Western Province

Balimo Airstrip opens after 5 years

Excited locals turned up to witness the landing after services were suspended in 2013.

This follows an inspection by the Rural Airstrip Agency CEO, John Bromley, and his staff.

It was a surprise many did not expect as the Mission Aviation Fellowship touched down for the first flight to Balimo in five years.

Locals gathered to welcome the pilots and thank Bromley and his team.

Rubber growers need govt’s help

Liston Ewabo, 35, from Kewa, Balimo District, said their remoteness and distance from main markets forces them to sell their goods at below market prices to buyers with transportation and logistical access.

He said currently, they sell well below half the market price in other parts of the province.

Ewabo married into a family in Kawito who look after more than 600 rubber trees, beginning their venture 15 years ago.

He recently took it on as a full time job and has seen first hand the positives but also the negatives.

Gov’t yet to honor commitment to Western Province

South Fly MP Sekie Agisa raised this issue in Parliament today asking the Minister for Health to explain to his people as to what is the status of the commitment.

South Fly MP Sekie Agisa said Daru hospital is facing the shortage of various drugs and equipment to fight TB in the province.

He said the hospital has wind-down operations because no funds to operate the hospital.

“When will the Government honor its commitment and release the funds to address the issue of TB in Western Province?”

Alleged contaminated river blamed for skin infections

The villagers strongly believe that the river is contaminated upstream where logging operations take place.

Emerti Community Health Worker, Joel Waika, said their suspicions are based on the fact that logging operations upstream at the Kamusi, Panakawa and Sasarima logging camps use chemicals to treat the logs.

These logs are then transported by river and it is during this process that waste from logs are dumped into the river.

Medical team responds to yaws concerns

The team was on Sturt Island on Monday morning to conduct tests.

The decision to conduct a medical outreach came about after Community Health Workers in Sturt, Upati and Emerti Islands noticed locals reporting to the aid posts with skin conditions.

Community Health Worker at the Sturt aid post, Kawani Bulia, said he treats up to 60 suspected cases per day.

Bulia said some of his patients have reported that they contracted the skin condition after getting in contact with water.

Police raid case dismissed

It was dismissed because liability, or who was responsible for the breach, was not established against a timber company, police and others who allegedly conducted the raid.

Andy Asuma is a businessman operating Andy Asuma Trading in a remote location near the Kamusi logging camp in Western Province.

He conducted his business near a timber rights purchase area where Wawaoi Guavi Timber Company Ltd had its logging operations.

KPL confident in PRL 21 delivery

KPL, which owns a 16.75 percent stake in PRL 21, says in its Quarter 1 Report for 2018 that the joint venture continues its evaluation of the Western Province Floating LNG (FLNG) development scenarios and early cash flow from PRL 21 remains a priority.

The company believes that the licence’s significant resource potential, notably liquids, for which Kina will undertake a resource certification exercise, can be brought on stream in the near term.

This is to take advantage of oil prices which are presently forecast to hold well above the lows of 2016 and early 2017.

Western Province leaders call for recognition

Following the recent Western Province Development Forum in Kiunga, the Western Province Governor, Taboi Awi Yoto, and his Open members called for the government to facilitate for a loan to be given to the province.

The loan will specifically facilitate for the development of agendas identified in the forum.

The Governor spoke directly about the combined stable provincial leadership being showcased by him and his members.

Western leaders ‘Look West’

The Member for North Fly, James Donald, outlined this when talking about the efforts in place to build up infrastructure along the border.

Mr Donald says that he has spoken with the relevant authorities to begin preparation work on sorting out key areas along the border to pursue connections with Indonesia.

The member explains that this preliminary arrangements and negotiations have been ongoing for a while now with several decisions being made as a result of the numerous dialogues that have taken place to date.

Plans for new barracks

In the Western Province, land owners have come forward to allow for 2 hectors of land to be given to the police force to setup of a much needed police barracks.

The North Fly police commander, Joe Puri says that the set up pf the barracks will depend on the police department who will need to officially acquire the land and set up the barracks just on the outskirts of Kiunga.

The PPC spoke about the need for the barracks set up to help boost operations in the border province.