New Ireland

The payments were done recently by the Provincial administration to a total of 4,692 old people.

It was all smiles and tears of joy for senior New Ireland citizens above the age of 65 and people living with disabilities in Kavieng District as they felt the passionate embrace of the Government when they received their 2018 pension delivered to their doorstep.

A total of 4,692 both males and females received their pensions with much gratitude.

The sum total of K1,995,200, inclusive of the administrative payout operation costs were paid.

“We have to work together,” said Prime Minister Peter O’Neill, who was recently in New Ireland Province for the opening of their two government buildings.

“We cannot continue to play politics for five years.

“Our people demand our attention. They demand our leadership.”

The PM urged all leaders, regardless of their political parties, to stand united.

“These two buildings took us almost 3-and-a-half years to build as we were over worried about costs and submitted cheap costs to the contractors,” Governor Sir Julius Chan told Loop PNG.

The Namatanai Government Haus is worth K2.5 million while the Government Official Residence Kavieng is about K3.5 million.

“And by any comparison, even today’s price, it is very cheap. If you do a building like that in Port Moresby, you’ll be very lucky to get any less than K12-15 million.

"It is very peaceful. Even with the government delegation coming over for the opening of the Kavieng official residence, there was no need to request for extra manpower," PPC Ikumu told Loop PNG.

"The only issues we have are homebrew and drug abuse, with crimes related to them."

The PPC pointed out the similarity in crimes in the province with those in East New Britain, including sexual offences.

The Official Government Residence Kavieng was opened on Friday by Prime Minister Peter O’Neill.

“Some people have interpreted it as if we are trying to separate ourselves from Papua New Guinea,” says New Ireland Province Governor Sir Julius Chan.

“As if we wanted to somehow weaken Papua New Guinea.

“That is the opposite of what we really want to do.

“We believe that the best way to achieve prosperity for all is to grant greater autonomy to the provinces as they show that they have the capacity and skills for this,” clarifies Sir Julius.

The upgrade network is part of improving and maintaining safe production and asset health in Lihir.

So far, 8.4km out of a total 11km haulage road has been upgraded.

The project involves engineered improvements to the road network by widening chicanes and narrow segments to straighter double lane sections, smoother road surface gradients.

The victim was found dead on August 7, 2017.

A concerned Governor Juffa said we need laws to protect our children to prevent such abhorrent behaviour.

He said significant education and awareness to help children report and avoid becoming victims and serious penalties must also be done.

“I will review the laws and see what can be done to improve them for greater protection of our children,” Juffa told Loop PNG.

According to New Ireland Provincial Police Commander John Midi, the three suspects are now in police custody awaiting court hearing.

Gamato approved a dead man’s signature

The PNG Electoral Commissioner, Patilias Gamato, has accepted an Election Writ signed by a deceased returning officer.

http://www.looppng.com/png-news/gamato-approved-dead-man%E2%80%99s-signature-64185

Gamato comes clear on using deceased’s name

The quake measured 6.7 on the Richter scale and was at a depth of 33 kilometres.

RNZI reports the Tsunami Warning Centre says there is no threat of a Pacific wide tsunami.

However, as experienced by other electorates in the country, some of the residents’ names were not on the common roll.

“It is still too early to tell whether most, or just some, of the residents have been excluded on the roll,” Kavieng returning officer, Yuyu Lasbut, told Loop PNG.

She says polling materials were successfully distributed during the weekend, hence the smooth start.

Voting for the province will end on July 3.