PNGBLOGS

FIS If the fishing authorities of Papua New Guinea achieve their objective of transforming the island nation into the new global tuna leader in 2013, the 67 canneries in Galicia and their 12,000 employees could be greatly affected. PNG tuna industry expects to produce about 1,330 tonnes of tuna per day over the next two years. Today, this country can sell tuna and its subproducts in the European Union (EU) without tariffs and without meeting certain origin rules, the newspaper La Voz de Galicia reported. Galicia produces 80 per cent of canned tuna from Spain and nearly 70 per cent from the European market. According to the director of the National Fisheries Management Authority of Papua , Sylvester Pokajam, several international companies are building four macroplants in the country. The idea is that together, these plants reach a daily production of 1,330 tonnes of tuna, with 257 working days per year and nearly 20,000 jobs. The manager said that the three tuna processing

FIS If the fishing authorities of Papua New Guinea achieve their objective of transforming the island nation into the new global tuna leader in 2013, the 67 canneries in Galicia and their 12,000 employees could be greatly affected. PNG tuna industry expects to produce about 1,330 tonnes of tuna per day over the next two years. Today, this country can sell tuna and its subproducts in the European Union (EU) without tariffs and without meeting certain origin rules, the newspaper La Voz de Galicia reported. Galicia produces 80 per cent of canned tuna from Spain and nearly 70 per cent from the European market. According to the director of the National Fisheries Management Authority of Papua , Sylvester Pokajam, several international companies are building four macroplants in the country. The idea is that together, these plants reach a daily production of 1,330 tonnes of tuna, with 257 working days per year and nearly 20,000 jobs. The manager said that the three tuna proces

PETER KORUGL When Papua New Guineans were told that the Prime Minister Sir Michael Somare went to Singapore for his routine medical check up, no one was alarmed. Sir Michael had done that many times before and had always come back home. No one had expected any worse. Before Sir Michael left Papua New Guinea, he did something that he had never done before for his medical appointments. That is to appoint his Deputy Prime Minister Sam Abal to act in his place while he was away. That decision should have sent the signal that Sir Michael was expecting some bad news. It is apparent that everyone in the Government, his personal staff and his family, did not anticipate that the visit to his doctor would end up the way it did and that Sir Michael would be hospitalised for weeks in the Intensive Care Unit. A few weeks later, at a function to welcome one of Air Niugini’s latest acquisitions, Acting Prime Minister Sam Abal dropped the bombshell. He told a stunned audience that Sir Michael was goin

PETER KORUGL When Papua New Guineans were told that the Prime Minister Sir Michael Somare went to Singapore for his routine medical check up, no one was alarmed. Sir Michael had done that many times before and had always come back home. No one had expected any worse. Before Sir Michael left Papua New Guinea, he did something that he had never done before for his medical appointments. That is to appoint his Deputy Prime Minister Sam Abal to act in his place while he was away. That decision should have sent the signal that Sir Michael was expecting some bad news. It is apparent that everyone in the Government, his personal staff and his family, did not anticipate that the visit to his doctor would end up the way it did and that Sir Michael would be hospitalised for weeks in the Intensive Care Unit. A few weeks later, at a function to welcome one of Air Niugini’s latest acquisitions, Acting Prime Minister Sam Abal dropped the bombshell. He told a stunned audience that Sir Michael was g

PNGEXPOSED What was it that caused the acrimonious and rather public falling out between National Planning Secretary, Joseph Lelang, and his political masters? Lelang has admitted paying out millions on behalf of his political masters,  As Lelang has himself admitted [1], he has been involved in unlawfully dishing out hundreds of millions of kina from the national development budget on the orders of a small cabal of ministers at the very heart of government, including Arthur Somare, Patrick Pruaitch, Paul Tiensten, Peter O’Neill and, it is alleged, the Prime Minister himself, Michael Somare.   In February this year, Lelang was suspended from office, according to the Post Courier [2], for releasing K112 million for various projects under political directions from O’Neill, Tiensten and Pruaitch. But surely this cannot have been the real reason for his suspension? After all, Lelang, as he graphically illustrated himself in a memo to his Minister, Tiensten, dated December 6, 2010, [1

PNGEXPOSED What was it that caused the acrimonious and rather public falling out between National Planning Secretary, Joseph Lelang, and his political masters? Lelang has admitted paying out millions on behalf of his political masters,  As Lelang has himself admitted [1], he has been involved in unlawfully dishing out hundreds of millions of kina from the national development budget on the orders of a small cabal of ministers at the very heart of government, including Arthur Somare, Patrick Pruaitch, Paul Tiensten, Peter O’Neill and, it is alleged, the Prime Minister himself, Michael Somare.   In February this year, Lelang was suspended from office, according to the Post Courier [2], for releasing K112 million for various projects under political directions from O’Neill, Tiensten and Pruaitch. But surely this cannot have been the real reason for his suspension? After all, Lelang, as he graphically illustrated himself in a memo to his Minister, Tiensten, dated December 6, 201

