K4 million boost for Kerowagi schools
By JAMES APA GUMUNO
SCHOOLS in the Kerowagi district, Simbu province, received a K4 million boost from acting Prime Minister Patrick Pruaitch last Friday.
The presentation of the money at Kerowagi station was witnessed by thousands of people, Government ministers and local MPs from the province who had gathered for the official launching of nine staff houses and an office constructed by the Department of Treasury under its district roll-out programme.
Mr Pruaitch, who is also the Minister for Finance and Treasury, said the money would be controlled by the district administration and shared equally among schools in the district.
He said K50,000 each would be given to 35 community and primary schools in Kerowagi.
High schools will receive K100,000 each while Kerowagi and Kondiu Rosary secondary schools will receive K200,000 each.
Don Bosco Technical Institute will get K200,000 while K100,000 will go to Mingende Technical School.
Mr Pruaitch said the leftover would be distributed equally among elementary schools in the district.
He said Simbu had missed out on the recent supplementary budget but would be compensated properly in the national budget next year.
Kerowagi MP Guma Wau said his district was the leader in providing quality education in Simbu and the funds would help schools to improve and develop their infrastructure and provide quality education for their children.

‘Simbu to get more in 2009 budget’
By ZACHERY PER
SIMBU province will get an increased allocation in next year’s national budget to compensate for missing out on the supplementary budget, acting Prime Minister Patrick Pruaitch said last Friday.
Mr Pruaitch, who is also the Minister for Finance and Treasury, made the commitment during a ground-breaking ceremony for a modern treasury building to be constructed.
Mr Pruaitch said the Government was committed to giving more money to rural districts, and has given K10 million to each MP to help develop district infrastructure.
He said the Highlands regional finance office would be established in Kundiawa, which would be a modern building that would also house the National Broadcasting Corporation’s (NBC) Radio Simbu.
Mr Pruaitch also committed K10 million for Kundiawa town roads to be sealed.
Kundiawa Gembogl MP Joe Mek Teine, who welcomed Mr Pruaitch and his delegation to Simbu, called on the Government to consider Simbu because it was the centre of the Highlands region.
He said Simbu had the potential to have road links to Gulf though Karamui and Madang through Gembogl.
Simbu Governor Fr John Garia called on the Government to fulfil a K50 million commitment made by Prime Minister Sir Michael Somare for the Karamui and Kundiawa road.

Strong winds, rain hit Kunabau
By JAMES APA GUMUNO
STRONG winds, accompanied by rain, caused damage to an elementary school, food gardens, coffee trees and houses in the Kunabau area of Kerowagi district, Simbu province, last Friday afternoon.
The Kenigle elementary school, located near Mingende rural hospital, had the iron roofing on one of its classrooms blown away.
The strong winds and rain destroyed food crops, vegetables, kaukau, peanuts, banana trees, corn and many other garden crops, affecting about 200 people.
John Arak, a teacher from Kenigle elementary school, said that rain, accompanied by strong winds, lasted for an hour.
He said the iron roofing, blown away by the winds, was nailed down with roofing nails but the winds were too strong.
Mr Arak said the rain also affected the classroom and destroyed books, wall posters and other learning materials.
He said food crops like banana trees and sugarcane, planted by teachers at the back of the classroom, had fallen over.
Apa Pius, a small coffee farmer, said two large trees inside his coffee garden at Keregandua had been uprooted, destroying some 100 coffee trees.
Mr Pius said he had spent a lot of time cleaning the garden after his coffee trees started bearing flowers, adding he was close to tears when he saw his coffee trees lying on the ground.
Ba Taia, a mother, said two of her children, who went to fetch water from a nearby creek, were nearly washed away.
Mrs Taia said the rain did not stop and the creek was flooded, making it difficult for them to return home.
She said they climbed a coffee tree and stayed there until she went and rescued them.
Mrs Taia said the flood waters washed away the containers her sons took with them to fetch water.

Work to start on SI complex
By CLIFFORD FAIPARIK
CONSTRUCTION of the new K7.4 million Solomon Islands High Commission office complex in Port Moresby, funded by the Papua New Guinea Government, will start soon.
The building is expected to take 12 months to be completed and will be built on prime land at Waigani.
Work was set to start after documents were signed last Friday by the SI foreign affairs secretary Barnabas Anga and the China Railway Construction company’s chief economist Ren Er Jun.
Mr Anga said during the signing ceremony at the current SI High Commission office that it was the first time SI would have its own permanent building overseas.
“Furthermore, this ceremony adds another milestone to the warm relationship we have with PNG as our closest Melanesian neighbour,” he added.
Mr Anga said the project was in line with their foreign policy on the coalition for national unity and rural advancement in that it would reduce some of their fixed costs, hence providing opportunities for their overseas missions to be cost effective in delivery of their responsibilities.
He also assured the PNG Government that they were committed to assist it to build its new High Commission chancery in the Solomon Islands.
A prime site in Honiara has already been allocated for this purpose.
Meanwhile, the China Railway construction company’s chief economist, Ren Er Jun, said the majority of the workers on the new chancery project would be locals.

