Milne Bay Province

The upgrade will be done on the 56km road from Alotau town to East Cape in Milne Bay, which is where the national highway ends.

The Magi Highway goes southeast from Port Moresby, turning inland and east just before Rigo, passing through Kwikila.

The road then runs across the Mai Kussa River at Bannon Bridge, where, within a few kilometres, the asphalt concrete gives way to a graded road which continues to Kupiano.

Member for Alotau Open Charles Abel confirmed that 36 to 56 ships are expected to arrive on Milne Bay shores in 2017.

Abel recently told Loop PNG that Milne Bay is heading cruise tourism in the country and is now receiving almost one cruise ship a week.

He added that the arrival of cruise ships is increasing rapidly every year.

Local tourism operator Egwalau Tours and Events Milne Bay has also reported a recent influx of cruise ships visiting Alotau this year.

With the rise in homebrew consumption among youths, Milne Bay provincial youth coordinator Vicky Wesley urges youths to stay away from consuming homebrew and drugs as these are illegal.

She said it’s time for youths to change but it’s up to every individual to make the change within them.

 “If you feel you need to change, the only way out is to say no and say yes to change as the drugs and homebrew will only land you in more trouble and negativity.

“The need to change must come from within you and it takes a lot of boldness and courage to do so.”

The chopper service is operated by HeliScope PNG and will offer three different tours for tourists.

This service provides a 12-minute tour, 25-minute tour and a 40-minute tour towards East Cape, showing cruise line guests the beautiful scenery of the province.

HeliScope PNG chief executive officer Giles Rooney told Loop PNG that Milne Bay is one of the areas that they feel is really untapped as far as tourism goes, therefore they want to look at how they can boost income for the local area.

About 200 youths from the two wards surrendered a homemade gun, two sets of live ammunitions and nine gas cylinders.

Among the youths are seven mothers who brew and sell homemade alcohol (steam) to the youths in order to earn income especially single mothers.

The mothers did not attend the ceremony but surrendered their homebrew equipment.

Milne Bay provincial youth coordinator for the Community Development Division Vicky Wesley said the youths have surrendered on their free will in order to make a change and have a fresh start.

He made the call to Fisheries Minister, Mao Zeming, today in Parliament House following the seizing of illegal fishing vessels and the confiscation of a sizeable quantity of beche-de-mer.

Wesley said recent discoveries in the illegal collection of the bech-de-mer has raised suspicions of alleged collusion between an NFA officer (named) and operators of the illegal vessels.

He raised a number of factors, which he said raised suspicions and they include:

The blaze has disrupted the Gibara Community School Grade Eight students’ final examinations, which were held last week.

According to Milne Bay Education authorities, the students didn’t sit for their papers.

There is suspicion that it may be the work of arsonists in the Gibara Community School blaze.

Apart from Gibara, Samarai Plastics lost its workshop and office last Friday.

The Gibara blaze was reported to have started in the early hours on Monday morning, at approximately 1am, while the Samarai Plastics blaze began at around 12.30pm.

His journey began on August 30 and he plans to cover around 6500km in 6 to 9 months.

Jensen is a young Danish adventure filmmaker, illustrator and speaker who has paddled around Denmark by kayak and crossed the North Atlantic by sailing boat.

He has a significant knowledge and great interest in tropical fauna and has a fascination for indigenous people around the world and their ways of life.

Jensen started his journey at Tawali Resort in Milne Bay Province and this is where he will end his journey.

Egwalau Tours is based in Alotau and was established in 2014.

The company is fully owned by two Milne Bay women, Maxine Nadile and Elaine Bate, and specialises in providing tours, event management and shore excursions.

When cruise ships arrive in Alotau, Egwalau Tours organises four tours for the tourists, the Battle of Milne Bay, Alotau historical tour, Alotau Festival and Ahioma culture tour.

The festival is a unique mini cultural event specifically hosted for cruise ships.

The Waigani National Court today sentenced Sandra Sikari to jail. She pleaded guilty to stealing K23,000 from Post PNG when she planned a robbery with a man on January 31, 2015.

The man, who was involved in the robbery with Sikari, is yet to be arrested and charged.

She was sentenced to two years in jail on Nov 11 last year; however, she asked the court to give her six months to repay the monies.

That six-month period lapsed on May 11 without repayment.