Interviews conducted for the annual Business Advantage PNG print magazine, to be launched in March, reveal a newfound appetite for investments outside of Papua New Guinea’s capital.

Lae’s airport is now ready to become PNG’s second international airport. Credit: BAI

In the lead-up to the launch of the 2025 edition of our annual Business Advantage PNG print magazine on 19 March, our editorial team conducted dozens of interviews with business leaders in the country.

While those interviews provide the data for the PNG 100 CEO Survey we run with Westpac, they also help us to identify investment trends in the country. One of these is undoubtedly a renewed business interest in the country outside of the capital, Port Moresby.

PNG’s Highlands region is, of course, where the bulk of PNG’s population resides. However, in recent times poor infrastructure has proved an obstacle to investment.

Progress with road construction in the region is clearly starting to give some investors confidence, however.

For example, Steamships Trading Company broke ground for the retail-led Wonye Dobel development – a joint venture with local retailer Tininga – in the Highlands hub of Mount Hagen in late 2024. It intends to break ground on phase two of the project in the second quarter of this year. A new BSP branch, an anchor tenant of the development, has already opened for business.

“We’re seeing significant progress in Hagen, especially with the improved road access to the Highlands, leaving an opening for new opportunities in the region,” Chris Daniells, Managing Director of Steamships, tells Business Advantage PNG.

Meanwhile, late last year, finance company Moni Plus opened a branch in the coffee-growing centre of Goroka in Eastern Highlands Province and is reporting strong interest in what has arguably been an under-serviced market. We are also hearing of early retailer interest in Enga Province, now that the Porgera gold mine is ramping up production again.

Navin Raju, CEO of the Remington Group, is also focusing on projects outside of Port Moresby, with Lae and Mount Hagen two cities where the business services provider will look for opportunities. This is not just an acknowledgement that there is opportunity in the regions, but also that the market in PNG’s relatively prosperous capital is getting more congested.

“Port Moresby is a very competitive market. The rest of the country does not have the services,” Raju tells Business Advantage PNG.

Meanwhile, consultancy KPMG is also looking to expand its footprint into under-serviced parts of the country, such as Lae, East New Britain and Madang, according to Zanie Theron, Partner-in-Charge of its South Pacific practice.

Improved infrastructure can only accelerate this trend. In PNG’s second city, Lae, an expansion of PNG’s busiest port and an adjacent planned business park is part of PNG Ports Corporation’s new vision to be an enabler of business around the country. This will also help get Lae ready for the Wafi-Golpu project, as and when it happens.

Alongside Morobe Province, new potential resources projects in Western Province (the ExxonMobil-led P’nyang gas project) and Gulf Province (TotalEnergies’ Papua LNG) are on the cards. We should reasonably expect these parts of PNG will also start to receive greater attention from logistics providers, service providers, retailers and building and construction companies in coming years.