Briefs

Baisu inmates visit church
BAISU prison inmates and prison fellowship care groups visited the Sipil Evangelical Brotherhood church congregation in Minj in Western Highlands province, last Sunday for a combined fellowship. The detainees included four women and 11 men and two other male prisoners serving life sentences. The group was welcomed by many when they arrived in Minj, including former South Waghi MP and Jiwaka province working group chairman, Roger Palme. The visitors and congregation members were told that having new faces and sharing life testimonies would change their lives.  

Bridges ease burden in WHP
FOOTBRIDGES have been constructed over the Jimi River to allow people to cross. More than 5,000 people in the remote Jimi district, Western Highlands province, will not have to brave rushing torrents of the river anymore to get to their gardens. The bridges were a gift from local MP Wake Goi. Four bridges have been built and materials airlifted for five more to be constructed at a cost of K1.2 million. The river is one of the largest in the province and has current fast enough to wash away people and animals. It also has a history of bursting its banks.

No public interest in policy
THE Office of Urbanisation is finding it difficult to prepare a National Urbanisation Policy because of a lack of public interest, chairman Max Kep said. He said they were currently conducting a series of regional workshops to get feedback and hoped to submit a draft to the National Executive Council for endorsement before it goes to Parliament by the end of this year. He said PNG has never had an urbanisation policy in place to manage towns and cities since Independence, resulting in many people migrating to the urban areas.

Komo set to host forum
THE people of Komo are preparing for a big feast to kick-start the licence-based development forum. Komo local level government president Thomas Potape said the people were very happy and confident that the gas project would go ahead as scheduled. “I want to thank the National Government and especially Minister for Petroleum and Energy William Duma for making determination for change of status of PRL 12 to PDL 7 (petroleum development license).”

Sex crimes down in ENB
FEWER sex crimes have been reported in East New Britain in the past few weeks, but according to the police, families were still facing cases of adultery and domestic violence. They appealed to families to help maintain peace and harmony, especially with the festive season nearing. Police also said no major criminal activities were reported during the same period.

Gulf rainfall affects crops
VILLAGERS in the Kotidanga and Kaintiba districts in Gulf province who have been experiencing lots of rain have appealed to experts to visit their areas and advise on the food crops to cultivate. “This way we can start planting instead of waiting for help that is taking months to come,” community leader Andrew Panamo said from Kerema. He said the wet conditions made it impossible for villagers to plant kaukau, yam, taro and cassava.

Family planning promo on
MARIE Stopes, a non-profit organisation which specialises in sexual and reproductive health care in PNG, is running a family planning promotion until Dec 31. For just a K1 fee, anyone can access family planning methods which include IUD insertion, outpatient tubal ligation, non-scalpel vasectomy, and depo injection. The pill costs K2 each and the emergency contraceptive pill is K5. Also available are free blood pressure and pulse checks.

PX passengers miss flights
SCORES of Air Niugini passengers missed their flights or were stranded last weekend after four Fokker 100 aircraft encountered technical flight problems last Friday and two other aircraft on Sunday. The airline confirmed that some of its domestic flights and one international flight from Cairns to Port Moresby were disrupted. It said it tried to minimise the disruptions as best as it could and had apologised to travellers.

PNG to host professional meet
PAPUA New Guinea has won the bid to host the 10th office professionals’ summit in 2015 which the Association of Administrative Professionals believes will benefit the country as well. Its adviser, Mea Lou said most member countries were expected to attend the conference.