Emmanuel MAIPE

The Prime Minister has declared a State of Emergency in the city of Port Moresby to give time for the city to recover and also investigations to be conducted in what had happened that led to the riots yesterday. Prime Minister James Marape said the recommendation put forth by the National Security Advisory Committee and the National Security Council was to have a 14 day period for the SOE. The Deputy Police Commissioner Operations Donald Yamasobi has been made Controller of the SOE and pushed to Acting Police Commissioner while Deputy Commissioner Sam Kua has been made Yamasobi's second. Police Commissioner David Manning has been suspended for the while they SOE period runs. This PM said that this will allow for investigations into what had happened with the officers involved in the stop work protest and deal with them. He said these officers didn't follow protocol to air their issues, instead opted to go on a stop work, which directly led to the riots. Also, the secretaries for Department of Finance, Personnel Management and Treasury are suspended to allow for investigations. He also said Yamasobi will be looking into how to get in food and fuel for the city residence, which is now part of the TOR for the SOE.  

Prime Minister (PM) James Marape is expected to announce to the country this afternoon whether a State of Emergency (SOE) will be declared in the city of Port Moresby with tough security measures to be put in place. The PM this morning in his address to the nation, said that the actions by the public, mostly opportunists yesterday, were uncalled for and unfortunate. However, he assured the public and business houses that there is now control in the city with additional police manpower flown in from Lae last night to assist police officers and Papua New Guinea Defence Force (PNGDF) soldiers on the ground. “Today the National Security Advisory Committee will meet and later today, the National Security Council meet, and cabinet will convene at 2 O’clock today to look into what has taken place yesterday, what gave rise to the police issue,” said the PM. The PM also suggested that there is something more at play here than just the glitch in the payroll system, which resulted in the riots and lootings. He mentioned that there is indication of a mob that run from one part of the city to another causing riots and lootings, which he described as “organized riots” that took place after police went to work. “We are also looking deeper into this, we are tracing contacts, and we are ascertaining that there is deep political influence on the side to ensure this sort of things take place in our country.” Marape said the National Security Advisory Committee meeting will recommend certain actions to be taken and the National Security Council meet after that, will also put forth recommendations to cabinet for approval before the country can know about the steps forward in terms of security in the city. The PM also apologized to the business community for the losses in the riots yesterday and pledged to assist them in some ways to recoup their losses. He also sends his condolences to the families of the opportunists who made the poor decision to loot the shops and supermarkets and ended up dead.   PM Marape then appealed to the public to take ownership of the city and stop the nonsense of further destructions to public properties.

The main shopping center of the Gerehu suburb in Port Moresby today fell to the hands of opportunists that broke in and stole everything, evening setting fire to them. People, ranging from little children to teenagers to moms and dads, and even some elderly folks were seen running in and looting all of the shops, risking their lives stealing items ranging from food to white goods, and with no police in site to control the situation, people ran riot for over an hour. The looting is part of a string of rampages and lootings in the capital city after some police officers without going through proper process to address their matter of concern, decided to take the matter into their own hands and stopped work today over what they claim is an additional increase in tax on their salaries. The word of the police protest spread wild on social media platforms, triggering the opportunists to take advantage of the situation. Police at Gerehu along with some security officers tried to intervene, but were outnumbered by the crowed and with no backup, they couldnt do much. Meanwhile, witnesses claim that some police officers that initially arrived at the scene told the people to continue the looting and then just drove off. The city of Port Moresby this afternoon is quite tense with people having to leave work early and run to the safety of their homes, and with no real presence of police on the streets, the question now is how soon will order return to the capital city of Papua New Guinea. Ends//EM

