PNGBLOGS

THE FINANCIAL Papua New Guinea (PNG) and the Asian Development Bank on February 25 signed a loan worth $57.3 million to reduce power shortages in urban areas. The Secretary for the Department of Treasury, Simon Tosali, Chief Executive Officer of PNG Power Limited Tony Koiri, and Officer-in-Charge of the Asian Development Bank 's (ADB) Papua New Guinea Resident Mission Allan Lee signed the loan. The signing ceremony was held at PNG Power's headquarters in Port Moresby. Julianna Kubak, Acting Deputy Secretary-Policy, Department of National Planning and Monitoring, was Master of Ceremonies for the event. ADB's loan to the state power utility, PNG Power Ltd, will fund renewable energy facilities, including run-of-the-river hydropower plant and transmission systems in urban centers in PNG. Only about 10% of PNG's population of 6.5 million has access to grid power, which is largely confined to urban areas. Some provinces suffer regular outages, adversely affecting businesses

THE FINANCIAL Papua New Guinea (PNG) and the Asian Development Bank on February 25 signed a loan worth $57.3 million to reduce power shortages in urban areas. The Secretary for the Department of Treasury, Simon Tosali, Chief Executive Officer of PNG Power Limited Tony Koiri, and Officer-in-Charge of the Asian Development Bank 's (ADB) Papua New Guinea Resident Mission Allan Lee signed the loan. The signing ceremony was held at PNG Power's headquarters in Port Moresby. Julianna Kubak, Acting Deputy Secretary-Policy, Department of National Planning and Monitoring, was Master of Ceremonies for the event. ADB's loan to the state power utility, PNG Power Ltd, will fund renewable energy facilities, including run-of-the-river hydropower plant and transmission systems in urban centers in PNG. Only about 10% of PNG's population of 6.5 million has access to grid power, which is largely confined to urban areas. Some provinces suffer regular outages, adversely affecting busin

BLUE SERVANT I read with dismay the numerous and disproportionate complaints in the print media about police inaction and inability to perform fully its constitutional obligations. I concur that performance and effectiveness of our police service have dropped over the years and will continue to spiral downwards if immediate intervention and action is not taken. Insufficient resources seem to be cause of non performance but I disagree with this reasoning. Hefty funding alone cannot solve the woes facing the organization. Security has not been guaranteed in this country despite the hundreds of millions of kina spent on the police service over the years. The RPNGC can solve its own problems without external intervention and additional funding. The police force has been on a path of self-destruction over the years but officers and men within are oblivious to the cancers eroding the fabrics of the organization. They are tight-lipped because they either fear the inevitable conseq

BLUE SERVANT I read with dismay the numerous and disproportionate complaints in the print media about police inaction and inability to perform fully its constitutional obligations. I concur that performance and effectiveness of our police service have dropped over the years and will continue to spiral downwards if immediate intervention and action is not taken. Insufficient resources seem to be cause of non performance but I disagree with this reasoning. Hefty funding alone cannot solve the woes facing the organization. Security has not been guaranteed in this country despite the hundreds of millions of kina spent on the police service over the years. The RPNGC can solve its own problems without external intervention and additional funding. The police force has been on a path of self-destruction over the years but officers and men within are oblivious to the cancers eroding the fabrics of the organization. They are tight-lipped because they either fear the inevitable c

OP/ED A young cocoa grower in Morobe stopped the Chief Secretary, Manasupe Zurenuoc, not too long ago at the Lae Hotel International for a five-minute door-stop lecture. The farmer, whose name we do not know, wanted to know why the government was paying MoA, UBSA, LBBSA, BDG and a host of other “free” money when the first gas has yet to be sold. He wanted to know if those like himself in the agriculture sector, which has sustained the economic lifeline of this country for longer than this country has been independent, could have access to similar free money. He said people in the agricultural sector work hard from sun up to sun down for every morsel of grain or kilogram that is produced which takes many months before anything is paid to them. And, then, it is kina for kilogram and nothing more. We remember this young man’s enquiry with some feeling as we see the mad charade that surrounds the liquefied natural gas like some bad smell that will not go away. The latest was the mob action

OP/ED A young cocoa grower in Morobe stopped the Chief Secretary, Manasupe Zurenuoc, not too long ago at the Lae Hotel International for a five-minute door-stop lecture. The farmer, whose name we do not know, wanted to know why the government was paying MoA, UBSA, LBBSA, BDG and a host of other “free” money when the first gas has yet to be sold. He wanted to know if those like himself in the agriculture sector, which has sustained the economic lifeline of this country for longer than this country has been independent, could have access to similar free money. He said people in the agricultural sector work hard from sun up to sun down for every morsel of grain or kilogram that is produced which takes many months before anything is paid to them. And, then, it is kina for kilogram and nothing more. We remember this young man’s enquiry with some feeling as we see the mad charade that surrounds the liquefied natural gas like some bad smell that will not go away. The latest was the mob act

TAXPAYER As a concerned citizen, I would like to have my say on the performance of our police force. The Royal Papua New Guinea Constabulary is ineffective and this is a national disgrace. Many police personnel are incompetent in their performance and the effect of their non-performance makes the government lose millions of kina in trying to maintain law and order issues in PNG. Our people do not have any trust in our police personnel who are on and off duty. From the late 1970s to the early 1990s, our police force was more effective than what we have today. In most cases today police are ignorant in their response and performance towards the public who they are duty-bound to serve. Police response to public cry for help is: There is not enough vehicle to attend to your complaint, or no fuel or the vehicle is attending to other complaints. This is the same old sick RPNGC we have. Port Moresby is our capital city but driving around, I see many road users, especially PMVs and taxi driver

TAXPAYER As a concerned citizen, I would like to have my say on the performance of our police force. The Royal Papua New Guinea Constabulary is ineffective and this is a national disgrace. Many police personnel are incompetent in their performance and the effect of their non-performance makes the government lose millions of kina in trying to maintain law and order issues in PNG. Our people do not have any trust in our police personnel who are on and off duty. From the late 1970s to the early 1990s, our police force was more effective than what we have today. In most cases today police are ignorant in their response and performance towards the public who they are duty-bound to serve. Police response to public cry for help is: There is not enough vehicle to attend to your complaint, or no fuel or the vehicle is attending to other complaints. This is the same old sick RPNGC we have. Port Moresby is our capital city but driving around, I see many road users, especially PMVs and taxi

RADIO ABC A constitutional lawyer in Papua New Guinea says Prime Minister Sir Michael Somare should have automatically stepped down or be suspended, after a tribunal was set up to look into alleged misconduct in office. Doctor John Nonggorr says it's the first time in PNG's short political history a prime minister will face a leadership tribunal. The tribunal is made up of judges from the Supreme and Appeals Courts of New Zealand, Australia and the United Kingdom. Sir Michael is alleged to have failed, or lodged incomplete annual returns to PNG's Ombudsman Commission between 1994 and 1997. The Tribunal will start the inquiry on March 10. Prime Minister Sir Michael Somare says he will comply with the laws but will remain in office and allow the tribunal to rule whether he could be suspended or not. Constitutional lawyer Doctor John Nonggorr says Sir Michael should be made to step aside until the inquiry is complete. "Clearly the leader ship tribunal says that the laws t