Tanker spills diesel into Enga creek
A FUEL tanker carrying about 200,000 litres of diesel to the Porgera gold mine in Enga province ran off the road at Kombuglomogo village in Kerowagi district last Thursday afternoon, spilling diesel into a nearby creek.
Villager Charlie Kaiglo, who lived some 30m away from the road where the accident happened, told The National that the leaking fuel entered the large Wagirnigle creek, which was about 200m away and polluted the water.
Mr Kaiglo said many of his Sambugla tribesmen living downstream, who depended on the creek for drinking and cooking, were badly affected.
He said locals took advantage by filling up containers with diesel that the 22-wheel tanker, owned by Tresia Trucking Co, had stopped on the road in his village.
He said the driver was feeling sleepy and had asked his co-driver to continue the journey while he slept.
Mr Kaiglo said the driver the stopped the vehicle and went to the back of the cabin to sleep, while his co-driver got out of the cabin to take the wheel.
He said when the co-driver got out, the weight of the fuel in the tank caused the tanker to move forward.
He said the front wheel of the tanker went into the side drainage and caused it to tilt sideways, with the fuel spilling out with great force.
He said he quickly opened the driver’s door and helped the driver out of the vehicle, fearing that the tanker might explode.
Mr Kaiglo said the leaking fuel entered the large Wagirnigle creek, which was about 200-mteres away from the accident site, and polluted the water.
He said many of his Sambugla tribesmen living downstream who depended on Wagirnigle for drinking and cooking, were badly affected.
He said locals took advantage of the situation by filling up their water containers and even their cooking pots with diesel.
Mr Kaiglo said people from other neighbouring tribes like Waugla, Gena, Naur and Naruku also came with their containers and got their share of the diesel to sell to vehicle owners.
He said many vehicle owners who heard about the accident also came to his village to collect fuel.
He said a 20-litre container of diesel was going for K40 at the site while a 10-litre container sold for K20.
He said the locals made a lot of money but they spent it on beer, adding that many of his tribesmen got drunk for two consecutive days from the money they made from selling the diesel.
Kundiawa police said last Friday that it was hard to control the crowd because many of the police were engaged in providing security to acting Prime Minister Patrick Pruaitch and other visiting MPs who were in Kundiawa for the launch of the Highlands regional treasury office.

PNG Power launches website
PNG Power Ltd launched its website last Friday with the aim of providing more information and better services to its customers.
Acting chief executive officer Tony Koiri said the website was active for the last few weeks and it was now available to the outside world.
He said the website was available 24 hours a day and seven days a week for the convenience of customers, who would from now on, have no problems with information about PNG Power.
Mr Koiri said the website was home grown, developed by its IT section and the features include all the information from the various sections of the entity, which would be continuously upgraded and improved as new ideas and activities were experienced by the company.
He said the launch of the website was a milestone for PNG Power and that its customers and the outside world would have ready access to the company’s services.
Meanwhile, acting PNG Power board chairman, Sari Maso, said the website’s design and content was customer focused and was intended at keeping customers up-to-date with the latest news about PNG Power’s activities.
He said the website gave customers detailed information and photographs of the company’s facilities and provides users with news on current and future electricity projects, including the rural electrification projects.
Mr Maso said that one of the features of the website was the link to ‘Esi Shop’, where customers were able to purchase their ‘Easy Pay’ units online for their convenience.
Other links in the website include company information, notices for power interruptions, safety information, network projects, tenders and job advertisements.
According to Mr Maso, PNG Power was experiencing a growth in its services and the website was the logical next step in meeting their needs both now and in the future.
PNG Power’s website is at http://www.pngpower.com.pg.

Role of women neglected, says Kidu
THERE must be gender equality in leadership roles to foster good and balanced economic development.
This will allow the entire population to contribute meaningfully to the nation’s prosperity.
Minister for Community Development Dame Carol Kidu said this during the PNG Human Resource Institute’s annual conference at the Crowne Plaza in Port Moresby last week.
Dame Carol said the role of women was neglected although they were an important part in it.
She stressed the need to find ways to remove barriers that made it difficult for women to participate in development.
Dame Carol said in PNG there were only five women in leading organisations with influential roles.
She said it was important to bring more women to the Government.
Justice Cathy Davani and Department of Personnel Management Secretary Margaret Elias are two of them while others are holding senior positions in the Internal Revenue Commission and the National Executive Council.
“Significant changes are slowly taking place but there must be more collective effort from all sectors and levels of society,” she said.
Dame Carol said there was a lot of opposition but the mood was changing.
She said it was extremely important to bring women to the Government.