The Minister for International Trade and Investment has come out to respond to comments made by the head of the Papua New Guinea (PNG) Institute of National Affairs (INA) on the Special Economic Zone (SEZ) initiative of the government, which stated that SEZs encourage corruption. Minister Richard Maru said that the comments made by the PNG INA Director, Mr. Paul Barker in one of the daily newspapers yesterday, Monday 08th January, was simply misleading. “If the SEZs are encouraging corruption, then why have countries like China, Bangladesh, Indonesia, and t Philippines chosen SEZs as the major driver for sustainable and inclusive economic growth and continue to invest in SEZs right throughout their countries?” “These countries have proven that SEZs are a very successful vehicle for transformation of countries and creation of thousands of jobs. Where is the literature and your facts to prove this? You cannot just make a broad attack on SEZs,” Minister Maru stressed. The minister said Mr. Barker’s observations were reflective of a bygone colonial era. He gave an example of the current Paga Hill SEZ project, saying that if that land wasn’t acquired to be used for an SEZ, it would have been turned into a major settlement on a prime land of the city, rife with petty crimes instead of creating jobs. He said by the time the whole Paga Hill SEZ is put together, this one development will transform the city with 12, 000 new jobs and millions of Kina in Goods and Services Tax (GST) and personal income tax. “We are working to build a great nation and a great city. This is our capital, and you are asking us to go backward. Where is your alternative to the transformation of this city? You have never given us an alternative. You should be ashamed of the very insensitive comments you have made,” said Minister Maru. Minister Maru added that the SEZ was a signature policy of the Marape-Rosso Government, and as such, the State has put in measures to prevent any corrupt dealings. “We have a very good SEZ Act that was passed in 2019 and we are just finalizing the final draft of the new SEZ Foundation Policy. PNG’s SEZ Legislation provides a rigorous framework for evaluating potential SEZ Projects, as well as tightly monitoring their ongoing operation and fulfilment of stated objective.” He said Mr. Barker’s comments that SEZs somehow encourage corruption or establish an uneven playing field for companies, are ridiculous and have no basis. “Governments around the world frequently implement short-term incentives and even preferential treatment, such as allowing skilled migration for selected in-demand professions to address needs and achieve strategic objectives. PNG SEZs are no different,” he said. He further stated that the National Government is determined to implement the SEZs on the back of the success of many other countries and learning from best practice right throughout the world. “If there is any corruption in the implementation of our SEZ Policy then please provide us the facts so we can deal with such claims or refer such allegations to the appropriate authorities. The Marape-Rosso Government has nothing to hide, and we have no self-interest in the discharge of our responsibilities in driving SEZs as the main driver of economic growth in the non-resource sector.” “In the MTDP 4 we plan to create 1 million new jobs over the next five years and based on the experiences of so many countries, we are certain SEZs will be the major creator of new jobs,” said the minister.

PNG Power Limited (PPL) could have restored full electricity supply on the Ramu grid to the upper Highlands region sooner, had it not been for landowners preventing workers from detecting a recent fault that disrupted power supply to five areas last week. According to the State-owned power company, some of the transmission line towers cannot be remotely accessed on the PNG Power system to locate a fault and therefore, PPL teams must physically access them to find out where a fault might be along the power grid. However, when PPL teams went in to investigate some of those towers, they were prevented to do so by landowners, who demanded compensation payment before accessing their lands where the towers are located. Nevertheless, PPL eventually accessed the towers with the assistance of the police and located the fault, fixed it and restored power over the weekend to Kundiawa, Jiwaka, Mt. Hagen, Wabag and Southern Highlands province. Initially, the power disruption within the Ramu Grid occurred last week Thursday when PPL experienced power issued along the main transmission lines between Himitovi to Kundiawa and Kundiawa to Kudjip, which also caused Pauanda Hydro to trip off. This then caused power to trip, causing power disruptions in all the upper Highlands region. Meanwhile, PPL said the issues with landowners demanding compensation before the access of power infrastructures on their land in totally unnecessary as it only prevents PPL from providing effective electricity service to the masses.

Teams from PNG Power Limited (PPL) are currently working hard replacing High Voltage (HV) transmission lines that were apparently damaged over the weekend and shutting power to Wau in the Morobe province. According to PPL, the work on the lines and poles will take at least a day to fix before power can be restored to the residences, business houses and public institutions in the township. The replacing of the HV lines follows reports of people apparently cutting and stealing the transmission lines, while in another incident, vehicles ran into two separate power poles, affecting power supply along the Zenag Transmission Line from Parakris to Timini. This repair and restoration work is quite expensive to do and is another cost burden on PNG Power for the new HV transmission lines and the power poles as well. PPL will advise its customers of the outcome of the restoration work, once everything is done and full power restored to the Wau Township.

