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To handle $40 million road project

SUVA, Fiji (Fijilive, June 7, 2010) - Fiji is the first foreign country that Malaysian construction and development company Naim Holdings Bhd has ventured into, the Malaysia Star newspaper reports.

Naim will upgrade 106 kilometers of road in Fiji as part of a US$40 million road rehabilitation project commissioned by Fiji’s Prime Minister Commodore Voreqe Bainimarama last week.

Funded by the Export-Import Bank of Malaysia, the project is expected to be completed in two years.

Naim chairman Datuk Abdul Hamed Sepawi said more than half of Naim’s workforce in the project was Fijians, who would learn the road rehabilitation skills from the company.

He said due to limited education opportunities in Fiji, Naim was offering full scholarships to Fijian students to pursue diploma or undergraduate programs in civil engineering, quantity surveying and construction management either in Fiji or Malaysian universities.

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Six-year-old facility built and funded by Chinese government

By Rachel Reeves RAROTONGA, Cook Islands (Cook Islands News, June 16, 2010) - The Chinese-built and funded courthouse in Avarua is falling apart, and the Ministry of Justice lacks the funds it needs to fix it up.

"It’s only six years old and starting to fall apart," Secretary of Justice Mark Short said.

"I’m trying to look at putting a proposal together to the Chinese to come and fix the problems we’ve inherited."

This week, workers are replacing the overhangs, which have been a hazard since last year when one snapped off and narrowly missed a passerby.

The building was constructed in 2004 by Chinese workers, who used their own designs and materials.

Short said that the courthouse was not built to suit a tropical climate when it rains, the front steps are dangerously slippery, parts of the office flood, and the building quickly shows rust.

[PIR editor’s note: Father Tony...

OPERATIONS
Oil company sells assets for $3 million

By Eric Tapakau PORT MORESBY, Papua New Guinea (PNG Post-Courier, June 17, 2010) – MEMBERS of National Superannuation Fund (Nasfund) Limited are now owners of the former Shell Oil Products Ltd refuelling depot at the Jackson’s Airport.

A takeover was formalised yesterday.

The takeover also saw the end of an 82 year reign of Royal Dutch Shell in Papua New Guinea as they formally handed over their remaining asset in the country.

Shell will concentrate on its strategy to focus on serving fewer and larger airports throughout the world.

The purchase of the Shell asset at the airport was for a total sum of US$3.15 million.

The new company that has taken over the business operations of Shell Oil Products PNG Ltd (SOPL) is Aviation Operations and Aircraft Refuelling (PNG) Ltd (AOAR) and is 49 per cent owned by NAS Aviation Ltd (40 per cent owned by Nasfund) and 51 per cent owned by New...

FIJI’S RABI ISLANDERS PLAN COUNCIL ELECTIONS Micronesian islanders hold onto Banaban interests

SUVA, Fiji (Fiji Times, June 17, 2010) - Just a year after major council elections, Banabans living on Rabi Island in Cakaudrove will soon again take to the polls.

The elections will be from July 5 to July 9.

[PIR editor’s note: Little Rabi Island off the northern coast of Fiji’s Vanua Levu has been home to refugees from the Kiribati island of Banaba since 1945, when World War II ended Japanese occupation of Banaba. Relocated to Rabi by the British, this mini-population of Micronesians is now an administrative part of Fiji. But while Rabi islanders are Fiji citizens, they are governed by a council that represents their interests in their Banaba homeland.]

Rabi Council of Leaders chairman Dr. Paulo Vanualailai confirmed that elections for two council seats from Uma Village were vacant following the termination of sitting councilors this year.

"The...