do work with an international brand like PNG Fashion Week,” Ms Vere said. Operations Manager of Trends Beauty International Ms Sari Morante said their focus is to make the models look beautiful and confident so that they can better display the work of the designers. We will be focusing on making sure that the models are properly groomed so that they are confident to walk the NGCB Paradise Runway.” “It is also an opportune time for us to continue to expose our local makeup artists and in the process, help the young models to build their confidence within this space as well,” Ms Morante said. Marketing Manager Ms Vere also stressed that as part of Trends Beauty International’s corporate social responsibility, they are committed to supporting local fashion events such as PNG Fashion Week right down to events at the community levels. “The event itself is about promoting local designers and so part of our CSR and sponsorship, is in making sure that these models are properly groomed and looking the best and so what better way to bring together local makeup artists, local designers and local models into this one event and promote Papua New Guinea on the occasion of its’ 47th independence celebrations,” Ms Vere said. Ms Vere further added that there will be seven local make-up artists together with expat staff who will be providing hair and makeup for forty models who will be walking the NGCB Paradise Runway this Saturday night. The PNG Fashion Week second annual NGCB Paradise Runway will be taking place at the Hilton Hotel on Saturday the 17th of September.

The SME Elevate Series is a component of the POM City Market where a resource hub provides free business, finance, marketing and public relations advice from professional consultants. BSP was among the first Corporate organisation to come on board and support the series in 2021. On Saturday 10th September, 2022, BSP renewed this support with a cheque presentation of K10,000 to the Market Manager of POM City Markets, Marie Mapai. BSP NCD Area Manager Dennis Lamus said the bank is pleased to be supporting the SME Elevate Series at the monthly POM City Markets by offering BSP’s banking services to help SMEs grow their businesses. The BSP team also assist customers with Personal Account queries on BSP’s products and services. “You would have seen our teams come around to individual SME Booths offering BSP’s Digital Banking channels including our Mobile Merchant Service. SMEs who do not have access to an EFTPOS device are encouraged to sign up to become a Mobile Merchant, which is a more convenient service. SMEs are issued a Merchant Code which customers can easily make payments to via BSP Mobile Banking. “Under this sponsorship agreement, BSP will be at the next 11 monthly markets. For all your SME Loan queries, Account Opening and Mobile or Internet Banking Registrations, come see us at the POM City Markets,” Mr Lamus said

Prime Minister Hon. James Marape today announced a record K9.7 billion tax revenue collection by the Internal Revenue Commission (IRC). He made the announcement as he prepares to travel to London for the funeral service of Queen Elizabeth II and as Papua New Guinea prepares to celebrate its 47th Independence anniversary on Friday, September 16, 2022. “I commend the sterling performance by the Internal Revenue Commission for the last eight months,” PM Marape said. “Papua New Guinea could not have asked for a better 47th Independence Anniversary performance indicator of a key State energy working its heart out. This record collection is the highest ever since 1975, and most importantly, highest collection ever in a tough year. “As of week ending September 9, 2022, the Internal Revenue Commission has collected around K9.7 billion with net transfers of K9.4 billion to the Waigani Public Accounts as projected by the 2022 National Budget. “This is a record achievement in a fiscal year, where IRC was able to surpass its annual target in the space of only eight months. “Compare the first eight months of this year with first eight months of last four years: “IRC’s Tax Revenue Collections in 2022 was boosted by a windfall in the petroleum and gas sector directly related to the Russian-Ukraine conflict. The global supply constraint coupled with higher demand as a result of post-COVID normalcy has seen the price of oil nearly double in space of just 12 months. Total Mining and Petroleum Tax (MPT) collection in the first eight months of 2022 totalled K2.965 billion. “Whilst windfall from MPT is acknowledged, other taxes have also performed strongly in 2022 – a reflection of some of the transformational interventions introduced at IRC since 2019. “The average MPT collections for the past four years (2018-2021) was K379 million. “The average total collection for first eight months of the last four years was K5.657 billion. “2022 total collection for the first eight months, less the MPT windfall, is K7.163 billion. “A total of K1.5 billion in increase revenue not attributed to MPT windfall has eventuated in the last eight months of 2022. “Non MPT taxes have performed well above the average of the last four years. IRC