P.N.G. Gossip Newsletter - 11 May 2001

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PNG Gossip Newsletter Meri Milne Bay

Welcome to the Papua New Guinea Gossip - 11 May 2001. A very special welcome is extended to any new readers. If you have comments or suggestions to make then please e-mail them to giaman@png-gossip.com

Articles for this newsletter

To send a message for submission to the PNG Gossip Newsletter -- please e-mail your contribution to pngnews.queue@png-gossip.com

Remember that this mailing list is mainly meant for people who have an interest and already know a little bit about the people and geography of Papua New Guinea. The PNG Kina, which is mentioned from time to time, is currently worth somewhere around 32 - 33 United States cents but varies on a daily basis.

If you are really keen on finding out what the Kina is worth a currency converter for most world currencies can be located at http://www.michie.net/pnginfo/moni.html

For those who are not so familiar with the geography of Papua New Guinea I suggest taking a look http://maps.expedia.com and then click on the find a map option. Go to this link for a quick start to a link to a map of Port Moresby. http://www.michie.net/pnginfo/pom-map.html

Also remember that the accuracy of the information in this newsletter should not be relied upon - it is, after all, a gossip newsletter.




Sites to visit

I don't think I have any readers from Japan but if you can read Japanese then take a look at http://www.air-niugini.co.jp

For information about the tiny island of Wuvulu - the home of the first Miss PNG, Eva Arni - take a visit to http://www.wuvulu.com. For a history of the Miss PNG contest take a trip to http://www.niugini.com/misspng/history.htm.

Another Miss PNG, Mispah Alwyn, rates a mention at http://www.geocities.com/zekezoeh/links_missasiapacific.html along with other PNG contestants to the Miss Asia Pacific Quest.

Of course the quest is run by and to help the work of the Red Cross in PNG. This site is about the PNG Red Cross http://www.ifrc.org/docs/rascas/pgrascas.asp



Overseas Missions

The government is planning to close consulates in Paris, Bonn, Cairns and Sydney, the embassy in Seoul, and high commissions in Singapore and Malaysia. They are still considering the closure of the embassy in Washington DC. K6 million has been allocated to allow the closure of the offices.



Kick Boxing

Stanley Nandex has won the super-middle heavy weight Australian kickboxing title. He led in each of the five round contested.



POSF

The state has not paid its share of the Public Officers Superannuation Fund contributions since 1996 and now owes the fund more than K75 million.



Hula and Aroma Coast

After a tragic sea accident, which saw six people dead, the government has made a commitment to upgrade the roads along the Hula and Aroma coast. It has been reported that the villages were only using a boat to get from point A to point B because the roads were in such poor condition making travel by road almost impossible.



Air Niugini

Air Niugini will soon introduce overnight services to Rabaul (Tokua). This should open up possibility of weekends in Rabaul from Port Moresby, Sydney, Cairns, and other domestic ports. It should also improve connections from Rabaul to international and domestic ports, with the addition of early morning departures from Rabaul to Port Moresby.



Bryan Grey

Ex head of Air Niugini, Bryan Grey died in Melbourne, Australia. Mr Grey was the second General Manager of the national airline. At one time he also ran Talair from Goroka. He was also a major partner in Compass airways that made an unsuccessful attempt to unseat the duopoly that Ansett and Qantas enjoyed in Australia.



Petrol Prices

From the press it seems that the price of petrol is rising everywhere around the world. The current price of petrol in Port Moresby is approximately US $2.20 per us gallon or about UK Pounds 1.90 per UK Gallon but this depends on the fluctuating exchange rate.

What prices are readers paying for their fuel? To work out your own I have used a figure of 4.546099294 litres for one imperial (UK) gallon and 3.785411784 litres for one US gallon. For the current exchange rate then of course visit any of the links mention in the opening paragraphs above.



Artificial Limbs

The Port Moresby artificial limbs centre has been broken into and equipment along with limbs stolen. The centre provides prosthetic devices free of charge to people in the southern region.



Gurney

Political heavies on their way to Alotau had their Fokker F28 returned to Port Moresby when the weather turned bas at Gurney. Apparently the navigational aids at Gurney aren't really up to the same international standards as the rest of the airport.

When the heavies eventually arrived they were greeted with leis, traditional dancing and the beat of kundu drums.



Alotau / Gurney Road

The government of Milne Bay Province has allocated of K600,000 to seal the road between the airport at Gurney and the provincial capital of Alotau. The government is hoping that its own funding will be replaced by AusAid funding next year.



