It’s all a go for the Australian Football League (AFL) Junior Program in the city of Port Moresby with the Junior Development program already given the go ahead to hosts its activities for 2022, which includes the schools’ competitions. According to the Manager of the AFL Junior Development Program Mr. David Topeni, the Education Department along with the Papua New Guinea (PNG) Sports Foundation has given the go ahead with strict COVID-19 measures in place to be followed during the running of these programs. Mr. Topeni said that they will commence with the Smart Start Niukick awareness program at the schools, both primary and secondary schools in the National Capital District (NCD). “The awareness program will include awareness as well on COVID-19 and the measurers taken or put in place to be followed as part of safety measures to run the activities. This is in addition to the normal footy skills theory and practical program.” Topeni said due to the pandemic, the Niukick program will run in Port Moresby first for the schools during the first and second terms. Meanwhile, the Smart Start Niukick program will lead the way for the start of the actual schools’ competition program for 2022, which should be towards the middle of the year. Mr. Topeni said the schools’ competition will see the primary schools go first and then followed by the secondary schools’ competition. For the primary schools, there will be the under-13s for the boys and under-16s for their girls, while the secondary schools will see the under- 17s for both boys and girls, participate. This year will see a total of eight schools in Port Moresby city participate in the schools’ competition.

Consumers should expect the price of goods and services to increase in the country in the months ahead, something which the Independent Consumer and Competitions Commission (ICCC) says it does not have a direct control over and that the people should brace for it. ICCC Commissioner and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Mr. Paulus Ain, said the increases are due to factors like the weak exchange rate of the Kina, the increase of global food prices due to the covid-19 pandemic, and the increase of international and domestic fuel prices. In terms of the value of the Kina, Mr. Ain said Papua New Guinea (PNG) is heavily dependent on the importation of goods. Therefore, whenever there is a depreciation of the kina it tends to drive up the cost of goods imported in the country. “Over the past 12months the PNG kina to US dollar was generally stable; however, it has been trading at around K1 to $0.28, which is very weak. A stronger kina makes its cheaper to import goods into the country and subsequently result in lower prices being passed on to consumers,” he said. He said the Food and Agriculture Organization also reported that global food prices have been rising in 2021 due to the coronavirus pandemic, which has caused supply chain disruption and rising shipping costs in food exporting nations. “So, in addition to the weak exchange rate, we have been importing goods into the country that have risen in prices in their countries of origin,” added the Commissioner. In addition to the higher prices of imported goods, domestic fuel prices have also increased significantly over the past 12 months in PNG and globally. The fuel price increase is mainly driven by the increase in world market price for crude oil and PNG’s weak exchange rate. “Crude Oil is an international traded commodity; hence, its pricing is usually driven by the world market prices and is often traded in US dollars. The increase in crude oil prices since last year is mostly due to the demand greater than the supply, due to the re-opening of economies around the world and geopolitical issues in the middle east, which often affects the stability of the supply of oil in the world market.” “Domestic fuel prices are a significant driver of the cost of goods and services in PNG because it is an important input in the production and delivery of good and services in the country,” said Mr. Ain. He further added that all these factors are contributing to the rising cost of goods and services in the country and therefore businesses must put up prices in order to cover these rising costs. The ICCC is doing all it can to protect consumers through the monitoring of prices and the monthly inspection of pump prices to ensure that service stations are charging the correct retail fuel prices. “Consumers must note that there are also other costs that are incurred in the production and provision of goods and services in the country and ICCC has no control over these other costs that are recovered at the retail end through higher prices of goods and services. Therefore, ICCC does not have any direct control over the prices of all goods and services in the country.”

The announcement by the Minister for Public Enterprise William Duma in parliament this week on the government making funding available to pay outstanding payments owed to service providers, should be welcoming news for many that are still waiting, including the Independent Power Producers (IPP). NiuPower Limited is one of that IPPs and its External Affairs Manager Mr. Wellington Bellawa, has welcomed the announcement and said this should ease things a bit with payments owed for the company’s service to the people, which it provides through its partner PNG Power Limited (PPL). “The minister has made that commitment to ease some burden of debts that independent power suppliers are carrying and one of them is us. All I can say is thank you very much, if they’re thinking of paying some money, we are happy.” Mr. Bellawa added that it is through these funds that a lot of things such as the company’s operational costs and its Community Investment Program, are being supported and implemented. Currently, the private power company is implementing several projects under its community support initiatives in the four PNG LNG impacted villages in the Central province. These projects include water and sanitation, education and health, sports, and life skills development and training. Meanwhile, Minister William Duma said that the Cabinet recently approved nearly K100million to pay several service providers that a still owed outstanding payment, they include PNG Power as well and the IPPs.

