East Sepik

Following the welcome, 10,000 hectares of their grassland were offered to the government for significant oil palm development.

“All they (the Kiniambo people) need now is for the Marape-Rosso Government to come good and support them to have the land surveyed, ILGs registered, and a 99-year State Lease title given to their landowner company. This will allow them to negotiate with the state and other investor partners to develop a 10, 000-hectare oil palm estate and be able to provide enough land to allow the company to build an oil palm mill in Kiniambo,” said Minister Maru.

This is forecast for a period of more than 30 years.

Mining Minister, Sir Ano Pala, painted this picture when making his presentation at the 17^th PNG Resources and Energy Investment Conference in Sydney, on Tuesday, December 12^th.

These mega projects, located in Morobe and Sepik provinces, will take five to seven years for construction.

“And hopefully, by 2030, these projects may become operating mines in addition to Ok Tedi, and possibly Kainantu,” Minister Pala said.

Being the provincial capital,  Kerema has suffered from prolonged outages due to its power station breaking down.

PNG Power recognized the need for reliable power supply for local businesses, schools, hospitals, and residents, especially with the pending development of the Papua LNG Project.

The generator has already been installed in Kerema and the PNG Power technical team will commission it in December. This generator will provide power until the start of the construction of a DFAT-supported solar project in 2024.

President of the Dreikikir Cultural Show, Harold Melehei, said the event aims to revive their dying culture and promote peace and harmony in their societies. 

“In Dreikikir, we have very strong and unique cultures and traditions. We have 15 languages spoken throughout Dreikikir so to unite them all is not an easy task. 

The first suspect Junior David Polis, a 24-year-old from Madang and New Ireland, was arrested and charged for a series of crimes including armed robbery, burglary, threatening a female with a factory-made firearm, rape, and several cases of stealing and armed hold-ups.

He had escaped from police custody at Jomba Police Cell on three separate occasions. After being shot and hospitalized, he was arrested again and remanded at Beon Correctional Service in Madang, but later escaped. He was recaptured by police in Wewak earlier this month.

This aims to support government officers and private sector counterparts to mainstream gender perspectives and youth inclusion in the public sector as well as in the agri-food value chains and businesses,

Under the theme, ‘Institutional Gender and Youth Capacity Development’ for Provincial Government and local NGO partners and community leaders, the workshops brought together 27 females and 48 males from provincial, district and LLG government offices and private sector counterparts as well as civil society organizations.

They visited several sites including the Sepik Plains Special Economic Zone (SEZ).

Maru said East Sepik is one of the 18 potential SEZ locations identified by the government. It holds one of the largest records in producing leading cash crops in the country with Yangoru-Saussia District being the leading cocoa producing district presently.

Cheering the visit, the visibly contented villagers performed an inspiring welcome ceremony, enriched with their genuine cultural heritage.

Head of EU Delegation to PNG, Ambassador Videtič, led the delegation away from their busy schedules to visit the Pangin Village to overview the varied support given to cocoa farmers including a cocoa nursery under the STREIT PNG Porgramme. 

Here are the top five for East Sepik Regional:

1. Allan Bird - NA - 45, 351

2. Waiyu Kenny Samuel - NA - 14, 008

3. Michael M Somare Jnr - Independent - 3136

4. Tony Walwal - PNGP - 2578

5. Louis Koinduo - Independent - 2187

More updates to follow.

The situation is tense as fight continues between Mengar and Basis villages after a man from Menagar was killed during a volleyball match at Mengar village last weekend.

Police in Wewak said the mad had succumbed to serious injuries when he was shot with a wired catapult, he later died while in hospital on Sunday.

Police also identified the two others wounded and are currently in the hospital.

East Sepik Provincial Police Commander, Superintendent Albert Beli said the deceased was identified as Paul Honokra, 38 from Mengar village, Wewak District.