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Appoints Agiru as new Deputy Prime Minister

By Gorethy Kenneth PORT MORESBY, Papua New Guinea (PNG Post-Courier, Dec. 28, 2011) – In Papua New Guinea (PNG), two very senior ministers in the Somare-Abal regime have relinquished their ministerial portfolios for a possible way forward for their camp and to pave way for further political negotiations.

This has resulted in Southern Highlands Governor Anderson Agiru being appointed the Deputy Prime Minister, next in line to court reinstated PM Sir Michael Somare.

This is the portfolio that Wabag MP Sam Abal held until August 2, 2011 when the O’Neill-Namah regime overthrew their government.

Southern Highlands favourite son Governor Agiru has been loyal to the Grand Chief. Agiru, a strategist who has demonstrated strong leadership and is known for his fierce loyalty to his friends, can reach out to the Government or the Opposition.

It is believed Sir Michael’s appointment of Mr Agiru is a calculated move...

PLANT
Gas Company’s project may service up to 21,000 customers yearly

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (Radio New Zealand International, Dec. 27, 2011) – The Gas Company in Hawaii aims to develop a full scale energy plant that transforms vegetable oil and animal fats into gas within the next three years.

The Honolulu-based company has built and launched a pilot facility at Campbell Industrial Park that converts non-food grade oil into hydrocarbons, unlike the company’s existing facilities which rely on imported petroleum.

[PIR editor’s note: A press release from the company says that "the production of renewable natural gas is a major milestone that will allow us to provide sustainable energy from local agricultural products that were previously discarded or shipped out of state."]

The President of the Gas Company, Jeffrey Kissel, says the project is part of the company’s long-term goal to reduce its dependence on petroleum.

"This [the plant] is...

VALLEY IN 2011
‘56 percent went to goods, services in Morobe province’

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (Radio New Zealand International, Dec. 28, 2011) – The operators of the Hidden Valley gold mine in Papua New Guinea’s Morobe Province say the project has contributed 244 million U.S. dollars to the PNG economy in the past financial year.

Morobe Mining Joint Ventures says 56 percent of this went on goods and services in Morobe Province.

It says tax and wages each took 6 percent, royalties two percent and community projects three percent.

The mine has over two thousand four hundred employees and contractors, most of whom are Papua New Guineans and the majority from Morobe.

[PIR editor’s note: The Hidden Valley mine is owned by South African Harmony Gold under its subsidiary, Morobe Consolidated Goldfields, Ltd., which spent nearly US$144.4 million developing the project in Morobe. Estimates in 2005 placed projected yields for the project at 134 tons...

Editorial

NECESSARY

PNG Post-Courier

PORT MORESBY, Papua New Guinea (Dec. 28, 2011) - On Christmas Day in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea (PNG) many families took to the parks and beaches after church service to spend the rest of Sunday.

At Gabutu, it was the same like at every other recreation spot in the city. As the families were enjoying their day out in the sun and sea, at a residence up the road, loud Christmas music was playing and from the noise, it was obvious that a drinking party was in progress. From the recreation area below, one could clearly see that a man in Santa Claus dress was into the thick of things.

Such was the celebrations in many homes and places in the nation’s capital on the Christmas weekend. Because the city is big, what people saw in their own community was not to be the same as in other parts of the city or on the roads but we are told that there were several casualties including two deaths and four life threatening...