Parkop wants equal male, female seats
By NELSON K PHILIP
GENDER equality will be the basis used for the formation of the National Capital District Commission council members, National Capital District (NCD) governor Powes Parkop said.
He said the NCDC council will comprise equal number of males and females.
He said the council members will not be elected but he will appoint them based on merit and gender equality.
“I will appoint equal number of males and females to the council, promoting gender equality and empowering people to participate actively in the improvement of the city,” Mr Parkop said during the launching of the Commonwealth local government forum (CLGF) Port Moresby office.
He said women have never been equal partners in the running of the city council and it is about time they are given the chance to participate at the decision level.
He supports a government which empowers people and promotes gender equality.
He said: “We can achieve a lot of things through bottom-up planning.”
Mr Parkop’s stand was commended by a woman delegate from a Pacific nation, who was part of the CLGF delegation.
“There’s potential in Papua New Guinea women.
“Some of them are excelling in their positions out there,” she said.
Meanwhile, nominations for the local level government (LLG) elections closed on April 24 and the election manager for the Central province, Iyapino Mango, said there is an increase in the number of women candidates.
This, he said, signifies that women are breaking free from many obstacles and coming out of their confines to participate in areas where men are dominating.

Technical schools get scholarship funds
A SUM of K354,302 was given to 12 vocational and technical institutions as school fees for students under the National Capital District Commission technical and education scholarship scheme.
With the presentation, a total of 345 students in NCD can now go to school.
“It is open to youths from the NCD and Motu- Koita areas whose parents’ annual income is K10,000 and below,” Mr Parkop said.
He said recipients must score 60% and above and display a perfect discipline record in order to retain the scholarship.
Schools that were selected for the scholarship were based on an applicant’s preferences and assessment carried out by his office and the NCD education divison.
The institutions that received payments included Don Bosco Boys Technical High school (K44,868.75), Morata Vocational (K106,312.50), Port Moresby Business College (K11,437.50), Works Institute of Technology (K41,100), Port Moresby Technical College (K55,185), Badili Vocational (K9,562), Caritas Girls Technical College (K10,304.50), Don Bosco Technical Institute (K19,556), Maino Heduru Vocational (K6,188.80), PNG Institute of Public Administration (K15,487), Automotive Technical Centre (K3,700) and Koki Vocational (K30,600).
The respective institutions were happy for the governor’s support and pledged to work with him.

Balimo set for major uplift
By ZARA KANU
THE Balimo township in the Middle Fly district of the Western province is undergoing major developments to uplift its image and administrative affairs.
These developments will see an opportunity for the local people to receive vital services and more employment opportunities .
Niugini Builders has been contracted to construct a two-storey building which will house a treasury office, post office and a Bank South Pacific commercial centre.
The contractors will further build a two-level district office, 53 residential duplexes to house public servants, a court house and maintain the Balimo Secondary School.
District administrator Moses Ase said the contractors have already laid the foundation to start constructing the buildings, “and we intend to have them completed by the end of 2009”.
“We have the funds available to pay the contractors but quick completion will depend upon the availability of transport and logistics,” he said.
The district has been given over K90 million to start the projects and these funds have come entirely through the 10% equity funds given out by the Ok Tedi Mining Ltd.
The funds allocated will cover all the five local level governments in the Middle Fly district.

Alliance Francaise holds art exhibition
The Alliance Francaise de Port Moresby opened its art exhibition at the University of Papua New Guinea last Wednesday evening.
The exhibition was launched at the Melanesian Institute of Arts and Communication.
Director of the institute Daniel Waswas said the show was based on the theme “French Old Masters” in which PNG artistes can use their own images to make similar paintings of the French old masters.
Mr Waswas said this is to know how people in the 18th and 19th centuries in France painted.
He said the Alliance Francaise had opted to commission PNG artistes to look and interpret or compare the way Papua New Guineans do things.
The exhibition is being organised by the institute and the Alliance Francaise and will run for a month.

UPNG gets new vehicles
The University of Papua New Guinea security personnel now have two new vehicles to help in guarding the campus.
The two double cabs were purchased at a cost of K400,000 .
Uniforce operations commander Michael Kupo said the vehicles would help them achieve full control of the campus surroundings.

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