New Ireland Province

Contractor, NBC, run by the Namatanai DDA, repainted the bridge after failing to comply to the standards.

New Ireland Governor Sir Julius Chan and former Namatanai MP Byron Chan were on site on Thursday, May 11^th, inspecting the repainting of the bridge.

Minkiong said the bridge was previously painted with political red color, which was a breach in contract specifications by the Department of Works.

The launch of the policies took place at Kavieng Stadium. They include:

The District Management Team recently conducted its first quarterly review meeting to discuss the challenges faced by the new District.

Despite not having any funding or office space, the team of only five officers, including the CEO of the Nakanai DDA, have been serving four LLGs with a population of over 200,000 people.

Kavieng MP and Minister for Treasury, Ian Ling-Stuckey, said this needs to be done together with other oversight government agencies, prior to consideration for any settlement by the National Government.

Components of Kavieng town landowners, including chairperson of portion 49, landowners association, Kavieng airport, Gaylene Moni, and member for ward 5, Kavieng Urban LLG, Emmanuelle Tame, met with the deputy secretary for lands to present their case and seek advice on the appropriate course of action for resolution.

A total of K17,318 worth of properties were stolen from the storage workshop including; plumping and electrical materials, iron rods, vacuum pump and a desktop and laptop computer.

The stolen properties belong to China Railway company which is currently engaged by the Provincial Government to build the Kavieng Government Lodge and recently opened Kavieng Stadium. 

Chairman for Law and Order, Edwin Maigen said this is a big letdown and has warned that police will make arrests and put those responsible behind bars. 

The school with a vivid history dating back almost 114 years to the time of early missionaries is located few kilometres outside of Namatanai town, New Ireland Province and sits beautifully on a plateau overlooking the Namatanai harbour in ward 12 of the Namatanai Local Level Government (LLG).

As a United Church agency school, it is one of the oldest schools in New Ireland Province established in 1909 by early Methodist Missionaries. In the early days it was known as ‘Lukbuk’ or reading school. Gradually the school grew and changed overtime to a primary school status in 1997.

Chairman for Infrastructure and Works, Andrew Minkiong said, “We have been waiting on the national government for over 25 years, which the provincial government has gone ahead to build roads and bridges along the Lanzarote Highway.

“The National Government must now honor its commitment under the MOA signed in 2007 and pay back the Provincial Government,” said Minkiong.

The Lanzarote Highway begins at Namatanai town all the way down to Metlik at the southern tip of the island of New Ireland.

A handover-takeover ceremony was held yesterday, with Nebanat outlining that May of this year would have marked his two years in the province since taking up the PPC post.

“It has been a year and nine months since taking office and I must say that it was an honour for me to have served the people of New Ireland,” he stated.

“As a matter of fact, it has always been my desire to come back and serve in the province since joining the force.

To achieve political, financial and administrative autonomy, the province has developed two important constitutional laws to chart the way forward.

Governor Sir Julius Chan said important constitutional laws were endorsed by the Provincial Executive Council (PEC) in 2012.

They are; the Constitution Amendment Law on the Autonomous Government and Organic Law on the Autonomous Governments.

Sir Julius is calling on the National Government to approve the 2019 Autonomy submissions for the three pilot provinces; East New Britain, Enga and New Ireland.

During a special government situation group meeting on Friday 20^th January, he called on the Police force in the province to use whatever force necessary to catch the criminals and contain the law and order situation.

“Do not leave any stones unturned. Arrest all of them and make them pay for the pain and loss they have caused. If it means severe punishment, then so be it. We must never normalize the actions of these animalistic criminals. No criminal is welcome in New Ireland,” said Sir Julius.