Independent Power Producer (IPP) NiuPower Limited, continues its Community Investment Program with the delivery of the 9, 000 liters water tanks for the PNG LNG impacted villages in Central province. This time, it’s the Papa village’s turn to get another lot of six new water tanks for the community which will be place in locations in areas that are considered suitable by the villagers themselves. Papa village Councilor Mr. Alphonse Nao thanked NiuPower for its continuous support with the water tanks and other projects, which it supports the villages with under its community investment. “The tanks you have provided have made it easy for the women folk who are always rushing to our main taps to fetch water to sustain their homes. But thanks to NiuPower, the tanks that have been provided have reduced that burden,” said Councilor Nao. Meanwhile, NiuPower has changed its mode of delivery of the 9, 000liters water tanks to the villages for this year. According to NiuPower External Affairs Manager Mr. Wellington Bellawa, this time NiuPower will not wait for quarterly delivery of tanks, instead which village that finishes the setup of the foundations for the installation of the tanks quickly, won’t have to wait but to come forward to get new water tanks right away. This way should ease burdens of sourcing water for homes for many. Sourcing water for the home is often a job which is challenging for the women folk in these villages. “We thank NiuPower Management and our CEO in changing that approach because he has seen the difficulties the women face,” said Mr. Bellawa. NiuPower today gave six more water tanks for the village, the third batch of tanks so fare for a village that has a population of over a thousand people. [caption id="attachment_19472" align="alignnone" width="651"] Papa village Councillor Mr. Alphonse Nao. Picture by Emmanuel MAIPE[/caption]

Air Niugini has confirmed one of its Q400 aircrafts encountered technical problems while on a flight to its destination yesterday. It is understood the aircraft was on its way to Goroka in the Eastern Highlands from Port Moresby when the technical fault forced the aircraft, its crew, and passengers to return to Port Moresby city. Airport police also confirmed that all emergency units were at the Jackson International Airport to prepare to attend to the emergency if things turned out badly. Air Niugini said the Q400 aircraft made a safe landing at Port Moresby that afternoon, following a false light indication. “The landing occurred without any issues, with Air Traffic Control advised in advance in accordance with normal airline operating procedures.” Meanwhile, according to Captain Ted Paki the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the provider of Air Navigation Services for Papua New Guinea- NiuSky Pacific Limited, the aircraft crew did an excellent job in following flight emergency procedures to take the aircraft and its passengers safely to land.

Independent Power Producers (IPPs) owed funds by the state owned PNG Power Limited (PPL) from the purchase of electricity under their respective power purchase agreements should see this matter resolved now that the government has approved funds to pay outstanding debts owed to service providers. This was revealed by the Minister for Public Enterprise William Duma in parliament when he said that Cabinet recently approved a big amount of funding to pay some of the service providers, including the IPPs. "Today we will be paying out nearly K100 million starting with K50 million for one Independent Power Producer which has helped us in terms of providing reliable power services to cities like Port Moresby and Lae," said the Minister. However, Duma added that this does not mean that PNG Power has financial difficulties in paying its debts to its service providers. PNG Power is not technically insolvent, it has got good income producing assets and all it needs now is change in the way people have been conducting business starting from within PNG Power, and the way some of the independent power producing arrangements were put in place. Meanwhile, the ministerial announcement should come as good news for one IPP- NiuPower Limited, which came out on the media stating just how much PPL owes for its services. NiuPower claimed that PPL would owe them K200 million by this month in outstanding payments, for its service in providing electricity to the National Capital District (NCD) and Central province power grid, which PPL owns. However, PNG Power came out to clarify that the claim was not true with the Acting Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Mr. Obed Batia in a statement saying that the outstanding balance is actually less because of its weekly schedule payment plan for all IPPs. Nevertheless, the announcement this week by the Public Enterprise Minister should ease things a bit for the time being.