is beginning to see the fruits of its revenue initiatives and will continue to strive on becoming a robust and efficient tax administration by 2025. ” PM Marape said some of the notable initiatives and their revenue gains were as follows: • Introduced stringent Goods and Services Tax (GST) verification for refunds. This resulted in 20 per cent increase in GST collection annually or K200 million; • Cessation of credit offsets of GST to pay Salary and Wages Tax (SWT) liability. This resulted in K30-K40 million plus /month or K500 million annually; • GST s65 was rolled out. This resulted in K200 million-plus in the last eight months; • Increased media presence and awareness via media, resulting in on time payment improvement; • Increased support to provincial officers for tax inspections and awareness; and • The overall taxpayer awareness, improvement in efficiencies, increase in compliance activities and use of technology, amongst others, has contributed towards the sustained improved performance of IRC since 2019. “The Marape Government is intentional in raising internal revenues, hence, this year the Government increased the budget of the Internal Revenue Commission,” the Prime Minister said. “In 2022, the Government provided K160 million. This is the biggest budget support ever for IRC. “I understand that IRC has initiated 32 major reform projects to transform IRC into a robust, modern and efficient tax administration by 2025. The Government will continue to support IRC in the next two years to ensure that those projects are implemented successfully. “The Marape Government’s focus is on growing the economy, raising internal revenue and reducing borrowing over time. “The Government has intentions to introduce the immediate tax reliefs to cushion the impact of inflation. “The Government is also work toward the Golden Jubilee Anniversary in 2025 where most of the taxes, especially Salary and Wages Taxes and Corporate Income Taxes, will be reduced. IRC is currently undertaking all these projects to establish a cohesive collection mechanism so that any reduction in tax rates (tax revenue forgone) will have revenue positive effect. “

Grand Papua Hotel – A Member of Radisson Individuals, Port Moresby Wins – World Travel Award – Papua New Guinea’s Leading Business Hotel 2022. The Grand Papua Hotel in Port Moresby is a proud winner of The World Travel Award 2022. The World Travel Award recognizes and celebrates the hotel industry worldwide, with votes cast by travellers, guests, and industry players. It is the first year the Grand Papua Hotel has entered The World Travel Award and we are proud to have been awarded the following: Grand Papua Hotel – World Travel Award – Papua New Guinea’s Leading Business Hotel 2022 “It is another prestigious milestone for the Grand Papua Hotel again this year to be recognized as a world class upscale boutique hotel providing a high-end product and services in Papua New Guinea”. Says Senior Vice President & Group General Manager Peter Laigaard Jensen Grand Papua Hotel is situated in Port Moresby’s Central Business District, and offers 161 upscale guest rooms, suites, and residences. The Hotel was built in 2011 and continues to provide a high standard in its products and services for business travellers and corporate guests who want an upscale hotel experience with friendly service. And not at least the newly opened roof garden concept on 15th floor with culinary delights open from Thursday to Sunday Peter Laigaard Jensen explains: “We continue to take pride in giving our guests reasons for coming back not only to Grand Papua Hotel but also to Papua New Guinea and Port Moresby – this award is dedicated to all our hardworking employees and loyal guests” The Grand Papua Hotel boasts an upscale setting and guest experience with the Grand Brasserie, the 15th Floor, Grand Bar, and Grand Café, Grand Spa, and the Executive Lounge located on the 15th Floor as well. Group General Manger, Radisson Individuals Peter Tudehope express his gratitude to all staff and management in Grand Papua Hotel. I am very pleased Grand Papua Hotel – A Member of Radisson Individuals are awarded as a best-in-class property” ABOUT CORAL SEA HOTELS Coral Sea Hotels is a part of Steamships Limited’s legacy and history in Papua New Guinea and offers a portfolio of midmarket and upscale quality hotels in strategic well-appointed locations throughout Papua New Guinea. As one of the first hospitality pioneers in Papua New Guinea, Coral Sea Hotels is part of the country’s rich history and culture and continues to play an active part developing Papua New Guinea with a diversified hotel product portfolio through people and the local environment, enriching lives, and guest experiences. Coral Sea Hotels gives guests reasons for coming back. The portfolio of urban midmarket and city upscale hotels, residences and apartments cater to today’s frequent travellers and local community offering authentic and international hospitality in a warm and friendly, relaxed atmosphere. Coral Sea Hotels owns, manages, and operates 8 properties in Port Moresby, Lae, Mount Hagen, Goroka and Kiunga.

