Airport upgrade to see night flights and early landings at Western Highlands airport, calls to properly fund the fight against coffee berry borer, and Tkatchenko moves on illegally approved land sales. Your weekly digest of the latest business news.

A contract between National Airports Corporation and Essar Projects PNG will enable Boeing 737 jets to land at Kagamuga Airport in Western Highlands. NAC CEO Richard Yopo told The National this would cut down the number of flights from Fokker 100s. Essar Projects Ltd, an Indian company, will work on the runway strengthening, new air traffic control tower building and other associated work at the Mt Hagen Airport. Yopo says the project will also enable night-landings and early-morning takeoffs.

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Sir Brown Bai

The Rural Industries Council has called on the Government to properly resource the coffee industry in the 2017 Budget, to allow it to fight the coffee berry borer. Chairman Sir Brown Bai says the K2 million allocated in the 2017 Supplementary Budget falls far short of the K60 million requested last year by former Agriculture Minister, Tommy Tomscoll.

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Lands Minister, Justin Tkatchenko, says he expects a legal challenge by a company claiming a title over public land that he wants returned to the state, according to RNZI. Tkatchenko said the title for prime coastal land in Koki, for which Malaysian-owned Kitogara Ltd gained a title, was illegally approved. Tkatchenko says he has sought to bring 26 titles back into public ownership in the last six weeks, adding that 70 more are planned, including all public space in the National Capital District.

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The National Fisheries Authority has paid a dividend of K60 million to the national government this month, the next instalment of its projected K170 million total dividend. The balance of K50 million is expected by the end of November.

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BMI Research, a unit of the ratings agency Fitch, expects the central bank to keep interest rates on hold through 2018. A BMI briefing says ‘persistent fiscal deficits, higher inflation, and a recharged US Federal Reserve hiking cycle will likely leave little policy room for the Bank of PNG to ease any further to support growth.’

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Lae City has signed a statement of intent with Cairns, Australia, which will, among other things, pave the way for improved tourism, cultural engagement and economic linkages between the two cities.

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Guangdong Rising Assets Management, the company trying to develop the Frieda River mine, is allegedly under investigation in China for questionable investments in Australian mining ventures that it is claimed lost more than US$1 billion. Australian media reports former Chairman, Li Jinming, was expelled from the Communist Party over losses incurred before the company’s investment in PNG.

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And finally, Australia’s Channel 7 has made an arrangement with the Pacific Island Media Association (PIMA) in New Zealand for its commentators to be instructed in Pacific name pronunciations. PIMA’s Will ‘Ilolahia says Channel 7 approached them ahead of the Rugby League World Cup, for which it has broadcast rights. There was an uproar earlier this year over a Fox Sports television segment which was seen to have poked fun at Pacific names.