Perhaps the one group of people that will ensure a project or development get off the ground are the landowners and as such deserve the appreciation and support from the state and developers of a certain project taking place on their land. That was the case for landowners of the proposed P’nyang gas project in Western province when the Petroleum Minister Mr. Kerenga Kua, thanked them for their support in having the agreement finally signed to pave way for the development of the next LNG project. “The landowners and the leadership from the province, they are the most important people in this whole thing,” said Minister Kua. “We can talk about the project and other issues, but if we cannot connect it to the ground then it won’t work. I find the landowners of Western province in this instance to be of great support.” The minister added that they have been supportive in the process of getting the agreement signed and have always respected the process. Meanwhile, Minister Kua also extended his gratitude to the Western Governor Toboi Awi Yoto, for his supporting role as well in seeing the project eventually signed. “His also been exceptional in his support for the project, he said the things that needed to be said and allowed the project to continue.” This support eventually led to the project agreement signing after two years and four months of negotiations between the state, the developers, and the landowners and provincial government of Western province. The signing took place on Tuesday 22nd February at the Government House in Port Moresby

The construction phase of any major project, including resource projects, is a time where jobs are created, training provided and even huge lump- sum of cash flow, something that will boosts the economy of the country. That is why the government and its State Negotiating Team (SNT) pushed to have the P’nyang gas project to run in line with the construction phase of the Papua LNG project, before the agreement was eventually signed this week with ExxonMobil, Santos and JX Nippon, the developers of the project. Prime Minister (PM) James Marape said the past construction phase of the PNG LNG project has shown that to be true. “When PNG LNG was signed in 2008 our economy was just over 30 billion Kina when we signed the project gas agreement. In 2014 before the first gas, our economy went past the 57 billion Kina space,” he said. “So, there is a direct correlation to the benefit to our local economy in as far as construction activity is concerned. Just a four-year construction period from 2010 to 2014, we saw our economy grew by sixty to seventy per cent.” “Our intention in this one to sequence Papua LNG and P’nyang side by side or back-to-back, is for us to have eight years of construction in our country that should run from 2024 to 2032. That in our view will have positive effect in our economy in a very big way as we go forward.” Marape said the earlier concept of P’nyang project was a stand- alone third train project, but today with the sequencing of P’nyang, it moves away from a new train project. Instead, it will feed P’nyang into the current PNG LNG infrastructure, meaning that it will be using the current LNG trains at the PNG LNG plant site. “It technically gives Papua New Guinea gas producing ability right from where we are today right up into 2050 or 2060,” added Marape. The P’nyang project would provide some four years of additional construction activity after Papua LNG, with this multi-billion Kina investment driving continued economic growth for the nation as well as provinces involved in the project.

The government has gone ahead to sign the agreement to lay the foundation for the development of the P’nyang Gas project in the Western Province with developer ExxonMobil, despite a restraining order taken out by the Member for North Fly James Donald, to stop the signing. Prime Minister (PM) James Marape said he and his team are not aware of a restraining order as there was none served to him or the team to stop the signing of the project agreement. “The process was set, everybody knew we’re signing it this Tuesday, so they had every moment up till this Tuesday to serve us any court orders. No one has served us any court orders, so we moved ahead with the signing,” said the Prime Minister. “Everyone’s got their right to go to court, so if they went to court then we respect that process and we will go to court to defend what we’ve done, if there is a case,” added Marape. Nevertheless, the signing of the agreement went ahead after two years and four months of negotiations between teams from the developer of the proposed P’nyang gas project and the government team. The signing on Tuesday 22nd February at the Government House in Port Moresby between the state and ExxonMobil, would enable the proposed P’nyang Project to deliver Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) by constructing new upstream facilities in Western Province linked to existing infrastructure. The PM said the construction phase should generate a lot in revenue for the country because this agreement is being sequenced in consistent with Papua LNG construction phase. “If Papua LNG construction starts in 2024 then it ends around 2028, the agreement is constructed in a way where after the construction of Papua LNG, P’nyang LNG construction will carryon from there. So, the country will benefit from eight years of consistent construction economy.” “The P’nyang Project Gas Agreement supports the government’s vision to promote long term development in the country and for our people.” “On behalf of the country and our people, I am both pleased and proud to mark this milestone. ExxonMobil has demonstrated its continued commitment to PNG through the outstanding operatorship of the PNG LNG project, and we look forward to continuing our partnership well into the future with the P’nyang Project,” said Marape. The PM later thanked the State Negotiating Team (SNT) for their effort in securing the agreement leading to the signing of the project agreement and thanked the developer and its joint venture partners for agreeing with the various terms and condition put forth by the state for the interest of PNG.

