PNGBLOGS

by GOVERNOR PHILIP UNDIALU   Some commentators think that this problem can be solved by me moving to the opposition. But my problem is, opposition is made up of people who signed this particular deal in 2008 & 2009. Through this government, am pushing hard to secure the 4.27% fr ee carry. It was initially agreed for a price of K3b. No responsible government will ever charge landowners K3b for the very resources they owned. Kokopo UBSA and respective LBBSAs were signed without complying to Section 47 of OGAS or the requirement of full scale social mapping and landowner identification studies. This blunder has prevented us from releasing the royalty and equity funds. So far, Clan Vetting process completed from Portion 152/Plant Site, Pipeline, Angore to be completed this month, Juha in progress, and this year they'll complete Hides PDL1 & PDL7. Meanwhile, more than K600m in royalty and equity funds held on trust by MRDC & BPNG. I'm also pushing fo

By Frederic Mousseau OAKLAND, Apr 20 2016 (IPS) - James Sze Yuan Lau and Ivan Su Chiu Lu must be extremely busy men. Together, they are listed as directors of some 30 companies involved in various activities and services related to logging or agribusiness in Papua New Guinea (PNG). The former is the managing director of Rimbunan Hijau (RH) PNG and son-in-law of RH’s founder Tiong Hiew King; the latter is executive director of RH PNG Ltd.. All but two of these 30 companies have the same registered address at 479 Kennedy Road, in the national capital, Port Moresby–the headquarter of the RH group in the country. Their ability to magically fit into a relatively small office space on Kennedy Road is not the only puzzling fact about the subsidiaries of the Malaysian group, Rimbunan Hijau. Out of the 30 above mentioned companies, 16 subsidiaries that are directly involved in logging or agribusiness have one other thing in common. According to their financial records , th

by BRYAN KRAMER Post Courier reported that two members of National Alliance Party, Member of Maprik John Simon and Member of Usino Bundi Jimmy Uguro tendered their resignation to join the O'Neill Government. (In case anyone is wondering no I did not buy the papers - it was reported online). An issue I have been tracking for sometime. What was not reported was that both flew to China with O'Neill Government delegation as members of Opposition. One can only assume it was all in the guise to induce them to join the Government ranks. So does this mean Opposition is in a weaker position to change the O'Neill Government? The short answer is No. While many are of the view that a change in Government would mean Members in Government would cross over to elect an alternative Prime Minister from the Opposition this scenario is far from reality. Any change in O'Neill Government would come from split in the Government coalition where they would rely on numbers (23)

by ALAN BIRD When a puppet like Mr. Gamato criticizes the deliberations of a legitimate government like the ESPG; it would normally be quite hilarious given his own infamous achievements. However, his baseless comments in the National Newspaper cannot go unchallenged. Thankfully ESP Assembly is not answerable to someone of Mr. Gamato’s caliber. Sharing the accolades for a burnt Air Niugini plane in Mendi as one's greatest achievements is certainly not an enviable record. Many of us remained silent while Southern Highlands leaders and people were grappling to contain the spill-over results of Gamato’s failed election. The content of my post, if he cared to read it is as follows, point 4: “The Assembly also resolved to seek clarity on the LLG elections. LLG elections are critical to the operation of the Provincial Government, if LLG elections are conducted contrary to law, we run the risk of failed elections which would seriously hamper the operation of the provincial gove

by MICHAEL PASSINGAN Minister Duma is scheming again to buy more assets own by MVIL after the much publicised Manumanu land purchase issue has been subsided. Pac Re Limited is a Re- Insurance company based in Port Moresby. Motor Vehicle Insurance Limited is a major shareholder owning 53 percent of the shares. The balance of the shares is shared between Tower Insurance and QBE Insurance. MVIL also owns the land and the houses at Koki in Port Moresby next to the Koki Primary School. The value of the property is estimated to be around K14 million. The Minister is now working around the clock to buy MVIL shares in Pac Re Limited and the Koki properties deceptively through the normal company asset disposal plan. However, it is not easy to get the asset disposal factored into the MVIL annual plan at the management level and obtain final approval at the Board level with the current Chairman ofMVIL Dr. Ken Ngangan and the Management. The Minister has to remove the head of the Managem

by ROBERT MARAPE A warning to Peter O'Neill and Augustine Mano, your time is up, your dirty tricks to use Gobe PDL 3 and 4 monies belonging to the rightful landowners of Gobe, accumulating to over K100 Million over the past 20 years is now being exposed.  Your time to shine will come when the books are opened to find that Augustine Mano is not only benefitting but is also illegally financing the survival of this Government through dubious means.  The only petroleum project area that actually has cash money (supposedly) sitting in MRDC for Land Owners is Gobe project (PDL 3&4).  In the past 20 years all these sums of money were not paid to them for the various judicial process reasons, however, instead of keeping the money in trust for the Land Owners the Land Owners monies have slowly and systematically been stolen by this O'Neill government and also stolen by Augustine Mano personally. 1. O'Neill may have used a lot of the Gobe funds to deflect the p

by ALBERT AGUA The matter that forced Indonesia to drive towards the border is the recent discovery of huge mineral deposits in the Star Mountain regency just at the back of Tabubil Ok Tedi mine. "Reportedly, there is gold, copper, coal, and thorium, a safer radioactive chemical than uranium. "Geological Survey shows its potential is good and promising," said President Director of PT Antam Tato Miraza who was then Director of Development (http://pusaka.or.id/2014/07/silau-emas-pegunungan-bintang-papua/). The core of the deposit is however found in the disputed area of the border between PNG and Indonesia. Recently, Indonesian troops patrolled to Korkit and surveyed the land just around 40 kilometres from the Oktedi less than 10 kilometres from the border marker in the Korkit village to build another military base. The citizens from Korkit village who are PNG citizens are moving into the new Indonesian village. This is just 20 kilometres from the mineral deposit a

by MATTHEW P. TAMUTAI   The burning down of the Link PNG Dash 8 Aircraft and properties in Mendi, Southern Highlands Province (“SHP”) on 14 th June 2018 as a result of a National Court Decision, dismissing Mr. Joe Kobol’s Election Petition, disputing the declaration of the incumbent Governor for Southern Highlands Province has drawn many comments from the public. The Opposition and Government have both made their intelligent remarks which are mere rhetoric and lacking pragmatism promoting their parochial interest but falling short of achieving a real solution for the people of Southern Highlands. Thus, I say the call for the Prime Minster to step down and the flamboyant meeting of the Prime Minister with Southern Highlands Province Leaders are entirely off the mark. Both sides must realize that there is distinction between pragmatism and rhetoric. My experience in dealing with the Southern Highlands Province issues over many years in various capacities and th