PNGBLOGS

$12 million Chinese-built Sigiri bridge in Western Kenya collapsed before it was completed. President Uhuru Kenyatta inspected the project two weeks before the collapse. by MANISH SHARMA Editor’s note: All Pacific nations need to read this story and heed the warning before it is too late. One of you could be next. SRI Lanka has been crippled under a severe debt problem. In the last decade, it has invested billions of dollars in building huge infrastructure and most of the projects haven’t yet produced any adequate returns. Sri Lankan Government is now struggling to make payments and hence facing a severe debt crunch. Sri Lanka’s total debt stands at $64bn. About a whopping 95 per cent of all government revenues go towards debt repayment. The debt to China is eight billion dollars. Many local citizens feel the country is being sold to the Chinese. The problem is that money borrowed has been seemingly squandered on infrastructure that shows no sign of turning a pro

by PAUL RUNDUWALI You may be wondering why the counting in Southern Highlands Province is so slow except for the Ialibu-Pangia Open where O'Neill manipulated and orchestrated the voting and counting and declared himself as a winner in a dictatorship style. The reason is, it is Mr.O'Neills ploy to get the seats in SHP by force and declare his PNC Candidates. At this time, O'Neill critically needs the numbers to form the government, failure to master the numbers means, he will loose the PMs post and ends up in the opposition and thus, it is evitable that he will further spend another luxury life in  Bomana.  For this reason, O’Neill is using delay tactic in a pursuit to make all SHP seats for PNC  candidates and get the number needed to form the government.  According to insiders (names withheld)  in ,Mendi, Southern Highlands Province,   large sum of money from the ruling party (PNC)  is being brought into the province, possibly to bribe counti

by GREG KONDE THE first liquefied natural gas cargo of the PNG LNG project was loaded onto the Spirit of Hela ship on May 14, 2014.  The three markets for the PNG liquified natural gas are Japan,  China and Taiwan (primarily Japan).  The project sends 6.9 million tons of LNG to the three Asian markets per year. Founding father of the nation Sir Michael Somare said in the July 22, 2016 Post Courier that he “cannot understand how our economy is managed. Despite 250 shipments of Oil and Gas so far, there is nothing to show for (it).” He said one shipment is around USD$220 million and questioned why the government keep borrowing.  He stated that Prime Minister Peter O'Neill should tell the people the truth about the economic situation affecting the country. Exxon Mobil receives the largest portion of the income – that is to be expected as they invested far more than anyone else, an amount of $US20B (K50B). Through Kumul Petroleum Holding Limited, Papua New Guinea

by LUDWIG MASI The resignation of the Elections Advisory Committee now reveals how the PNG National Elections 2017 were adulterated and corrupted. The reasons for the resignation of this committee comprised of eminent persons might be revealed later, but what is of most concern is the timing of their decision. These are learned people with standing in the society and their decision would have been a well-thought one. The decision decimates any doubt that the PNG elections were manipulated to favour the ruling party. The Electoral Commission of Papua New Guinea is an independent constitutional body established by the Constitution. The constitutional law defines its operations and functions. An independent body comprised of the Prime Minister (or his nominee), the Opposition Leader, Parliamentary Appointments Committee Chairman and the Public Service Commission Chairman appoints the Electoral Commissioner. It is a constitutional body that receives its funding allocation by Parliam

by PAUL FLANAGAN Using PNG’s updated GDP numbers, there are new insights into PNG’s economic history. In particular, they show how bad the last four years have been: PNG’s budget deficits over the last four years are the worst in PNG’s history. From 2012 to 2016, deficits have totaled an extraordinary 23.8% of GDP This is nearly three times higher than the next worst five-year period for spiraling deficits (8.7% from 1992 to 1996 with five-year periods based on parliamentary terms). These daunting deficit figures are the driver behind the explosion in public debt from 17.3% of GDP in 2011 to 35.5% in 2016. In the 1992 to 1996 period, debt started at much higher levels (28% of GDP) but still didn’t reach 2016 levels (34.4% in 1996 vs the current 35.5% level using 2016 FBO numbers and IMF figures on 2016 GDP). There are two drivers for these historically high budget deficits. First, the massive increase in expenditure in 2012 was the largest in PNG’s history – a