The new Commander Defence Force (CDF) Major General Mark Goina is looking at making some drastic changes to the recruitment process of intakes so to bring back the credibility of the Papua New Guinea Defence Force (PNGDF). The Major General said the recruiting office has been lifted to a Directorate by the Defence Council, which means it now has a director in charge and has been given the administrative and resourcing power it needs to do its work, something he said should improve the defence force drive in recruiting the best to serve in the force. “It is my intent to transform our recruiting process from its structure, systems, procedures, infrastructure and equipment, and staff selection and training. We will eradicate corruption and nepotism in all our recruiting processes and ensure that it is proficient and effective,” said the Major General. “Our recruitment will focus on force requirement rather than growth, while we build an infrastructure that will enable us to deliver a controlled and sustainable expansion.” Goina also said regional balance is a key part of the defence force as it plays an important part in the organisation’s role in unifying the country. “There must be regional balance with credible people across our rank and file, so that each region feels connected to the defence force and we retain the trust of our citizens.” Major General Goina concluded by saying that the defence force represents PNG as a whole and for that, balance must be maintained across the PNGDF.

The 13th Commander Defense Force (CDF) Major General Mark Goina was officially given the command of the Papua New Guinea Defence Force (PNGDF) today in a formal hand-over and take-over parade at the Murray Barracks, Port Moresby today. Goina said in his reign as new commander, he intends to carry on from where the outgoing CDF Major General Gilbert Toropo did and left off, which is sovereignty protection- the primary role of the defense force. “To facilitate on this, we will implement a five-year development plan aim at improving morale discipline operational effectiveness, nation building capacity and the delivery of the infrastructure that will enable us to undertake sustainable growth,” said Goina. “The plan is geared towards five lines of effort, and these are people, organizational reform, operational efficiency, infrastructure and national building, with the first to be the most important line of effort is people.” “We will reset the force with the focus on our duty of care, by ensuring our personnel ae properly paid, clothed, equip, fed, accommodated, and trained.” “The five-year development plan will be articulated to the next PNG Defence Force white paper and we will assist the secretary for defence with producing this key stone document.” After outlining what he intends to carryout in his 10-year term as CDF, the Major General went on to thanking the outgoing CDF Major General Gilbert Toropo for his work and achievements in the defence force as his predecessor. “To the outgoing chief of defence force Major General Gilbert Toropo, thank you for your many years of service to the PNGDF. During the eight years of commander, you led us through a time of great change and accomplish all the task that was required of you.” Some of the things accomplished by the outgoing CDF included the renewed and strengthened relationship with PNG’s defence bilateral partners, a new ship replacement program with the Australian Defence Force, the PNGDF Medium Term Capability Development Plan 2018- 2022, the Force 2030 Strategic Plan, the starting of the construction of the Hela barracks in Tari, the Flights of Excellence program with e Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) and the commencement of the PNGDF home ownership scheme. “For these we are grateful, and on behalf of the PNGDF I wish you, your wife Mary and your family good speed in the years to come,” concluded the Major General. Meanwhile, the outgoing Commander Major General Gilbert Toropo, in his farewell speech had nothing but praises for the men and women in the defence force for their support in his term as CDF, and he also thanked the foreign military organisations for the support they have been giving especially Australia, of which is said is more than just a partner, but as family to PNG. Commander Toropo then encouraged the new CDF to carry on with the command and lead the defense force into the future and urged the troops continue to the good work with the new commander. Lastly, Commander Toropo thanked his family for the support they have given him during his years as CDF, especially his wife Mary, of which he said has given all her support at home and the good advises that enabled him to focus on his duties as commander of the Papua New Guinea Defence Force.

People in the villages of Central Province benefiting from the PNG LNG project, will continue to enjoy these benefits through the various Community Investment Programs initiated by the developer ExxonMobil PNG or its partners, such as NiuPower Limited. This week the people of Kido, one of the villages benefiting from the gas project, were told just that when the Independent Power Producer (IPP) company’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Mr. Michael Oiari and his team were there to present six 9, 000 litre water tanks for the community to use. The CEO said services like water and sanitation, education, and health are important and will continue to be their priority. “For us, water security is important to you in the villages, education to your kids is very important and that’s what we support,” said the CEO. However, he said all these was made possible with support and the main support is from PNG Power Ltd, who purchase electricity that NiuPower produces and sells. “None of these will be possible without PNG Power support, so I think it’s very important we acknowledge PNG Power’s contribution to the program. Without them we couldn’t do all of what we wanted to do.” NiuPower’s Community Investment Program covers water and sanitation project, health and education, life skills training, church activities and sports. Meanwhile, the water tanks delivered to Kido village were from the 2021 batch, while the six more from the 2022 batch will be delivered once they are ready. “It’s really encouraging, and I encourage you to get your water tank foundations ready quickly so we can have the next six put in place.” Through NiuPower’s Community Investment Program, the villages continue to benefit from water tanks and just last week, the company delivered six water tanks as well to the Boera village community.