The Mineral Resources Authority (MRA) of Papua New Guinea (PNG) will be launching its Mineral Production Data Repository Hub soon to coincide with the Authority’s planned 15th anniversary celebrations. The Mineral Production Data Repository Hub is a new system that will allow the MRA, to have access to mineral data from all operating mines in PNG, in real-time. This means, MRA will have dedicated officers sit in the hub at the Mining Haus in Port Moresby, where they will have copies of the same data in real time, which their counter-parts at mine sites will have access to. The type of information shared will include the tonnage of the mineral ore that goes through the plant and the amount going out through exports. According to the MRA, in the last 40 years mining companies have been submitting a form to them stating the amount of mineral they have been exporting. However, the MRA as the regulator has had no way of verifying the data given in the forms. The system will not only allow the MRA and the state to independently monitor the minerals mined and exported, it will also give mining companies greater leverage on their transparency scale in the international stage. It will ensure that there is transparency and all minerals leaving the country are accounted for. But more importantly the country stands to benefit more from its resources.  

The production of bulb onions locally got a boosting with the support from British American Tobacco (BAT) PNG that would enable better cultivation of the crop. This after BAT PNG and Fresh Produce Development Agency (FPDA) signed an agreement to increase the quality and volume of bulb onions that all local farmers produce, which in turn will increase the revenues for the farmers. BAT PNG General Manager Vadim Makismenko said the signed agreement enables both organizations to work in partnership to achieve this through the supply of solar dryers to farmers in order to improve production and sales of bulb onions. “BAT will fund K1million for the construction of 50 bulb onion solar dryers across Papua New Guinea over two years,” Mr Maksimenko explained. “The FPDA will manage this fund by arranging for the construction and placement in bulb onion farming cooperatives they already work with across the country who currently supply the urban market”. “As a company, we at BAT PNG are committed to being a responsible corporate citizen and investing in initiatives that support our local communities while being compliant of the laws that regulate the tobacco industry,” he said. “BAT PNG also believes that we have a corporate social responsibility for investing in programs that support the government’s development agenda.” He said the government's goal of "Reclaiming PNG Through Agriculture" highlights the crucial role that agriculture plays in the country's food security and economic stability and for that, BAT is pleased to partner with FPDA who has experienced and credible partners in this space.  

The National Fisheries Authority (NFA) is looking forward to working towards full delivery of the long awaited Pacific Maritime Industrial Zone (PMIZ) in Madang through its partnership with the new Ministry of International Trade and Investment.  The NFA Managing Director, Mr. Justin Ilakini said it’s been 15 years now and still nothing much has been done to fully establish the PMIZ project, which would lead to good trade and commerce and job creation for many Papua New Guineans.    “We look forward to working with the Ministry, the Minister responsible and everyone to see that we can finally deliver this project for the people of Madang, for the people of PNG (Papua New Guinea) and the region because this is a project that extends not only within the boundaries of PNG but throughout the region,” said Mr. Ilakini.  The Director said that the upcoming inaugural Special Economic Zone (SEZ) Summit will be a good platform for NFA to push for the PMIZ project to be one of those first SEZs to be implemented in the country.    The NFA Director made this known during the recent presentation of K100, 000 to the Ministry of International Trade and Investment as sponsor for the SEZ Summit coming up on the 8th and 9th of May.  Minister for International Trade and Investment, Richard Maru thanked NFA for its contribution towards the Summit and he called on the entity to come up with a domestication policy.  “We have a situation right now in the country where all the fish that are caught in our waters are not processed onshore. Only up to about 10 to 15% of the catch is brought back to the canneries and the fish processing plants in Papua New Guinea, while over 80% leave our shores and are processed in other countries and this is totally unacceptable.  Minister Maru also said that in the future he wants to see 100% of catch from within PNG waters, processed here in country.  “The Ministry of International Trade and Investment is going to partner NFA, and we are going to go all the way to legislation and policy and whatever that needs to be done to ensure that we unleash the fisheries industry and maximize the benefit,” added Minister Maru.  The PMIZ project is a fisheries industrial project that will retain a large portion of the tuna caught in the pacific for processing. The project was approved in 2004 and is one of PNG’s first proposed special economic zones.   

The players in the Port Moresby Moni Plus 2023 Australian Football League (AFL) season, have been advised to make their decisions now as to which club they would like to play for this season. The Port Moresby AFL Association President Mr. Douglas Lai explained that from this week until the third round of games of the season, players have a grace period to make their selections on their preferred clubs to join. “If a player wishes to shift say from Lamana Dockers to the Kobonis, then that player can do so now. You have two weeks to move to another club.” This is because last year a lot of players made requests to move from one club to another despite being already registered for one club and to address this, the two weeks window period was given. This rule will also ensure that no club gets into trouble by losing points or having issues with player qualifications before the grand final, all because one player or players made a shift without authorization after being fully registered in another club. The AFL Association has a list of registered players per club and has advised clubs to stick to it throughout the season. The president made it clear that by the time its game three, everyone must be fully registered in the clubs of their choice. No more player movements after that; however, should players breach this rule, penalties will be imposed on the clubs that accepted them after the window period had closed.