Fuel consumers can now breathe a sigh of relief with the Independent Consumer and Competitions Commission (ICCC) announcing that the prices for petrol, diesel and kerosene have dropped for the month of January. According to ICCC, the drop in fuel prices will be experienced right throughout the country starting today, Monday 08th January 2024. The Commission said the drop in the prices of all three petroleum products was due to the average decrease in international crude oil prices in the month of December. 2023. The average crude oil price was mainly attributed to the increase supply amid heightened geopolitical tension in the Middle East. However, the domestic retail fuel prices for January are inclusive of the Import Parity Prices (IPPs) or the imported costs for each petroleum product, domestic sea and road freight rates for the first quarter of 2024, the annual wholesale and retail margins for 2024, and the Goods and Services Tax (GST), including the applicable excise duties among other parameters. Therefore, all retail prices in the designated centers will change according to their quarterly approved domestic freight rates for the first quarter of 2024, and their respective annual retail margins for this year. Meanwhile, the ICCC investigation officers, as part of their enforcement, will be conducting inspections to all service stations to ensure the prices of fuel comply with the allowable maximum prices. The ICCC officers will be conducting compliance inspections in Lae, Mt. Hagen, Kokopo and Port Moresby cities. Inspections in other provinces will be conducted by ICCC agents and respective provincial administrations in those provinces.

The efforts by Ok Tedi Mining Limited (OTML) put in towards protecting the environment and the communities it operates in, resulted in the mining company exceeding its environmental protection target in 2023. This was revealed just recently in a statement by OTML, stating that it has exceeded its annual sediment dredge target of 10 Million Cubic Meters (Mm3) and its rehabilitation target of 35 hectares for 2023 at its Bige Operations, which is located 125km from the mine site at the Star Mountains of Western province. The Bige Operations dredged 10.3 Mm3 of river sediments and rehabilitated 40 hectares (ha) of sand stockpile in 2023. This achievement highlights the company’s dedication to managing the sediment loads in the Ok Tedi and Fly River systems, thereby preventing adverse environmental and social impacts. The Bige Operations Team exceeded the annual sediment dredge and stockpile rehabilitation target figures through hard work, perseverance and commitment despite a few challenges, including the dry weather. The Manager for Bige Operations, Mr. Naimen Kepan, said achieving these targets is important to OTML as it contributes to maintaining the company’s social license to operate while mitigating the impacts of riverine sediments on the environment and the associated implications on local communities. “This is a crucial aspect of responsible mining and is in line with our Ok Tedi Environment Management Act (OTEMA) guidelines and requirements,” Mr. Kepan said. “Achieving our target in rehabilitation brings us a step closer to rehabilitating our (East Bank) stockpile in line with OTML’s Mine Area Rehabilitation Plan (MARP) requirements and Closure Plan to leave a self-sustainable environment for the local community post mine closure,” he said. The collaboration between different OTML teams and the dredging contractor Dredeco, demonstrates an inclusive and integrated approach to safely achieving the set targets without major incidents. Approximately 10 Mm3 (~17Mt) of sand is removed from the river each year and placed in engineered stockpiles for rehabilitation works. OTML has dredged approximately 436Mt of sand from the river since 1998 and will continue to meet its annual dredging and rehabilitation targets.

It’s the start of a brand-new year and the Internal Revenue Commission (IRC) is already advising the general taxpayers through a notice that if they wish to engage someone to attend to their taxation matters this year, they should start consulting a registered Tax Agent or the IRC for assistance. Also, any unregistered tax agents are advised to apply to IRC to legally register as a Tax Agent before they can start providing any taxation services to their clients. These services include Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN) Registration, Certificate of Compliance (CoC), Lodgement of Tax Returns, Payment of Tax Liabilities, Objections, Stamp Duty, Tax Clearance Certificate (TCC) and Advising. The IRC is also advising that taxpayers who wish to appoint a Public Officer, must ensure that he or she is a Director, Secretary or other Officer of the Company or any Attorney or Agent of the company. Unregistered tax agents are reminded by the IRC that under Section 349 of the Income Tax Act (ITA) 1959, they are not allowed to charge fees for providing any taxation services to their clients. The penalty for this offence is a fine of not less than K500 and not exceeding K5, 000. “Section 352 of the ITA also prohibits unregistered tax agents to directly or indirectly describe yourself or advertise in any manner that income tax returns will be prepared by you. The penalty for this offence is a fine of not less than K500 and not exceeding K5, 000,” the IRC stated in the notice. However, the IRC stated that unregistered Tax Agents can only charge accounting fees and not taxation fees. The IRC will not entertain any unauthorized person attending to a taxpayer’s taxation matters.

