Direct POM- Townsville flight sought

THE Townsville chamber of commerce is eyeing a direct flight between Port Moresby and Townsville.
Chamber of commerce president John Carey told Townsville Bulletin last week that they would meet with airport officials soon to prepare a case for direct flights between Townsville and Port Moresby.
Carey said this while responding to critics who dare not invest in Papua New Guinea due to recent attack on Curtain Bros, a joint venture company with Perth-based Clough Engineering, by Kaiam landowne from PNG LNG impacted areas of the Gulf last month.
Carey did not give details of his proposal as to which airlines he intended to use.
However, it was understood that he was trying to protect the investment of Townsville-based businesses in PNG.
Referring  to a report on Townsville Bulletin which said “a violent raid on a construction camp for the A$16.5 billion liquefied natural gas project in Papua New Guinea has underlined the risks for investment in Australia’s resource-rich neighbour,” Corey said responded:  “However, Townsville businesspeople trading in PNG are nonchalant.,”
“It is nothing out of the ordinary,” one Townsville businessman working in PNG told Townsville Bulletin last week.
The raid occurred at night at a camp being constructed by Townsville company Curtain Bros and Perth-based Clough Engineering for the huge ExxonMobil-led LNG project.
Several men raided a compound area used for storage of heavy machinery, setting alight a Caterpillar 740 dump truck among others.