The PNG Chamber of Mines and Petroleum pledges to join help with COVID-19 efforts, news on the Simberi gold mine revised MOA and a new report highlights strategies to help the coffee industry. Your business news in brief.

PNG’s Simberi Island.

Aviation

PNG Air announced on Wednesday last week its new COVID-19 conditions for domestic travel. These include:

• Completing and submitting an Air Passenger Travel Form
• Providing a contact number and an emergency contact number
• Presenting photo ID when issuing ticket
• Providing a valid reason for travelling domestically

The valid reasons for domestic travel include: residents or students returning home, students travelling to their institutions, essential business travel, medical assistance and emergency transport.

PNG Air also said it continues to operate under the strictest COVID-19 measures. (LOOP PNG)

National

The Constitutional and Law Reform Commission has launched its new website and first ICT policy at clrc.gov.pg

Agribusiness

The National Research Institute report, Strategies for improving coffee production in Papua New Guinea: Lessons from the top five coffee-producing countries notes that, between 1998 and 2018, PNG’s coffee harvest areas decreased by 33 percent and the quantity of coffee produced shrank by 28 per cent.

The report suggests the decline is a result of the challenges coffee growers face, including inadequate facilities for processing coffee and limited access to financial resources. The report proposes a joint effort between the private and public sector to provide training, funds for research and farm management, and loans. (NRI)

Ports

The Motukea Port. Credit: PNG Ports

PNG Ports reported a K83 million profit for the year ending in December 2020 and paid a dividend of K21 million to the government. Kepas Wali, Chairman of PNG Ports, reportedly said: ‘The profit and dividend payment are the result of stringent cost cutting measures and strategic decisions that management had to make.’ He also said that ‘cargo volumes are picking up, but very slowly, and revenue is fluctuating but this is being managed well,’ (Post-Courier)

Mining

The Mineral Resources Authority is consulting stakeholders after the expiry of the 2017 Simberi revised Memorandum of Agreement. The National reported that the revised MOA ‘had been unsuccessful because the New Ireland government has been refusing to sign’ on the grounds that the revised agreement didn’t consider its request for increased benefits. (The National)

***

The PNG Chamber of Mines and Petroleum, through its members, has agreed to join forces and work with the government, donors and communities to assist with the COVID-19 pandemic protocols and the established niupela pasin. The Chamber has said that it will help ensure reliable vaccination information reaches communities. It is set to support the government with the rollout of vaccinations across the country, including providing ‘logistics and cold chain (storage) support where our companies have the capacity to do so.’ Separately, ExxonMobin PNG, Oil Search, Newcrest, OK Tedi, K92 Mining, Santos, Harmony, St Barbara, Geopacific and Kingston Resources also have, through their existing health programs, the capacity to provide support. (PNGCMP)

COVID-19

A new COVID variant, the PNG variant, was confirmed last week by Queensland Health. The authority believes that strain is not as contagious as the UK strain that has swept across Europe. On 25 March there were 67 active cases of COVID-19 in Queensland hospitals, 42 of them from PNG. (The Australian).