St John's Ambulance

The ambulance service is back on the road after an injection of cash from the National Capital District Commission (NCDC). The service is supposed to receive K300,000 annually in four payments of K75,000 from the Health Department but the service has not received the first one for the year yet. The city recently went without an ambulance service due to the lack of money to by fuel for the vehicles. Most of the K10,000 donated by the NCDC will go on paying the staff who have not been paid.



DHL

DHL PNG have been running full page advertisements in the local press highlighting that they have their own plane available so they can guarantee overnight delivery of freight from Australia. -- http://www.dhl.com.au



Malaria Research

The Japanese Government and the University of PNG's School of Medicine have signed an agreement to conduct research into Malaria. Over a three-year period it has been estimated that about K1 million will be spent per year.



Kaugere

The Primary School in Kaugere has lost classrooms and equipment valued in excess of K200,000 after fire destroyed a double story block of four classrooms recently. The school caters for over 1,500 students. It is believed that the school is one of the oldest in the Nation's Capital.



Wawin National High School

The Markham Valley can now boast the country's newest and possibly best national high school that was finally officially opened on the 9th of May. Wawin High is located approximately 60 Kilometres from Lae in the Morobe Province. The school was built with funding provided by the Chinese government at a total cost of K24 million. The school had enrolled 200 Grade 11 students at the start of the year.



Evedahana Primary School

Rouna Quarries has donated 12 cement mixer trucks full of cement to the Evedahana Primary so hat students will no longer have to sit on clay to do their schoolwork. The school serves all of the nine-mile settlement close to where Rouna Quarries works.



Marianville High School

AusAid is to provide K4.2 million to Marianville High School on the outskirts of Port Moresby so that the school can build four new classrooms, eight staff houses, three science classrooms a work shed and a covered multi-purpose area.




Education Related Website




Bougainville

A plan to dispose of firearms on Bougainville has been signed by BRA strongman Ishmael Toroama as well as being agreed to and signed by the leadership of the BRA and the Bougainville resistance Fighters.



Elcom

It has been reported that Elcom is unhappy with the ten percent tariff increase, which it recently gained from the price controller. Elcom had requested an increase of 44 percent. With an estimated inflation rate of 11 percent the ten percent increase is seen as a backward step.

Cash strapped Elcom continues to soldier on with outdated and still probably not Y2K ready mainframe equipment. Air Niugini's security door system, also not Y2K ready, has had its clock wound back to somewhere near 1990 so that the date and the days match up. Makes you wonder how many other items around the world especially in financial poor countries are still surviving on no Y2K ready equipment. Luckily the planes and generating equipment received better funding.



Healey Parade

The upgrade work being carried out by Curtain Brothers at an estimated cost of almost K17 million continues to go ahead at what seems to be a slow pace but when reclaiming land from the sea it needs to be done very carefully. The works are expected to be finished around this time next year.




TV Stations

A reader asked me what sorts of TV programs do PNG viewers have access to the other day, which made me sit down for a while and think.

Firstly many people, who can afford it, have satellite TV. This means over 20 stations are available to watch ranging from HBO, BBC, CNN, Australian ABC, Australian channel 7, 9 and 10, Australian SBS, Star Movies, Star Sports, Star Plus, ESPN, Cartoon Network, RAI, CNBC, TCM, Discovery Channel, MTV, Nickelodeon, National Geographic, CCTV-4, Country Music Channel, Cinemax and Animal Planet. Some of the channels are shared by more than one station depending on what is available throughout the day. Another couple of channels are foreign language and if they have subtitles in English then they are sometimes of value to watch.

With an assortment of stations listed above people still can't find anything to watch sometimes and on top of all that we have the local station EMTV

The only satellite TV provider with a website that I know is Hitron. Hitron distribute on a Microwave system and also use cable in some places around Port Moresby. Visit their website at http://www.hitron.com.pg if you are interested in finding out what sort of programming is available.




Car Dealers




PNG media related sites






Airfares

Air Niugini has advertised some fairly good weekend escape packages for Port Moresby residents including airfares and accommodation to various locations around PNG.

For example: Malolo Plantation Madang, K474, Travellers Inn Lae K445, Alotau International K512, Kumul Lodge Mount Hagen K537, Bird of Paradise Hotel, Goroka K568, Ambua Lodge Tari K700, Walindi Resort Kimbe K734, Hamamas Hotel Rabaul K639, Nusa Island Resort K659. All prices are per person and based on twin share 2-night accommodation. Some of the places mentioned have their own website so I have listed them below.

For anyone travelling on the special airfares to either Brisbane or Sydney Air Niugini has advertised free travel within PNG to get to Port Moresby.




Accommodation Related Websites




Religious Sites




Internet Gateway




Internet Service Providers







Stationery Suppliers


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Created 11 May 2001
Updated 20 May 2001
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