Electoral Commissioner Patilias Gamato’s responses and comments at his media conference yesterday raise serious questions and concerns about the election and the mismanagement and irregularities that have been revealed, and confirm he is not in control of the operations. Papua New Guinea deserves more than the unsatisfactory and contradictory answers from Mr Gamato and the suspicious silence from Isaac Lupari. “Mr Gamato spent yesterday afternoon smiling away and treating legitimate questions as something to laugh about,” former Prime Minister Sir Mekere said today. “Very important questions were brushed aside as if they didn’t matter.” For example where is the electoral roll? It is extraordinary that it is still not publicly available so voters and candidates can check its accuracy. “What are Mr Gamato and Mr Lupari hiding,” Sir Mekere asked. Mr Gamato’s statement that voting would not be extended in areas where one-day polling was reduced to a handful of hours is totally

by PNG CWU Who says Mahesh Patel will settle down? This Fijian/Indian who claims to be the best Chairman in the South Pacific is still spinning his wheel of fortune in the daily operations of Telikom PNG. His Motive? To grossly devalue Telikom PNG and make it underperform in the face of competition, take this as a genuine case to NEC and recommend for TPNG to be made insolvent. Then, float the company in open market, and who buys it? Mahesh Patel and his cohorts who are closely associated with Peter O’Neil. They will then shift the gateway from PNG to Fiji, and there goes PNG! Lately, here is how he planned to do that: On the 18 th of April, the Telikom Management was under pressure from Mahesh Patel to do a submission for a Board Meeting to be held the very next day to approve a price fixture for Telikom 4G mobile in favour of Bemobile and Digicel. The Management submission contained recommendations for Telikom Board to approve a cut-off price for Telikom 4G Voice and Inte

by PETER BALOS 1. Introduction. My first piece was focused on public funds being covetously diverted to one big bowl. This second piece covers a wide range of alleged fraud now under investigation by relevant public authorities. 2. K8m paid to Tage Pimana Yakin Investment Ltd during the eve of this election. Reliable sources from the Departments of Treasury, Finance and Works had revealed that about K8m was recently paid to Tage Pimana Yakain Investments Ltd 1-63724 (TPYIL). This K8m is one-quarter of the K32m that the Prime Minister Peter O’Neill had allocated for upgrading and sealing of Ambum road from Takawas to Monkam in the Ambum LLG, Kompiam-Ambum Electorate, Enga. The Prime Minister publicly announced this in September 2016 during a public gathering at Monkam. Despite directives issued by the Ombudsman Commission (OC) to the abovementioned Departments not to release public funds meant for public services and infrastructures, this money was paid out under the guise of mo

by PAUL FLANAGAN Summary PNG politicians are failing their people. Their poor policies have led to dramatic declines in economic well-being – an extraordinary fall of over one-third since 1980. This is revealed by applying new numbers from the PNG National Statistics Office (NSO) and International Monetary Fund to PNG’s economic history. From 2012 to 2017, under the O’Neill government, average economic well-being for the people of PNG has declined by 2.8%. This reverses positive economic gains of 8.4% from 2000 to 2012. PNG is returning to the poor economic performance it experienced during the 1980s and especially the 1990s – lost decades for development. This is a shame. From 1980 to 2017, economic well-being in PNG per citizen declined by an extraordinary 40.4 %. This is a development failure. In contrast, the resource sector has grown strongly.  It is now 48.1% larger per capita than in 1980. The resource sector boomed by 62% during the 1990s when the no

by PAUL AMATIO One of the greatest fears I have is whether my country is still MY country? Now why would someone like me, a 100% PNGean born and bred and as brown as can be think that? I wrote this piece using the backdrop of international politics and events as a possible picture of what can be happening in my country. While I am no expert in international politics, I am trained in information collation and analysis and evaluation and I have some experience in being able to put together information for evaluation purposes. I may not be 100% accurate but I believe I am not totally wrong. My sources of information are open and easily accessible to anyone who can read from the news media, web sites, history and current affairs. If one looks at recent history the new economic powers of India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and the ASEAN nations, these nations have followed the path of development taken by Western Countries. They had a moderate economy that was heavily dependent and rel