Port Moresby Australian Football League (AFL) fans can expect the start of the proper season this weekend following the successful completion of both the pre-season and the Easter Cup Challenge over the long Easter weekend. Port Moresby AFL Association President Mr. Douglas Lai said that the proper season will start on Saturday 15th of April with time allowed afterwards for players to confirm their clubs for this season. “For player movement, you are given two weeks of confirming your club for 2023, after that there will be no player movement,” said the president. Mr. Lai said that everyone is excited and looking forward to the start of the proper season after warming themselves up in the pre-season and Easter Cup Challenge. This season is also important for everyone because this year the AFL scouts will be out making selections of the best players, both male and female, to fill in the slots for the national teams in preparation for the International Cup (IC24) coming up next year in Australia. Hence, 2023 will no doubt see some great competitions right across the country coming from the various AFL associations. Meanwhile, the long Easter weekend saw the Easter Cup Challenge in Port Moresby played out with players fitted into each regional teams. The players were selected from the pre- season matches on Saturday 08th April to form the regional teams for the Easter Cup Challenge. The Easter Cup saw at the end team NGI (New Guinea Islands) taking on team Momase in the grand final. It was a hard match especially in muddy conditions, but the NGI boys handled themselves well and defeated the Momase boys. Team NGI secured 4 goals and 3 behinds to score a total of 27, while Momase secured 1 goal and 2 behinds to score a total of just 8.

Residents of Lae city are glad to be out of the blackout after PNG Power Limited restored full electricity to the city as of 11.48am this morning following line patrol done on ground and using a helicopter. According to PNG Power, the line was cleared after tests were conducted at Taraka and Munum Power Station to give the all clear for supply to be restored. Residents on Saturday 08th April experienced total power outage after the fault occurred, the PNG Power team weren’t able to locate the fault on the line and have had to stop the line patrol late Saturday evening, but resumed today and fixed the problem. The fault was identified to be between Munum Independent Power Producer (IPP) Power Station and Taraka Substation and Power Station. The fault affected the supply of electricity into Lae city from the Mumum Power Station and the Ramu Grid. This was due to the fact that most of the transmission lines between Munum and Taraka run through the thick bushland.

The BSP new Banking System implementation over the long Easter weekend experienced some technical issues that resulted in accounts reporting incorrect balances, with some reporting cash amounts removed while others reporting increases to their current amount; however, all that should be sorted very soon. According to the BSP Financial Group Limited, the work is expected to be wrapped up by this evening or during the night. Once that occurs, BSP advises that the issues with the incorrect balances should be sorted out, meaning that those that had amounts removed will have their amounts restored and those that had extra and went ahead to remove the extra amounts, will have their accounts debited the next pay day, but only for the extra amounts that they removed. During this long Easter weekend saw people who reported extra amounts in their accounts, proceeding on to withdrawing the extra cash without considering the implications afterwards once the implementation of the new Banking System was done. Those who have done so would be regretting come next pay day. Meanwhile, BSP should have an update on the implementation of the new banking system later this afternoon to inform its costumers as to how the implementation is going and when everything should be back online and service fully restored.

The Port Moresby Australian Football League (AFL) Association has confirmed that the Easter Cup Challenge will take place tomorrow, Sunday 09th April as decided upon this week follow an executive meeting. The Association President Mr. Douglas Lai said the Easter Cup Challenge will take place at the Colts Oval. The Easter Cup Challenge will see the players play in their regional teams instead of the normal club teams. “We’re squeezing both the pre- season and the Easter Cup Challenge into this weekend, the pre- season is played today and the Easter Cup tomorrow.” The AFL Association this week had to make a decision to either hold the Easter Cup Challenge by itself this weekend or along with the pre-season matches. This is because the pre-season matches that were supposed to be held as the opener to the 2023 Moni Plus AFL season, were cancelled due to the heavy rains in Port Moresby last weekend. Eventually, the association decided on having both events this weekend. Nevertheless, the 2023 Moni Plus pre- season matches are now being played at the Colts Oval to start off the season. Mr. Lai said today’s matches are played using the Lighting 12s format, meaning that its just 12 players on both sides on the field instead of the normal 15 players format. The pre- season matches today also feature only the senior men’s teams from each of the clubs participating, instead of all the teams from the men’s reserves to the women’s teams.

