Export of 'Swamp Ghost' imminent

                      by Albert H. Cross - Australia

The illegal export of Papua New Guinea's most famous war relic, the "Swamo Ghost' B-17 airplane war wreck, could take place this month.

Papua New Guinea's well-preserved war wrecks attract tourists from all over the world, injecting money into local economies.

The illegal removal of 89 aircraft wrecks during the past decade has yielded little benefit to the nation and its people.

Papua New Guinea's best wreck, the Swamp Ghost, landed intact in the Agiambo swamp in Oro province on February 23, 1942.

The bomber is internationally recognised as a symbol of WW11 in PNG.

Controversy erupted in 2006 when American businessman Alfred "Fred" Hagen salvaged the wreck, chopped it into pieces and transported it to Bismark Shipping in Lae to await export. The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) investigation produced a report entitled, "Sale and Export of the Swamp Ghost Aircraft and War Surplus Materials."

Palm Oil fruit shortage hits 2 Oro mills

Bad road networks preventing supplies from reaching mills  (source The National)

The two palm oil mills in Oro province have been hit by shortage of palm oil fruits for processing.

This was disclosed yesterday by CTP Cargill Group's Higaturu Oil Palm (HOP) general manager Vigy Ponnudurai, who said the mills are getting less supply of oil palm fruits from local producers.

"BRAIN DRAIN" IN PNG - DEATH FROM LIFESTYLE DISEASES

Above is the 2007 Graph of the causes of death of members whose beneficiaries claimed payouts from Nambawan Super Ltd. (source - Annual Report 2007)

Above is the 2008 Graph of the causes of death of members. Once again, the highest number of deaths is caused by Heart Disease. Lifestyle diseases such as cancer, diabetes are also a major killer of our people.
(source - Annual Report 2008)

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I have been reading with much interest and sadness stories of the demise of some of Papua New Guinea's elites over the Christmas and New Year period.

Not a day has gone by without condolence messages in newspapers and funeral services at the Sione Kami Memorial & the St Joseph's Church in Port Moresby.

ORO FARMERS OWE NDB K620,000

By Wallace Kiala - The National

The Popondetta branch of the National Development Bank (NDB) is reported to owe a total of K628,000 after local farmers took out loans for farming and other projects and could not afford to repay their loans as a direct result of Cyclone Guba in 2007, the provincial administration said yesterday.

Meanwhile the Northern (Oro) Province Restoration Authority (NPRA) is yet to respond to a submission towards the end of last year from the Oro administration requesting the NPRA to repay the debts owed to NDB.

BANK LENDING RATES EXPECTED TO DECLINE

By Sheila Lasibori - The National

The Indicator lending rate (ILR) set by commercial banks is bound to decrease as the Central Bank will keep the kina facility rate (KFR) at 7% this month.

With Bank of PNG's KFR at a low of 7%. the next immediate action is that the banks and licensed deposit-taking institutions will reduce their lending rates.

According to BPNG's recent statistics, when the KFR is low, the inflationary pressures continue to decline.

BPNG will ease its monetary policy similar to that of last month when the KFR was also at 7% after a reduction by 1% from 8%. KFR is a rate set by the Central Bank and is a measure of control of its monetary policy.

There is hope that the inflationary pressure might continue to decrease.

However, the construction phase of the ExxonMobil - led PNG liquefied natural gas project and other activities in the country might give rise to imported inflation.

NEW YEAR RESOLUTIONS

One of the things I have discovered over the years is to make New Year Resolutions as practical and achievable as possible. And in that vein, one of my New Year Resolutions was to add a few very vital gadgets on my blogsite to not only attract visitors but to keep a track of who is visiting me.

Thanks to Malum Nalu, I can now see who is visiting, who is reading what, & work out what topics are of more interest to my readers. Malum, as many of you would know, is a PNG journalist who runs a very reputable blogsite and already has a prolific following. He spent about 25 minutes with me on Thursday afternoon to go through my blogsite and  to answer some of the queries I had. You will now notice that I have a Counterstats gadget which indicates how many visitors I have had since 31st December 2009 (that is the date I installed the gadget even though I have been blogging since August 2009).

I know...I know... I am a bit slow when it comes to technology..I think you call people like me technologically-challenged?? Now that I have explained all that, let me move on with my other New Year Resolutions.

First & foremost - I wish for World Peace. Ooops  sorry that's too high & mighty. Let me begin again.

1) I will not pick a fight with anyone - not even with Watson when he makes an aggressive gesture at Gayle after bowling out the Windies captain; nor with Bollinger even if he lies about catching a Pakistani batsman when the ball had bounced on the ground.

A PROPEROUS 2010 TO YOU & YOUR FAMILIES

MAY ALL YOUR DREAMS COME TRUE!!