New Zealand coach Michael Maguire is set to stick by Jared Waerea-Hargreaves, despite the prop facing a three-match ban that may sideline him until the knock-out stages of the World Cup. The Kiwis travel to England on September 30 and Maguire will be hoping a warm-up clash with Leeds on October 8 can be included in Waerea-Hargreaves' suspension so he is available for the final pool match against Ireland. If the Leeds clash does not count towards the ban, the Roosters veteran would be unavailable until New Zealand’s quarter-final, which is likely to be against Fiji in Hull on November 5. Captain Jesse Bromwich, his Storm team-mate Nelson Asofa-Solomona, Raiders prop Joseph Tapine and Penrith’s James Fisher-Harris and Moses Leota are expected to be among the other middle forwards chosen, so Maguire has depth at his disposal. [caption id="attachment_26527" align="alignnone" width="906"] JWH goes to the bin[/caption] The likes of Isaiah Papali;i, Marata Niukore (both Eels), Kenny Bromwich, Brandon Smith (both Storm), Erin Clarke (Titans), Braden Hamlin-Uele, Briton Nikora (both Sharks), Corey Harawira-Naera (Raiders), Griffin Neame (Cowboys) and Jordan Riki (Broncos) are also in contention for forward spots. However, Waerea-Hargreaves is a valuable member of the Kiwis squad and Maguire considers him to be a leader on and off the field, as does Sydney Roosters mentor Trent Robinson. He has played 32 Tests for New Zealand since 2009 and was a member of the 2013 and 2017 World Cup squads. Waerea-Hargreaves had played every Test since Maguire took charge of the Kiwis in 2018 until forced to missed June's mid-season Test against Mata Ma'a Tonga due to a hamstring injury. While Maguire would want all of his squad to feature in the pool matches against Jamaica, Lebanon and Ireland, he knows that Waerea-Hargreaves is passionate about the Kiwis jersey and will do everything to be ready to play when required. The 32-year-old demonstrated his ability to make an immediate impact after an extended time on the sidelines when he made his comeback in round 19 against Newcastle following seven weeks out due to the hamstring injury The Roosters won seven consecutive matches with their forward leader back in the team before being losing Sunday's elimination final against South Sydney, in which Waerea-Hargreaves was one of a record seven players sin-binned. He was charged with grade two dangerous contact for a head slam on Rabbitohs and England prop Tom Burgess and faces a three match suspension with an early guilty plea or a four match ban if he unsuccessfully challenges the charge. Burgess also faces a two-to-three match suspension for a high tackle on Roosters captain James Tedesco, who is expected to be named Australia's captain at the World Cup. The Souths prop needs his team-mates to make the grand final if he is to play another NRL match this season. Should the Rabbitohs lose to Cronulla on Saturday night England coach Shaun Wane is likely to seek to have the host nation's October 8 warm-up clash with Fiji included in Burgess's ban so he is free for the World Cup opener against Samoa. Source: NRL.com

A long-time member of NCSL , Aaron Miskaram is helping people around him, engaged in small business activities such as selling cooked food items, operating trade stores and small table markets, to open savings accounts with NCSL. Aaron, 39, from New Ireland Province, lives at Ensisi Valley in Port Moresby and operates the Miskaram family trade store. He went out of his way to assist people at Ensisi Valley, UPNG, Boroko, and 5 Mile areas to become members of NCSL . Aaron said he benefited a lot from being a member and wanted others to also save and enjoy the benefits of being a member. “I’ve been saving with NCSL  for a long time now and enjoy everything the Society offers, especially the 1% loan interest and monthly interest paid on our savings,” he said. “My mum is also a voluntary contributor with NCSL and enjoys all the financial benefits. “Having savings set aside assists in my time of need. The services are readily available through the e-channels which is very convenient and I want others around me to know about NCSL  so they too can make that important decision to save and benefit from its attractive range of products and services offered by NCSL,” he said. One woman who recently became a member through Aaron’s awareness now banks her sales profit from selling Aigir with NCSL every two weeks. Aaron is encouraging others engaged in micro and small to medium enterprise (SME) businesses who do not have any savings account to make that choice to financially secure their future with NCSL.