Coming together in unity and showing God's love for one another was the message given today this Good Friday to Catholic faithfuls at the mass service at the end of the Way of the Cross procession in Port Moresby. Cardinal John Ribat during his Homily at St. Charles Lwanga Catholic church at Gerehu said that its the first time after three years since the Way of the Cross procession took place following the COVID 19 pandemic. Cardinal Ribat was pleased to see the youth taking the lead in organising and leading the walk and the Stations of the Cross. He thanked everyone for joining and marking this important event in the Christian calendar, saying that this coming together marks the significance of Easter as it was through the crucifixion. “The death and resurrection of Jesus Christ means that all men are saved and united in God's presence, and it all came to be because of God's love for all men.” "You have shown the love of Jesus by going through the walk marking the stations, about seven hours walk from the cathedral to St. Charles.” He said by doing this, the people reflect on what Jesus did for us on the road to His crucifixion and death, also reflecting on His great love for us. Meanwhile, the Way of the Cross today also marks a time of prayer for the many people who are suffering from burdens in their lives, sicknesses, victims of violence and other forms of abuse in the country. The Way of the Cross today saw close to a thousand Catholic faithfuls from the various Catholic churches in Port Moresby coming together for the walk.

BSP ATMs, EFTPoS and Online Purchase Services will remain operational throughout the Easter weekend, except for only three (3) hours from 12:01am to 3:00am on Friday 7th April, 2023. BSP Financial Group Limited (BSP) Group CEO Mark Robinson, said to implement our new Banking System safely and securely, we need to switch off our old system and migrate our banking records to our new Banking System and this will require a series of planned downtimes, with some services being unavailable over the Easter weekend. “We know interruptions to your banking services are not ideal and we have robust plans in place to ensure this transition is as smooth as possible for our customers,” said Mr. Robinson. Mr. Robinson added: “BSP ATMs, EFTPoS and Online Purchase services will be unavailable for only 3 hours on Friday 7th April, 2023, from 12:01 am to 3:00am.” “From 3:00am onwards on Friday 7th April, 2023, our ATMs, EFTPoS and Online Purchase services will be available for our customers to use while we continue to implement our new and improved Banking System.” “BSP aims to ensure this transition is as smooth as possible for our valued customers.” “While most of the changes will occur behind the scenes, we want our customers to be aware of this new Banking System development.” “We have taken steps and measures to notify our customers via SMS blasts, in our social media platforms, website and through notices placed at all our branches nationwide, regarding the scheduled system implementation.” “We will provide regular updates through our Social Media platforms and website, as we continue our new Banking System implementation over the Easter weekend.” Should BSP customers have any queries, they can contact BSP Customer Call Centre on; Telephone: (+675) 7030 1212, (+675) 320 1212 or Email: servicebsp@bsp.com.pg

The National Disaster Centre (NDC) is in the process to send a National Assessment Standby Team into the East Sepik province to assess the damages caused by the massive earthquake that hit the province on Monday 3rd of April. NDC Director, Colonel Carl Wrakonei, said that the team will comprise of engineers and medical personnel from the Papua New Guinea Defense Force (PNGDF), officers from the Rabaul Volcano Observatory and other support staff. The team will be supported by the PNGDF helicopters to conduct the assessments on ground. However, the team is on standby awaiting a full report from the East Sepik Provincial Disaster Office on the damages on ground and the assistance needed, which is proving to be a difficulty now because the provincial team has not been sending a report or reports over to the disaster center updating them on what is happening. “We waited for them to send in a report, but they have not done so yet. It’s getting too long now, and we don’t have a full report of what’s going on there.” The director also said that the provincial office team has not been answering his calls since yesterday. If a full report doesn’t come in sooner, the Col. said they will go ahead with the deployment of the assessment team. He further added that the team will be standing by to move once the NDC gives the approval go ahead. The engineering team will check the main infrastructures like roads and bridges, while the medical team will be attending to the casualties. The Observatory team will be carrying out awareness in the affected communities on such disasters and to also calm the people down as there is still anxiety in the air following the massive earthquake. Col. Wrakonei said the NDC will make an announcement soon on the date in which the National Assessment Standby Team will be going to East Sepik, once the approval is given. Caption: Assessment team on standby to deploy to earthquake ravaged East Sepik

The development of the proposed new stadium for the Australian Football League (ALF) sporting code in Papua New Guinea (PNG) is still in the discussion stage. According to AFL PNG Senior Football Manager Mr. Rex Leka, a team from the PNG Sports Foundation along with the PNG AFL Commission and the Sports Minister Don Polye, recently visited AFL facilities in Australia to have a look at the designs and share ideas on how the proposed stadium should be like. “Right now everything is in the talking stage, there is nothing confirmed yet as to when the new stadium will be built.” The proposed new stadium is expected to be built at the site of the Colts Oval and should serve as the home of AFL in Port Moresby. The sports minister did announce as well that a funding of about K10million was allocated solely for this project. Once constructed, the new stadium will be an achievement for AFL PNG on its efforts to develop the sporting code in a mainly rugby league dominated country.