West Sepik province

PNG Power Chief Executive Officer, Obed Batia denied recent claims that the Vanimo Power Station had caught fire yesterday morning destroying all its generators disrupting power supply in the township.

He said the news report is misleading and not true.

PNG Power switched-off the power station, following an unfortunate fire incident that started from the PNG Defence Force Forward Base, which shares the boundary with the power station and the fire quickly spread out to the power station yard.

Deputy Divisional Commander for Border Command, Chief Superintendent Sibron Papoto, said there were less or no reports of election-related incidents in the provinces, known as the border commands.
He said all these provinces have completed polling and are now into extraction of ballot boxes and into counting.
 
Wewak, Angoram, Wosera-Gawi and Ambunti-Drekikier are still in counting at their respective districts except for Ambunti-Drekikier, which is being counted in Maprik. Counting for the regional seat is at Moem Barracks, Wewak. 
 

Working in partnership with the Project Development Benefits (PDB) of the Forest Management Authority (FMA) programme, Pasi Fish Farm started in 2019 in the remote regions of Vanimo-Green in West Sepik Province.

The project which was meant for remote Hoguru Village and was initiated by the PDB in 2017-18, but with a lack of road access to the remote village, the project was stalled and the materials were left in the Pasi area.

The initial funding for that project was K250, 000.

The school was started in 2018 by the National Forest Authority’s Amanab Projects Development Benefits (PDB) Blocks 5,6, 1&2. It is run under the Catholic Education Agency.

The high school took in grades 9 and 10 and last year in 2021 they had 170 students.

Joseph Pintol the Principal said they are very fortunate to have the Amanab PDB 5,6, 1&2 for meeting 50% of the school fees for the students from the blocks. The school has not received any funding from the three government funding sources that was due to them in the last year.

Prime Minister James Marape recently opened the new West Sepik Provincial Administration building and announced other impact projects.

"I want to acknowledge the good leadership of Governor Honourable Tony Wouwou. He went ahead and didn’t wait for the national government but used the funds that we gave him for the province as internal revenue to erect a house for meeting the people of West Sepik,” PM Marape said.  

The Prime Minister also committed an additional K4 million from the National Government to prepare the building for use.

The projects include the US$200 million (K700 million) Vanimo Port, K200 million for the West Coast Highway linking Vanimo to Wewak, and K200 million for the Telefomin-Tabubil Road.
It was mentioned that work on Vanimo-Wewak and Tabubil-Telefomin highways had started with 40km more to reach Telefomin.

This follows a facelift and refurbishment by BSP Vanimo Branch this month as part of the branch’s community project for 2021.

The surrounding communities of Lido, Dawaoh and Daunda can now enjoy a well-lit facility from a reliable clean energy source that powers up the centre.

With the country facing another COVID-19 surge in cases, the BSP Vanimo Branch also came with a timely assistance, providing a fridge for the medical staff to safely store vaccines.

Taking into consideration the COVID-19 restrictions, the Administration was only able to put up a little show to recognize the day.

West Sepik Governor, Tony Wouwou was present to witness the ceremony. The day started with a short March, led by the Discipline Forces, public servants and selected schools to the main oval grandstand in town.

At the main oval grandstand, the Papua New Guinea Defence Force from the Forward Operation Base in Vanimo paraded in front of invited guests, dignitaries and the public who braved the rain to witness the small but significant event.

National Planning and Monitoring Minister, Richard Maru, announced this during a visit to the plantation on the second day of the fact-finding mission to Sandaun.

The oil palm project and oil mill are expected to become a major revenue earner for Sandaun.

Minister Maru and his delegation travelled to Bewani to see firsthand the development of the plantation as well as the oil mill.