Visas on arrival to be available for Australian tourists, Morobe Governor to suspend trading licences for shops using street vendors, and corruption cases net K25 million for government coffers. Your weekly digest of the latest business news.

Australian tourists will be issued with visas on arrival from next November, when Air Niugini starts direct services into special tourist zones, starting with Gurney–Alotau next November, according to National Planning Minister Charles Abel. He says however, that visas on arrival will not be issued for Australian business people. He says visas on arrival will also be issued at Mt Hagen, Kokopo and Madang.

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Morobe Governor, Kelly Naru

Morobe Governor Kelly Naru says Asian shops distributing items to street vendors to resell on the streets of Lae city will have their trading licences revoked. The Lae Chamber of Commerce is also warning businesses to stay alert and to take care when travelling around the city, following recent protests against the operation of illegal street vendors in the city.

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PNG’s Investigation Taskforce Sweep reports it has registered more than 350 cases of corruption since 2011, resulting in K25 million of missing funds being paid back to the Internal Revenue Commission. The report says it has also identified a further K200 million for recovery. It has not been allocated any funding in the 2016 national budget, and says its replacement, the proposed Independent Commission Against Corruption, has not been allocated funding in the 2016 budget either.

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Bank of South Pacific has announced its earnings for the third quarter of 2015. Group profit after tax fell 9% on the previous quarter, to K124 million. The decline was attributed ‘mainly to loan write-offs in the retail segment’. However, the bank’s year-to-date profits were up slightly compared on the corresponding period last year, as was revenue.

The bank’s Q2 results summary including K496 million in additional assets as the result if its acquisiton of Westpac’s operation sin the Cook Island , Samoa and Tonga. The bank’s total assets are now worth K17.4 billion.

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The Governor of Papua New Guinea’s Chimbu province, Noah Kool, says money provided by the national government for drought relief is fast running out. He says the province experienced heavy rain last week for the first time in months, but that has done little to help.

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National Airports Corporation’s Joseph Tupiri

The K34 million redevelopment of Oro province’s Girua airport will completely change the image of the province, according to National Airport Corporation acting Managing Director, Joseph Tupiri. The upgrade includes rebuilding the runway, security fence, a new terminal building and a new car park. The work is being done by China Harbour Engineering Company.

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Northern Province Governor Gary Juffa also says high taxes on internal flights are hampering domestic tourism. His comments follow a call by Prime Minister, Peter O’Neill, for more Papua New Guineans to travel around the nation as tourists.

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The Department of Personnel Management’s John Kali

Telikom CEO, Michael Donnelly, says a new data centre will be set up in Port Moresby to cater for business houses next year. He says Telikom and bmobile will also launch a 4G mobile service in January.

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Heads of departments and provincial administrators have been told to remove employees of foreign governments occupying technical advisory roles in the Government, following new regulations changing the way aid-funded technical advisers are employed. The Secretary of the Department of Personnel Management, John Kali, says aid programmes in the police force, defence force, Correctional Services, judicial and magisterial services, universities and State-owned entities are not affected. The new rules come into effect on 1 January, 2016.

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Air Niugini CEO, Simon Foo, says the airline will start a second return service to Narita Airport in Japan each Wednesday from next July. The new Wednesday departure will complement the existing Saturday return service.

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Kina Securities has rebranded Kina Bank with new colours, which Chairman, Sir Rabbie Namaliu, says are inspired by the country’s vibrant and extraordinary people, flora and fauna, reflecting a bright future for both Kina and PNG. The move follows Kina’s recent initial public offering, and its acquisition of Maybank PNG.

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Marengo Mining has announced that it has delisted from the Port Moresby Stock Exchange and changed its name to Era Resources.

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InterOil will now own more than 78% of the Triceratops and Raptor discoveries in Gulf Province, after Pacific Exploration & Production Corporation withdrew from Papua New Guinea. CEO Michael Hession also expects ‘to reduce corporate and other associated costs by more than 50% in 2016’.

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PNG Air’s ATR 72-600

PNG Air has been granted Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) approval to operate its newly acquired French-built ATR 72-600 aircraft to airports in the country.

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The 11-year old Asia Pacific Stock Exchange has launched a mining and oil & gas market in Sydney, inviting companies from throughout the Asian and Pacific region to list under either Australian, South African or Canadian codes.  APX Chief Operating Officer, David Lawrence, says mining companies with assets predominantly in Australia, New Zealand or Papua New Guinea will be required to report using the Australian JORC Code.

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Vanuatu Agriculture Research Centre’s sweet potato. Credit: Tok Pisin Service, Radio Australia

And finally, the Vanuatu Agriculture Research Centre says it has come up with about 50 improved varieties of sweet potatoes that can be cultivated during droughts, the dry season and in poor soil conditions. Researcher, Dr Vincent Lebot, says the varieties will allow farmers to yield 20 to 30 tonnes of sweet potatoes per hectare in just three to four months.