National Development Bank under-funded, Indochine Mining makes loss and PM flags constitutional reform, and more stories in brief.

The National Development Bank has revealed more than K50 million in grants destined for the bank has been diverted elsewhere by the Government. Acting Managing Director Moses Liu says the government allocated K130 million in last year’s national budget, but only K80 million was received by the NDB.

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And the NDB says more than 4,000 people have applied to join its stret pasin business scheme. The scheme supports individuals and couples set up in business. It was part of last year’s stimulus package , and is based on the stret pasin stoa scheme previously operated by the bank.

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Indochine Mining Ltd  suffered a loss after tax of A$13.8 million (K20.8 million) for the financial year ending June 30, according to the company’s annual report. The miner said the loss was due to write downs of prior exploration expenses in Cambodia. Indochine Mining is an POMSoX and Australian Stock Exchange (ASX)-listed company, whose flagship asset is the Mt Kare gold-silver project in PNG.

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After nationalising the Ok Tedi mine and its owner, Singapore-based PNG Sustainable Fund, PNG PM Peter O’Neill has picked up on an idea long-held by former Prime Minister, Sir Julius Chan. O’Neill has written to the Constitutional Reform Commission, urging it consider a federal system of government, rather than the Westminster system.

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The Papua New Guinea Tourism Promotion Authority has won two gold medals at the Pacific Asia Travel Association ceremony in China. The two award were in the marketing category of primary government destination and that of media, for best website.

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The independence of the judiciary under Fiji’s proposed constitution is under scrutiny from NZ-based academic, Steven Ratuva, who tells Radio Australia it grants too much power to the prime minister and the attorney general, and could therefore be seen as helping to entrench the power of the current military government.

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Locals in Port Moresby appear to be defying a ban on the sale of betel nut. The ban is part of a scheme to try to clean up the capital by stopping street stains caused from the spitting of red-coloured juice produced from chewing the nut, and littering of betel nut husks. The ABC reports stalls in the city’s Hohola market were selling the nut this morning.