West New Britain

The Governor Francis, Galia Maneke and Regional MP, Sasindran Muthuvel said this should be done during this term of Parliament and the new electorate be called Nakanai Open, while Talasea Open retains its name.

Mr Maneke said a submission would be handed before Parliament during the August session.

Muthuvel also said the Electoral Boundaries Commission should formulate their recommendations on technical issues in line with the guidelines used.

These include population, geographical difficulties in terms of service delivery and density of growth.

The meeting held at the Muthuvel Stadium saw people from various sectors of the community who were very passionate to see the province get an additional electorate.

Though the province wanted three additional electorates, everyone agreed that the split of Talasea Open is of priority right now, due to its high population and geographical landmass. As this poses challenges and disparity in service delivery.

The evictees have now been repatriated to their home provinces.

The first 97 people who had resided in Section 21 in the town area departed Kimbe on Monday night on MV Ialibu to Lae. They are from the Morobe and Highlands provinces.

The second group of 200 left Kimbe on Wednesday night onboard MV Momase and arrived in Wewak yesterday. They are all from East Sepik Province.

The repatriation began this week following a court order issued by the Bialla National Court on May 19 2021.

Flights between January 5^th and 11^th are for passengers already holding tickets. There are no restrictions on passengers travelling into Hoskins during this period.

“Passengers departing Hoskins will be required to undertake a rapid COVID test at the airport prior to the flight.  This takes 20-25 minutes for the result, so passengers are requested to arrive early,” said ANG.

“From 12^th January to 21^st January, as per instructions from the Controller, all passenger flights are then cancelled to and from Hoskins.

As a precaution, Air Niugini has suspended this afternoon’s and tomorrow morning’s flights.

In a statement, the airline said: “A risk assessment will be carried out tomorrow, Thursday morning, to determine if flights shall resume or not.

“All passengers traveling to and from Hoskins are advised to call flight information number 327 3300 after 09:00 tomorrow morning to check on the status of the Hoskins flights.

Three bridges have been washed off in the Biala LLG, cutting off road access to Kimbe town.   

On Saturday night, the third bridge got washed away, forcing people to resort to wet crossing.

Abel Taukuro told this newsroom from Biala that two bridges, in Soi and Kolai river, were washed away last Thursday.

On Saturday night, the bridge at Imule, that separates central and east Nakanai, also gave way to floods.

People are now doing wet crossing, while PMVs wait on either sides of the highway.

The province recognises that the time has come for all government agencies from national, provincial and local level governments to take ownership and sustain the provincial TB program.

The governments of West New Britain Province admit it is everyone’s moral responsibility to control the disease now for a TB-free future.

All levels of government will stand together and demonstrate solidarity and commitment to work together towards this cause.

The temporary Bailey bridge that was set up was no match for the vicious strength of the river.

This part of the highway is at Ivule in Bialla, Talasea District of West New Britain Province.

It is the only highway that links Kimbe Town to Bialla Town.

It is not only important for the general public who travel to Kimbe to access most services but an important economic highway for oil palm company, Hargy Oil Palm Limited.

West New Britain Provincial Works manager, Aura Banka, says this is not the first time; Ivule has flooded and cut off road links before.

Maneke said the satellite towns have been factored into the 5-year District Development Plan and will be implemented.

“The emphasis on the plan is to empower communities and oil palm growers and citizens in the province as a whole to be able to start their own Small and Medium Enterprises.”

He said for so long, the district has been a spectator in the development of services and it’s about time the district partakes in the economic benefits of agriculture, especially oil palm.

Host province West New Britain and East New Britain are the only two teams vying for the gold medal.

The first match was staged at the Hoskins Mini Stadium.

Team West New Britain showed no mercy as they ran rings around neighbouring province ENB to score 26 points to 7 in the first quarter.

Both teams showed determination but it was home side West New Britain that had the upper hand in defence, shutting down the ENB team.

The game ended with a huge win to Team WNB 101 to ENB 10 points