The major damage and dislocation of structural building infrastructures encountered by Wawin National School of Excellence in Morobe during the recent earthquake will not hinder the school from sitting the grade twelves(12) National examinations this year. This was a statement issued by the school's Deputy Principal Mr. Erick Kep. Kep made this statement on Sunday afternoon just after the 7.6 magnitude earthquake hit Morobe, Madang and other provinces. The school encountered cracks and dislocation to roof ceilings, walls and stairs mostly built of bricks. Mr. Kep said grade twelves' national examinations is about four more weeks away and they will still accommodate their students who will sit for this national tests with the rest of the grade 12's nationwide. He stated that they have been working tirelessly to prepare their students for the exams and hence, will still allow students to sit the important tests despite the earthquake destruction that defaced the school infrastructures. He said the school will prioritize on the grade twelve examinations by using available and good condition classrooms to run the examinations.

EU-STREIT PNG started work on two additional farm-to-market access roads in Sandaun and East Sepik provinces totalling 56 plus km, to serve over 16,000 villagers, including businesspersons, women and school children, with improved access to towns, health posts and schools.  The International Labour Organization (ILO) under the EU Funded UN Joint STREIT EU-STREIT PNG has started major improvement work on two key Farm-to-Market Access Roads in Vanimo-Green District, Sandaun Province and Wosera-Gawi District, East Sepik Province. Connecting two Pasi and Krisa rural communities in Bewani-Wutung Onei LLG of Sandaun Province, this 25 km road will serve more than 3,000 rural population. Thirteen thousand plus villagers living in South Wosera and North Wosera LLGs, East Sepik Province, will also benefit from a road rehabilitation project started by ILO to improve the 31.6 KM Farm-to-Market Access Road connecting Patiko and Nuangawai rural communities, it includes 13,000 plus farming-dependant population who lives along this road. The roads rehabilitation and maintenance projects implemented by the EU-STREIT PNG Programme will provide safe, reliable, and climate-resilient transport infrastructure to cocoa, vanilla and fishery-dependant farming communities in the Sepik region, facilitating agribusiness nourishment, people, goods and crops movements and better marketing for locally produced agri-food products. “These roads are important since they help the trade and open business opportunities, market access and also help who provide services such as trucking and Public Motor Vehicle (PMV) operators for movement of people and goods,” said Mr Wesley Weli, Director of National Authorising Officer Support Unit, Department of National Planning and Monitoring. Likewise, these farm-to-market access roads are also a relief to villagers, particularly women and mothers who carry heavy loads and walk with their children for hours to the main highway to catch a PMV to town to sell their produce and get medical treatment. “These roads are very important also in terms of enabling socioeconomic indicators, including health, education, and financial services. These roads also help local businesses and movement along the roads. These projects are a win for all fronts, for all people living around roads,” explained Mr Weli. “We mothers feel the pain of carrying heavy garden produce as well as our sick children and walk this road for hours to the junction. If we’re lucky, we catch a PMV to town. If not, we walk back to the village and do the same thing the next day,” said Maria Mali, a mother of 11 children and grandmother of 12 grandchildren, living along Pasi-Krisa road in Bewani-Wutung Onei LLG. Maria was part of about 500 villagers who celebrated the start of specific maintenance and Rehabilitation work on the Pasi Krisa road. She has been married for 45 years and shares the dilemma the women in the area face. She said there has been no proper maintenance on this road until the recent intervention by ILO under the European Union-funded STREIT Programme in Papua New Guinea. The two roads rehabilitation and improvement projects will be completed in 12 months which include scarifying and reshaping of existing surface, spot re-gravelling, construction