Motukea Island Port project expressions of interest called for, PM dismisses ‘secret deals’ with Rio Tinto, and Star Mountains project JV launches exploration campaign. Your weekly digest of the latest business news.

PNG Ports Corp has called for expressions of interest for the design and build of the proposed new wharf facilities on Motukea Island. The new port will replace the existing Port of Port Moresby. The chairman of the Independent Public Business Corp, Paul Nerau, says the plan is for relocation will be completed by the time of the APEC summit in 2018.

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PNG Prime Minister, Peter O’Neill

Prime Minister Peter O’Neill says there have been no secret deals between the PNG Government and mining giant Rio Tinto over the shares of Bougainville Copper Ltd.

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Joint venture partners Anglo American plc and Highlands Pacific Ltd have commenced a US$6.5 million (K17.5 million) exploration drilling campaign at the Star Mountains copper-gold project in West Sepik province of Papua New Guinea.

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Recruitment company, Orion Group, is launching a new training institute, the South Pacific Employment Institute (SPEI), to help provide vocational skills to citizens in Papua New Guinea. Operations Director, Nick Smith, says the aim is for locals to take over jobs currently undertaken by expatriates.

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National Housing Estate Ltd has signed an agreement to refurbish housing at the Manu Auto Port area in Port Moresby, under a private-public partnership deal, reports the Post-Courier.

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Cadets participating in the Steamships sponsorships cadet program have joined Youth With a Mission’s new training and medical ship, the MV YWAM PNG, for 13 weeks to gain sea time and experience as part of their maritime training.

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Agriculture Minister Tommy Tomscoll says he is looking at ways to reduce Papua New Guinea’s heavy dependence on rice imports and to be a rice exporting country in the near future, says the Post-Courier.

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Nasfund CEO Ian Tarutia says he is concerned at growing unemployment levels in PNG, and says entrepreneurship can help resolve the problem. He told the Kumul Game Changers Program only half a million people are Nasfund members out of PNG’s seven million. ‘We (super funds) also pay taxes. There is a big disparity with only a small number of people who are contributing to the country’s growth and development,’ Tarutia added.

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A K500 million development plan is underway to develop downtown Lae City with modern commercial buildings and shops, by the MMI2020 Group Ltd, which owns Money Talks Ltd and Awaincorp Ltd. Manager Mathew told the Post-Courier the project will create about 2000 jobs in Lae.

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Stanley Alphonse, CEO, PNG Ports Authority

PNG Ports CEO Stanley Alphonse say only three of the company’s 15 port facilities are profitable. He said the Lae, Port Moresby and Kimbe ports made money while the others operated under a community service obligations program.

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Prime Minister Peter O’Neill is looking for a wave of new resource projects to help Papua New Guinea develop an ‘all-important value-added downstream processing industry’.

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A bill before Parliament in Papua New Guinea will force political parties to ensure 10% of candidates that they endorse for a general election are women, the Post-Courier reports.

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Australia’s Searcher Seismic is currently reprocessing two prominent regional seismic datasets in Papua New Guinea and the Philippines. The Lahara survey in PNG includes over 12,000km of 2D long off-set seismic data over the Papuan basin.

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Oil Search’s Peter Botten

In the company’s 2015 first quarter report, Oil Search Ltd Managing Director Peter Botten said its oil and gas business in Papua New Guinea was continuing to ‘perform reliably’ despite weakness in global commodity prices.

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Funds for state-owned entities with interests in extractive industry projects should go into the Sovereign Wealth Fund (SWF) before distribution, the SWF technical team says.

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A freshwater prawn project taking place in various areas throughout Papua New Guinea has proved successful since its launch by the National Fisheries Authority (NFA), Secretariat of South Pacific Community (SPC) and the University of PNG in 2010.

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And finally…. a Fijian aid team in Vanuatu has delivered 19 babies on the island of Tanna, in the wake of Cyclone Pam. The team set up a medical station at the site of the wrecked Lenakel Hospital and later told Vanuatu Prime Minister, Joe Natuman, that one of the parents insisted her newborn be named after the Fijian doctors.