PNGBLOGS

SAM BASIL MP P arliamentarians who have been mandated to represent their constituents are being intimidated and mistreated by their equally represented members of parliament who are in the executive arm of the legislature whom we know as ministers. While I also speak on behalf of some members of parliament who are still awaiting their developmental grants especially the DSIP funds that we all know was recently dished out to only the members of parliament from the government benches or who supported the government during the recent no-confidence attempt. The finance officers in Waigani have confirmed last week Thursday 09.09.10 that all remaining cheques of K2m especially for the opposition members of parliament was signed and released to the Finance minister’s office and are in his possession. So far all DSIP cheques from this eight parliament were physically handed out by the then Finance Minister Patrick Pruaitch, Acting Finance Minister Hon. Arthur Somare, once by the Prime Minister

SAM BASIL MP P arliamentarians who have been mandated to represent their constituents are being intimidated and mistreated by their equally represented members of parliament who are in the executive arm of the legislature whom we know as ministers. While I also speak on behalf of some members of parliament who are still awaiting their developmental grants especially the DSIP funds that we all know was recently dished out to only the members of parliament from the government benches or who supported the government during the recent no-confidence attempt. The finance officers in Waigani have confirmed last week Thursday 09.09.10 that all remaining cheques of K2m especially for the opposition members of parliament was signed and released to the Finance minister’s office and are in his possession. So far all DSIP cheques from this eight parliament were physically handed out by the then Finance Minister Patrick Pruaitch, Acting Finance Minister Hon. Arthur Somare, once by the Prime Min

Mike Toole Comparisons with South Africa thankfully prove wide of the mark. IT IS indeed rare that a good news story on Papua New Guinea is published in the Australian media, so it was pleasing to read in The Age a report that HIV infection rates may be declining. Media reports on the HIV epidemic in PNG have often used emotive terms such as ''catastrophic'', ''scourge'', ''crisis'', and ''alarming''. In 2007, think tank the Centre for Independent Studies published a report that predicted that ''if present rising infection trends persist, 18 per cent of the population could be affected by 2010 and 25 per cent could be affected by 2020''. Comparisons with South Africa thankfully prove wide of the mark. IT IS indeed rare that a good news story on Papua New Guinea is published in the Australian media, so it was pleasing to read in The Age a report that HIV infection rates may be declining. Media reports on the

Mike Toole Comparisons with South Africa thankfully prove wide of the mark. IT IS indeed rare that a good news story on Papua New Guinea is published in the Australian media, so it was pleasing to read in The Age a report that HIV infection rates may be declining. Media reports on the HIV epidemic in PNG have often used emotive terms such as ''catastrophic'', ''scourge'', ''crisis'', and ''alarming''. In 2007, think tank the Centre for Independent Studies published a report that predicted that ''if present rising infection trends persist, 18 per cent of the population could be affected by 2010 and 25 per cent could be affected by 2020''. Comparisons with South Africa thankfully prove wide of the mark. IT IS indeed rare that a good news story on Papua New Guinea is published in the Australian media, so it was pleasing to read in The Age a report that HIV infection rates may be declining. Media reports on the

Xinhua TIANJIN, Sept. 13 (Xinhua) -- China encourages its enterprises to expand investment in Papua New Guinea, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao said here Monday while meeting with the country's Prime Minister Michael Thomas Somare. "China is willing to enhance cooperation with Papua New Guinea in major sectors of agriculture, forestry, fishery, energy, telecom and transport," Wen told Somare, who came to this north China' s port city Tianjin to attend the Annual Meeting of the New Champions 2010, also known as the Summer Davos. Wen congratulated Somare on his country' s 35th anniversary of independence, believing that Papua New Guinea would make more achievements in its social and economic development. As a friend and partner of Pacific island countries, China will continue to provide assistance within its capacity for this region' s development, Wen noted. Somare said Papua New Guinea valued the friendly ties with China, and firmly adhered to the one-China policy.

Xinhua TIANJIN, Sept. 13 (Xinhua) -- China encourages its enterprises to expand investment in Papua New Guinea, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao said here Monday while meeting with the country's Prime Minister Michael Thomas Somare. "China is willing to enhance cooperation with Papua New Guinea in major sectors of agriculture, forestry, fishery, energy, telecom and transport," Wen told Somare, who came to this north China' s port city Tianjin to attend the Annual Meeting of the New Champions 2010, also known as the Summer Davos. Wen congratulated Somare on his country' s 35th anniversary of independence, believing that Papua New Guinea would make more achievements in its social and economic development. As a friend and partner of Pacific island countries, China will continue to provide assistance within its capacity for this region' s development, Wen noted. Somare said Papua New Guinea valued the friendly ties with China, and firmly adhered to the one-China policy.

Hi Folks, Terry here saying hi to all you guys following or reading this Blog, we now have a permanent forum site for this Blog and it is at www.pngforum.org Feel free to register and post your thoughts on issues affecting you or the country, Unlike other forums we intend to keep this forum open but personal attacks/slang will be censored, Thanks and spread the word. PNGFORUM.ORG (Linked on the right ) T.D.BUNPAI 

Hi Folks, Terry here saying hi to all you guys following or reading this Blog, we now have a permanent forum site for this Blog and it is at www.pngforum.org Feel free to register and post your thoughts on issues affecting you or the country, Unlike other forums we intend to keep this forum open but personal attacks/slang will be censored, Thanks and spread the word. PNGFORUM.ORG (Linked on the right ) T.D.BUNPAI 

OP/ED THE PNG gas agreement was signed between the state and ExxonMobil in May 2008. At that point, it was almost certain that a liquefied natural gas (LNG) project would become a reality, at least in so far as the government was concerned. Along the way, several other agreements were negotiated and signed, including the two benefits sharing agreements, finalisation of markets, the environmental impact study, front end engineering and design, execution planning, project financing, gas marketing and all the regulatory and permitting work including community and landowner consultation and financial closure. Despite all that, two years on and PNG is still struggling to get sub-contractors organised for the project and is critically short on manpower. Already, there is talk about recruiting welders from neighbouring Fiji and even heavy equipment operators from overseas. This would indicate to us that the government was so concerned with getting the project off the ground that it neglected