of reinforced concrete cement (RCC) box and pipe culverts, and gabion retaining wall as well as installation of crash barrier at different locations. The works also include erecting traffic signs and signages to increase visibility and ensure safety of passengers. Speaking at the ground-breaking ceremony to mark the start of Patiko-Nuangawai access road’s rehabilitation work, the EU-STREIT PNG Programme Coordinator, Dr Xuebing Sun said, “Road is the backbone of many rural infrastructure systems. Road provides assurance for the supply of the agricultural inputs, facilitates the delivery of the farm outputs to the markets, and assure your accesses to financing, health and education services. Road will also help you to strengthen competitiveness of your products in the market. Sincere thanks to the EU for its generous funding support, I am really happy that after one year, this road can reach you. I want to request for your active support, contribution, and participation to this road project as much as possible. Sustainability and long-term use of the road through effective maintenance rely on you; you are the ones who are going to use and own this road.” Calling on the community to support the road project, ILO’s Chief Infrastructure Specialist, Mr Shailendra Kumar Jha, said, “the contractor is willing to complete the whole roads with quality before the 12 months period, that will generate thousands of paid decent jobs for local community and youths, however community support and collaborations are must. The Road project will also transfer the skills to local youths for future use and employability.” This Pasi-Krisa (25 km) & Patiko-Nuangawai (30.6 km) are two out of 15 selected rural roads in the Sepik totalling 264 km in length for rehabilitation/specific maintenance by ILO to support the market access initiative implemented by the FAO-led EU-STREIT PNG to boost agribusiness activities and cocoa, vanilla and fisheries value chains for an improved income and cash flow for the rural sector. The roads will also support other agricultural, business, markets, services, inputs and social and community activities and facilities like schools, aid posts and health centres that are in dire need of better accessible roads. The EU-STREIT PNG, as a UN Joint Programme (FAO as the leading agency, and ILO, ITU, UNCDF and UNDP as partners), is the largest grant-funded Programme of the European Union in the country and the Pacific region. Being implemented in close cooperation with the National and provincial government institutions, research entities, civil society organisations, and private sector enterprises, the Programme aims to help improve the lives of the people from East Sepik and Sandaun provinces by focusing on increasing sustainable and inclusive economic development of rural areas through improved economic returns and opportunities from cocoa, vanilla and fishery value chains while strengthening and improving the efficiency of value chain enablers, including the business environment, and supporting sustainable, climate-resilient transport and energy infrastructure development.

Wawin National School of Excellence in Morobe is calling on relevant authorities to intervene and assess several damages caused by the recent massive earthquake and determine if the buildings are fit for use by students. The recent 7.6 magnitude earthquake hit Morobe, Madang and parts of the Highlands Region and was even felt in other provinces on Sunday morning. At Wawin National School of Excellence, 10 classrooms, four laboratories and dormitories received damages as a direct result of the earthquake on the aging infrastructure. The classrooms and laboratories were the worst affected encountering huge cracks and dislocation of building structures. Deputy Principal Mr. Erick Kep said the school needed immediate inspection and guarantee of the relevant authorities whether it was safe for use by students and teachers. The school building was funded by the Japanese government and constructed by COVEC building construction 22 years ago. Most of the rooms joint structures have been dislocated by the continuous force of the quake. Roof ceilings and walls mostly bricks have cracks and have fallen off causing a safety hazard to students and teachers. The school took Monday off to clear out the structural remains and visible debris to allow for inspection.