Among our stories this week: the PM backs Purari River, National Roads Authority chief outlines Papua New Guinea’s roads challenge and a new INA report outlines impediments for the private sector.

Prime Minister Peter O’Neill says he wants the proposed massive Purari River project to go ahead, telling the ABC’s Sean Dorney it would be the basis for a special Northern Australia/PNG Economic Zone: ‘we want North Queensland and northern Australia to partner us in this development.’

Dorney also reported that some of the company representatives at the business luncheon O’Neill was addressing were quite concerned about the nationalisation of the Ok Tedi mine.

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Papua New Guinea’s backlog of road maintenance costs is estimated at K3 billion, and that does not include the costs of construction of new roads, says Ponege Poya, CEO of the National Roads Authority. Poya said the authority has to maintain 9,000 kms of roads on the country’s 16 national highways.

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A report by the Institute of National Affairs shows law and order, corruption, electricity and transport as the main impediments to growing a thriving private sector environment.
 Analysing last week’s World Bank ‘Ease of Doing Business’ report for 2014, INA director, Paul Barker, said it provided a useful comparison of factors that influence investment decision-making around the world.
 But, Barker said, some factors in developed countries in Europe, America and Japan may not be the same in developing economies like PNG.

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Dozens of Australian Federal Police officers have begun patrolling in Papua New Guinea despite some concerns they are unarmed, unprotected and unable to properly carry out their jobs. The officers will provide frontline advisory support to strengthen policing in Port Moresby and Lae. Thirty arrived this week. Another 20 are expected later this year.

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Agriculture Minister Tommy Tomscol has employed Dr Winton Bates, an agriculture policy maker from New Zealand, to devise a new structure for agriculture in PNG. Tomscol also says he’s approved a new policy to improve coffee production ‘to look after growers’. He also said a new subsidy scheme would allow farmers to get tools instead of money, and root out ‘paper farmers (fake farmers).

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Air Niugini reported a net profit of US$38.3 million (K100 million) and a gross turnover of US$383 million (K1 billion) last financial year, according to Public Enterprises and State Investments Minister, Ben Micah. He said a dividend of K7.6 million had also been declared to the state through the Independent Public Business Corporation (IPBC).

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Three senior journalists at PNG Government-run radio and television stations have been demoted following critical coverage of the takeover of the Ok Tedi mine, and payments to a lawyer at the centre of corruption allegations.

The three have been quarantined in the National Broadcasting Corporation’s archive section. The reporters have been accused of biased reporting against the government.

Meanwhile, Australia’s national newsagency, Australian Associated Press, has closed its PNG office after 60 years, as part of a cost-cutting exercise.

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PNG investigators say they have uncovered a racket involving lawyers, bureaucrats and politicians colluding to defraud the state of hundreds of millions of dollars following the arrest of lawyer Paul Paraka. Officers from the multi-agency anti-corruption unit Task Force Sweep arrested Paraka last week. Paraka was charged with 18 offences including conspiracy to defraud, stealing by false pretence and money laundering.

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The tourism liner, P&O’s Pacific Dawn, has made its first port of call at Alotau port, Milne Bay. Locals welcomed visitors and crew on canoes from the Kenu and Kundu Festival, with crew helping out on rowing duties.

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Finally, US aviation regulators have cleared the safe use of mobile devices—but not phones—during take-off and landing for US airlines. US carriers are expected to let passengers use smartphones, tablets, and e-book readers from gate to gate by the end of the year. Cellular voice calls will remain banned because of the possibility of radio interference with flight equipment.