Charles Abel

He said the Act, which was amended in 2012, should be repealed to allow all the provincial governments to resume collecting their own smaller tax revenue.

Muthuvel explained that, in the case of WNB, they are imposing tax on beer (20t per bottle) and cigarette (3t per stick) which brings about K2 million revenue to the provincial government per annum.

However, he said when the amendment in 2012 was implemented, the National Government, through the Internal Revenue Commission (IRC), stopped the provincial governments from collecting any form of revenue.

Minister for National Planning and Acting Minister for Public & State Enterprise, Charles Abel, announced this yesterday.

Abel spoke to the media following various allegations and concerns raised by the staff of Telikom PNG and the PNG Communication Workers Association (PNG CWA) on Monday who called for the termination of Mangos and Telikom Chairman, Mahesh Patel.

Abel fronted the media to clarify the restructuring of state owned telecommunications companies in Telikom, Bemobile and DataCo

This is according to Minister for National Planning and Monitoring, Charles Abel, when speaking to the media today.

According to the 2011 Census, the PNG population stood at 7.3 million people.

And with a population growth rate of 3.1 per cent, in the absence of a recent census, the population of the country could stand at over 8 million people.

According to data from the National Statistical Office (NSO), PNG’s population has risen by 40 per cent since the 2000 Census, at a growth rate of 3.1 per cent.

Speaking to Loop PNG, Abel said the only issue was getting registrations going as people were slowly coming forward to register.

Abel said the physical network has already rolled out with the building of the NID House, the establishment of IT networks in place, and the opening of fixed provincial offices.

“It’s absolutely not a failed project,” said Abel.

Minister for Planning and Monitoring, Charles Abel, said this to the media during in Port Moresby during the National Development Forum hosted by the Consultative Implementation & Monitoring Council.

Abel said data from government implementation will be released once compiled by relevant state agencies and departments

“Early in 2017, our Government wants to come with a scorecard to show our people as to what has been the result of all this investment,” said Abel.

“We want to see the facts and figures.”

Warriors were presented K2,000 as prize money, which was donated by the National Planning Minister and Member for Alotau Charles Abel.

Warriors led 18-10 at half time with a “man of the match” performance from Mo Sina, contributing to his team’s winning performance with three converted tries.

Opposing team Goilanai ran in a consolation try with an unsuccessful conversion to be in contention of the 2016 title.

The team, made up of New Britain Palm Oil employees and dependents, turned up in numbers to urge their team to victory.

Speaking at the launch of the PNG NID Help Desk and NID card collection notification service on Friday (Feb 12), Abel said it is a concern for his department on how best they can inform people that their card are ready for collection.

He said by introducing the PNG NID Card Collection Notification service, they are improving their efficiency level as this is part of their service improvement strategy, as service providers to ensure that every citizen has their NID Cards in a reliable and timely manner.

In the swearing in ceremony before Her Worship, Nialyn Kiteap, Senior Provincial Magistrate, all members made two declarations.

The first being the Declaration of Loyalty and second being the Declaration of Office.

National Planning Minister, Charles Abel announced on social media on Friday that cabinet has approved direct flights to Brisbane from Gurney and Kagamuga airports.

“I want Air Niugini’s F70 to do the international run and Link PNG to pick up at Losuia, Popondetta and Tokua airports,” he said.

It will run Brisbane - Gurney - Pom – Brisbane. Hagen will serve Wewak, Madang, Mendi and Goroka.

“Cabinet endorsed on Thursday direct flights from Brisbane to Gurney and Brisbane to Hagen when their new terminal is completed,” Abel said.