OSEAH PHILEMON The city of Lae with a population of over 200,000 people is Papua New Guinea’s second city and its industrial hub. It is the centre of the manufacturing industry that keeps the Papua New Guinea economy rolling and moving the nation forward. Its central location makes it ideal for business and commerce as it connects with the Highlands, Islands and Momase regions of PNG. Unlike the capital city of Port Moresby which has no road connection anywhere, Lae is connected by road to the Highlands and Madang, making transportation vital to the economy. The Ramu Agribusiness which produces PNG’s sugar and premier beef is connected by road to Lae and is serviced from Lae even though it is physically located in the Madang Province. It is also home to the busiest sea port in the country that serves the entire Highlands, the Momase and Islands regions. From Lae, goods manufactured in the city are transported into the Highlands region through the Highlands Highway for a region that is

OSEAH PHILEMON The city of Lae with a population of over 200,000 people is Papua New Guinea’s second city and its industrial hub. It is the centre of the manufacturing industry that keeps the Papua New Guinea economy rolling and moving the nation forward. Its central location makes it ideal for business and commerce as it connects with the Highlands, Islands and Momase regions of PNG. Unlike the capital city of Port Moresby which has no road connection anywhere, Lae is connected by road to the Highlands and Madang, making transportation vital to the economy. The Ramu Agribusiness which produces PNG’s sugar and premier beef is connected by road to Lae and is serviced from Lae even though it is physically located in the Madang Province. It is also home to the busiest sea port in the country that serves the entire Highlands, the Momase and Islands regions. From Lae, goods manufactured in the city are transported into the Highlands region through the Highlands Highway for a region tha

ONECOUNTRY The problems of LNG Landowners are long time in the making, not just of this LNG Project. The attitude of government in not conducting social mapping and sitting down with its own citizens and determining land boundaries, trupela landowners, exact nature of and bundle of rights applying to various groups in respect of project areas and pipeline corridor, is not new. In the past it has been just shoving matters down the throats of people. The Kutubu and the Gobe Projects are clear examples. In respect of the Gobe project, the government instead of resorting to social mapping prior to granting Development license, it bulldozed it and forced the people to camp in Port Moresby fighting over who owns what. They never had a chance to negotiate their equity or royalty rights. It then locked up their meager royalties and forced the people to enter into serious debt living in the corridors of court houses trying to determine who owns what- something the government should have done as

ONECOUNTRY The problems of LNG Landowners are long time in the making, not just of this LNG Project. The attitude of government in not conducting social mapping and sitting down with its own citizens and determining land boundaries, trupela landowners, exact nature of and bundle of rights applying to various groups in respect of project areas and pipeline corridor, is not new. In the past it has been just shoving matters down the throats of people. The Kutubu and the Gobe Projects are clear examples. In respect of the Gobe project, the government instead of resorting to social mapping prior to granting Development license, it bulldozed it and forced the people to camp in Port Moresby fighting over who owns what. They never had a chance to negotiate their equity or royalty rights. It then locked up their meager royalties and forced the people to enter into serious debt living in the corridors of court houses trying to determine who owns what- something the government shoul

MATT MORRIS Papua New Guinea is on the brink of it’s biggest resources boom. Will it be a curse or a blessing? A new generation of mining projects and a massive LNG project are expected to double the size of the economy over the next decade. Yet there is skepticism about whether benefits will be shared widely among the nation’s seven million people. This is the third resource boom in as many decades, and despite the promises of the past, incomes today are barely higher than they were at independence in 1975 and PNG is unlikely to meet any of the MDGs. Some argue that PNG has a classic case of the resource curse: Dutch Disease, weak accountability and corruption, which all conspire to undermine economic, social and political development. A key question is how to break with this past experience and chart a new development path? The economic debate on managing PNG’s next resource boom has focused on three areas: The design of a savings mechanism, such as a sovereign

MATT MORRIS Papua New Guinea is on the brink of it’s biggest resources boom. Will it be a curse or a blessing? A new generation of mining projects and a massive LNG project are expected to double the size of the economy over the next decade. Yet there is skepticism about whether benefits will be shared widely among the nation’s seven million people. This is the third resource boom in as many decades, and despite the promises of the past, incomes today are barely higher than they were at independence in 1975 and PNG is unlikely to meet any of the MDGs. Some argue that PNG has a classic case of the resource curse: Dutch Disease, weak accountability and corruption, which all conspire to undermine economic, social and political development. A key question is how to break with this past experience and chart a new development path? The economic debate on managing PNG’s next resource boom has focused on three areas: The design of a savings mechanism, such as a soverei