Broadband network to be completed by the end the year, Oil Search concludes five-year credit agreement and ADB approves funding Highlands Highway project. Your weekly digest of the latest business news.

PNG’s National Transmission Network will be completed by the end of 2017, Huawei spokesman Brent Hooley has told The National. Huawei is working with Telikom PNG and PNG DataCo to construct a 5457 km national transmission cable network which will run across 14 coastal centres in the country. Hooley said the NTN has now been rolled out to most of the main cities and will be able to deliver broadband to more than 80,000 premises across the country.

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Oil Search has negotiated a new, five-year, revolving credit facility worth US$600 million (K1.9 billion) with 14 banks across the globe. Credit providers include all four major Australian domestic banks, one Papua New Guinean bank and nine international banks.

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Mud slide on the Highlands Highway. Courtesy: Peter Korugi

The Asian Development Bank has approved funding of US$866.5 million (K2.7 billion) for the Highlands Highway repair and maintenance project. Total funding for the project is about US$1 billion (K3.1 billion). A US$148.5 million (K472 million) government contribution will also help fund the program. For the first tranche, the Australian Government is providing a grant of US$11.5 million (K27.8 million) to co-finance the program.

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The National Government will negotiate the transfer of 25 per cent of Kroton (Kumul Petroleum Holdings) shares valued at K3.5 billion as free carry to landowners and provincial governments in the PNG LNG project areas. Prime Minister Peter O’Neill reportedly says the deal is similar to the way shares in Ok Tedi were transferred to the people in Western Province, and the transfer of BCL shares to the people on Bougainville.

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Meanwhile, the PNG Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative 2014 Report, says US$39.8 million (K119.4 million) has been paid in royalties to the Department of Energy for landowners impacted by the PNG LNG project. The report says the money is being held in a trust account, while the beneficiaries are correctly identified.

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More than 400 local residents will be employed on the Star Mountain Plaza development after the developers of the  convention and performing arts centre prepare to employ another 157 workers over the next two months, according to Mineral Resource Development Company Managing Director Augustine Mano.

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The coffee pod borer will continue to spread into provinces in the Highlands and Mamose if the Government fails to fund its containment and management, says National Agricultural Quarantine and Inspection Authority senior entomologist David Tenakanai. This could affect about 80 per cent of PNG’s coffee crop within six to 12 months.

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Air Niugini has opened an upgraded Paradise lounge at the Nadzab airport in Lae. The lounge will provide the usual snacks, tea, coffee and soft drinks, as well as free Wi-Fi and a conference room.

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Newcrest Mining has reportedly re-signed a contract with PNG Air to provide services to Lihir Island, New Ireland. It will also provide charter flights from Cairns and Port Moresby. PNG Air’s sixth ATR 72 -600 aircraft has arrived in the country, as part of a plan to replace all its Dash-8 aircraft to become a 100 per cent operator of ATR planes by 2020.

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Flight simulator. Credit: Fiji Airways

Fiji Airways has confirmed the acquisition of a CAE Boeing 737 MAX aircraft full simulator for the Fiji Aviation Academy. Managing Director Andre Viljoen said the new academy will have two flight simulators to train local and regional pilots.

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And finally, businesses are closing in Hawaii, reports RNZI, because the unemployment rate is the lowest it has been in 10 years and businesses are struggling to find staff. Some business owners say 30 per cent of its job applicants do not even show up for their first interview. Another 20 per cent of those that were hired do not make it to their first shift.