Pagelio lauds Simbu teachers
By WALLACE KIALA
SIMBU province has been commended by the Education Department for being the first in the country to produce its own curriculum resource materials to meet the demands of the current education reforms.
The English Resource textbook and Teachers Guide for Grade Nine were presented to Education secretary Dr Joseph Pagelio last Thursday by the Simbu English Teachers Association (SETA) chairwoman Matilda Dimoi Wei.
Dr Pagelio, in congratulating the SETA for its achievement, said he was pleased with the collective initiative of the teachers to come up with the curriculum materials for their students.
He said their initiative promoted the theme for education – “Prosperity through self- reliance”.
The books were presented to give copyright to the department for further printing and distribution.
Governor-General Sir Paulias Matane had officiated at the launch of the books last June. They were later distributed to various high and secondary schools in the province.
Some schools in Eastern Highlands, Western Highlands and NCD are currently using the books.
Dr Pagelio acknowledged the assistance given by the Simbu provincial government, the provincial education division, school principals and teachers in producing the resource books.

Community Development work boosted in Central
THE Community Development Department, through its community learning development centre initiative, and development partner AusAID has donated a vehicle to the Central provincial administration.
The vehicle would be used by the department’s southern region office in Rigo to carry out the work there.
Community Development secretary Joseph Klapat said that the department was building up focal point centres, including Rigo, in the four regions of the country.
The other focal point centres are Pomio in East New Britain province for the Islands region, Sinasina-Yongomugl in Simbu province for the Highlands region and Madang for the Momase region.
Community Development Minister Dame Carol Kidu said that although the department was not well funded like other departments, it could still make a lot of difference because it had developed partnerships with its development partners at the community level.
Central province administrator Raphael Yipmaramba thanked the department and AusAID for the vehicle, saying that the province was always willing to assist in community development where possible.
Mr Yipmaramba said that Central provincial administration had shown this through the establishment of its comprehensive civil registry initiative now focusing on Rigo district.
He assured the development partners that the vehicle would not be misused.

PNGDF completes HIV/AIDS workshop
THIRTY-five members of the PNG Defence Force and Department of Defence have completed a four-day training on HIV/AIDS care, treatment, monitoring and evaluation.
The training was held last Friday in partnership with the US Pacific command through the centre for excellence in disaster management and humanitarian assistance and the United Nations programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS).
The US is working with PNGDF to prevent and reduce HIV/AIDS and sexually transmitted infections as well as provide treatment and care services to military personnel, dependents, and civilians accessing military HIV/AIDS services.
The programme included the PNG National AIDS Council and the Defence and Health departments.
According to a US embassy media statement, the efforts were to ensure minimum duplication of resources across partners, resource-sharing for maximum programme effectiveness, and utilisation of the partners’ areas of expertise.
It said the PNGDF in partnership with US Pacific command had, between 2005 and last year, trained 40 personnel in peer education, more than 12 personnel in institutional capacity building, two master trainers in voluntary counselling and testing (VCT), more than 30 personnel in care and treatment services, and five personnel in strategic information.

Cocoa pod borer fight continues
By ELIZABETH VUVU
KOKOPO district in East New Britain province will launch its next phase in the fight against the cocoa pod borer pest this week.
This phase will include educating farmers, especially in the Ganai area, about the pest and the dangers it posed to their crop.
According to the Kokopo district information division, the immediate response to the borer incursion was planned for a month and was executed last week with thorough random cocoa pod samplings within the suspected areas, road blocks and awareness.
Planning for further funding to the process was underway and necessary steps were being considered for smooth transition from urgency stages to long-term containment of the pest, the division said.
Authorities would closely monitor the movement of wet cocoa beans out of the area.
According to status reports from the operational team comprising district and technical staff from Cocoa Coconut Institute of PNG, the immediate step of containment was positive.
However, there was still much work to be done on awareness and continued support to farmers to control the pest.

Ombudsman also accountable: Manek
THE Ombudsman Commission is in control of its internal affairs and, like any other government organisation, is accountable to the constitution and the people, Chief Ombudsman Chronox Manek said.
Mr Manek said this in response to a letter to the editor in The National on Oct 2 where concerns were raised over the compliance of the law by Ombudsman John Nero and the commission.
He said the allegations of non-compliance, which alluded, to the commission’s inability to control its own internal affairs as well as of financial mismanagement, were being addressed.
“The commission can neither refute nor confirm the allegations but can only take a fine line in responding to the allegations which are administrative in nature,” he said.
The allegations raised concerns of the Ombudsman’s inability in compliance, the prolonged referral of leaders to the Public Prosecutor and the subsequent malice of the appointment of an acting secretary to the commission.