highlands region

Electoral Commissioner Patilias Gamato confirmed in a media conference today that polling for Eastern Highlands Province commenced yesterday as scheduled.

However polling in Hela and Chimbu Province and some electorates in EHP were delayed.

Gamato says that the one-day polling in Simbu had to be deferred to sort out candidate grievances over the Electoral Roll.

Instead of polling in Hela on Monday, the day was spent addressing the issue of selected presiding officers disputed by a few candidates.

Among them were 49 females.

Eight hundred and eighteen of these candidates are contesting as independent while 502 were affiliated to a party.

Eastern Highlands Province tops the list of candidates contesting with 396, followed by Chimbu (320), Enga (162), Jiwaka (136), Southern Highlands (117), Western Highlands (117) and Hela (92).

The lowest number of candidates contesting is from Prime Minister Peter O’Neill’s electorate.

It has only 10 candidates putting their hand up to challenge the Prime Minister and leader of the People’s National Congress party.

Police Commissioner Gari Baki said they are antcipating challenges and high security risks in the region.

“Most of the security personnel will be based in the highlands because the region presents a lot of encounters, in terms of security aspects.”

Baki is calling on locals to understand the election process and to work with police to make sure the elections run smoothly and on a safe and trouble-free note.

The first-of-its-kind program has been announced by Westpac, the Pacific Financial Inclusion Program (PFIP) and the Australian Government.

Choice Wantok is a new low-cost banking option specifically developed to suit people in the Highlands, an area where most people have never been able to access even basic banking services. 

Central to Choice Wantok will be a new Innovation Hub set up at Mount Hagen, bringing the latest technology to the Highlands and allowing Westpac to test ideas and tailor its services to meet the specific needs of remote communities.

Eastern Highlands, however, has confirmed the presence of the CBB pest in Asari and Kamaliki, as initially discovered two months ago.

In a media statement, Coffee Industry Corporation Chief Executive Officer, Charles Dambui, said the delimiting surveys will continue as part of its surveillance exercise.

“We are now into the containment stage and this will basically involve looking at short term measures to address the problem.”

Wereh said the soil structure of the roads, particularly in the Highlands region, is unstable.    

The highway, sometimes referred to as the Okuk Highway, connects the populous highlands region to the coastal areas of Morobe and Madang in the Momase Region.

Wereh told Loop PNG that a new engineering design, created to address soil movement, will limit continuous damage on the Highlands Highway during the wet season.

They will join an advance team from the Highlands region, already on ground, to bring the total number of security personnel to 300.

The operation was approved by the Government based on the Security Risk Assessment Report from the Police Commissioner and will commence on Monday, January 9.

The report identified Hela as high risk due to heavy presence of unlicensed firearms, many of which are high-powered.

Waigani Commital Court senior Magistrate Cosmos Bidar said many times sorcery retaliation killing are committed without actual proof.

He said many who die are innocent people with no proof of practicing sorcery.

He made these comments when arraigning a Lufa man who appeared in his court room for the first time over allegations he attempted to kill two other men at Garden Hills in July.

The heavy rains in the region have also caused deadly landslides in the mountain villages with several already claiming lives, including destruction to properties like houses and food gardens.

Several unconfirmed deaths were reported in the remote parts of Enga, Southern Highlands, Hela and Western Highlands provinces.

The Highlands Highway, which coils through the region on mountain-sides and fast flowing creeks, has been hard hit with several portions being cut off from Markham Valley to Porgera in the Enga Province and Komo in the Hela Province.

This has resulted in some parts of the Highlands provinces still without power since Saturday afternoon  (Jan 30).

PNG Power told Loop PNG this morning that their technicians are still working around the clock to solve the problem.

This was due to a tree branch falling onto the Ramu/Goroka main 66 kV line during heavy rains.

The incident occurred between the towers 170 and 171 at Masumave, near Goroka, Eastern Highlands Province.