West New Britain Governor

The Governor expressed the Minister's gratitude for the invitation to the ceremony and praised the graduates' determination, courage, and commitment to becoming nurses, which is particularly admirable given the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Nursing is a rewarding profession that is often overlooked by society. It is only right that nurses deserve medals for bravery, compassion, and professionalism. The presentation of diplomas for the 26 nurses at the West New Britain School of Nursing, speaks volumes.

The purpose of the trip was to visit Australian Government funded projects and other areas of interest.

The team visited the building of the new Kimbe Town, community Health Post at Bitokara in Talasea LLG, Talasea High School, Mahoni and Dari, Kimbe Port and NBPOL bio gas plant.

Australia is also funding the redevelopment of eight ports in the country, which Kimbe is one of the first ports.

Governor Sasindran in his address told the delegates that the province and government are grateful of the progress the Australian High Commission has done in PNG.

At halftime both teams were locked up at 6 all.

West New Britain Governor and Patron Sasindran Muthuvel said it was a great afternoon back at home watching the boys against the Lae Snax Tigers.

He said the Cutters played really well but lost the lead in the dying minutes.

Governor Muthuvel said, “Regardless, it’s always a pleasure watching our home grown talent showcase in front of our people.” 
The Governor was also happy to present the 2022 PSIP funding of K200, 000 on behalf of the provincial government to the Kimbe Cutters team.

He made this call after receiving a copy of a petition submitted to his office by the people of Makasili in the Hoskins area on the deteriorating road condition.

Governor Muthuvel explained that the Koimumu-Hoskins section of the road is a national road and the Government has allocated about K4.5 million for its maintenance.

Governor Muthuvel made these remarks after presenting a budget of K245.37 million to Treasurer and Deputy Prime Minister, Charles Abel, in Port Moresby.

With the theme; ‘Promoting Rural Empowerment through Inclusive Opportunities’, Muthuvel said the 2019 Provincial Budget is the most fairly distributed in terms of addressing capacity and development needs in the 12 LLGs as identified and directly nominated by LLGs.

The K245.37m (K245,267,925m) Budget represents an increase of about 17.7 percent from the 2018 Provincial Budget figures.

West New Britain Governor Sasindran Muthuvel confirmed that 39 prisoners escaped from Lakiemata on Oct 28.

Governor Muthuvel said the lack of logistics and manpower is slowing down the search.

He told this newsroom that with the additional manpower from the Mobile Squad 18, the search of the prisoners will be done quickly.

However, West New Britain Provincial Police Commander, Superintendent John Midi, is confident most, if not all the escapees, will be recaptured soon.

Minister for Inter-Government Relations, Kevin Isifu, said this when responding to questions raised by West New Britain Governor Sasindran Muthuvel in Parliament on Friday.

Biala LLG in WNB has a population of 60,000 people while Talasea district has close to 300,000 people; making service delivery a challenge.

Governor Muthuvel asked if the government was serious about the electoral boundaries separation and create additional districts.

Governor Muthuvel said they will also be approaching major companies in the province to support their bid.

The Governor added that Hunters Coach, Michael Marum, has accepted their invitation to attend and assist in the selection of players for the Kimber Cutters team when its hosts trial matches for players.

The province has held several competitions and trials as part of its bid for the rugby league team.

(Loop filepic of WNB rugby league teams)

Muthuvel, who was in the province to witness another staging of the Cutters’ last leg of the 9s tournament in Kimbe last weekend, said he is confident that the team will make it into the competition in 2019.

With the aim of selecting potential and talented players for the Kimbe Cutters team next year, the provincial leaders have put every effort into the bid.

Governor Muthuvel said their bid is also getting support from senior political leaders around the country, including Enga Governor Peter Ipatas.

The Act that was passed in 2009 and amended in 2012 to ban the 20t per bottle beer and 3t per cigarette has caused the provinces to lose over K2m internal revenue annually for past five years.

Muthuvel said this will empower the provincial governments to generate revenue and offload some burden of funding dependency on National Government.