Over K300million of dividend was finally paid out by Ok Tedi Mining Limited (OTML) to its shareholders recently to close of another year of business for the mining company. OTML said it paid out a final dividend payment of K350million to its shareholders on 28th December 2023, bringing the total dividend to K450million for the year. The Company had declared an initial interim dividend payment of K100million on 26th October citing a positive outlook for a final dividend payment in December 2023. OTML Board Chairman, Jeffrey Innes, thanked employees, contract partners and the mine impacted communities for their support throughout 2023. He said that 2023 was a restore and reset year for OTML marked by the appointment and restructure of a new senior leadership team. Mr. Innes said the need for this change in leadership was to bring forth a comprehensive overhaul of restoring, resetting, and reinvigorating the entire business while focusing strategic emphasis on business improvement, cost efficiencies and liquidity, stakeholder engagement, long-term planning and implementation of Tax Credit Projects aligned with the National Government Development Strategy 2050. With the OTML Board approval of the Mine Life Extension up to 2050, Mr. Innes said the Company envisions sustainable growth up to 2050, with a particular focus on energy transition. Mr. Innes said Key strategic Growth 2050 projects are in place and progressing well based on the Company’s current Strategic Business Plan and is expected to generate K30billion in cash flow. “The El Nino onset also affected the OTML operations for a while in November; however, the Company has implemented its Dry Weather Management Plan to see it through the challenges and is pleased to declare that Ok Tedi remains profitable and continues to deliver to our shareholders,” said the Chairman.

The Minister for International Trade and Investment has told his officers and staff of the Department of International Trade and Investment (DITI) that 2024 will be the year of implementation of everything that they have laid the ground works for this year. Speaking at a recent DITI event in the city of Port Moresby, Minister Richard Maru said one of the main things on the agenda is the Special Economic Zone (SEZ) projects. He said the Ministry of International Trade and Investment (MITI), which is still quite new, was created to be the primary driver of economic growth in Papua New Guinea (PNG), through the SEZs and other avenues such the opening of Trade Missions, establishing trade agreements and bringing in investments. Minister Maru said SEZs have the potential of creating more employment for the people than resource sector projects like in the mining and petroleum sectors, which at the start of their construction phase, recruit more people and then downsizing once construction ends and the production phase commences. The Minister said with the SEZs, they will create permanent employment for thousands of Papua New Guineans. He gave the example of the current Paga Hill SEZ project in Port Moresby. Maru said once it’s completed, 5, 000 to 7, 000 permanent jobs are expected to be created. Hence, the minister urged the staff of both the MITI and the DITI that next year, a lot more will be done to establish the SEZs, which he said was made possible through the inaugural SEZ Summit early this year. “As a result of the SEZ Summit, we are likely to have seven to eight licensed SEZs by next year,” said the minister. Reflecting on 2023, Maru told the staff that a lot more will be demanded of them in 2024 in terms of the SEZs. “It’s been a tough year, but we’ve made a lot of progress. So, I think next year will be more exciting. The foundation and the hard yard were laid this year, next year we are going to start seeing the benefits.” Meanwhile, the main achievements for both the MITI and DITI this year included the SEZ Summit, the World Indigenous Business Forum (WIBF) and inaugural PNG- Asia Investment Conference 2023 held in Hong Kong to name a few.

In an effort to get more from the country’s Fisheries Sector, the Ministry of International Trade and Investment (MITI) has pushed for imposing a tax on all unprocessed fish caught in Papua New Guinea (PNG) waters by fishing companies and shipped overseas. Minister for International Trade and Investment, Richard Maru said the good news is that the government supports this initiative by the Ministry. “Through our initiative, we brought parliament to pass a law that by the first of July next year (2024), this country will for the first time introduce a 20% tax on all the fish brought out unprocessed,” said Minister Maru. He said this would go in line with the joint venture initiative between the State and RD Tuna Corporation to expand the fish canneries under a Special Economic Zone (SEZ) arrangement, because this tax would also ensure that fish caught in the country’s waters get processed here and then exported to overseas markets. He said this would come under a domestication policy that would ensure Papua New Guineans can operate their own boats and fish in the waters alongside overseas vessels licensed to fish in PNG waters. “We have been pushing that and I want to thank the prime minister and the Treasurer for their support, we are going to now impose a tax. So, those fishing companies who continue to take fish out without processing, are going to now be taxed, and they need to be taxed.” Minister Maru also said that the country needs to have tougher laws in place to protect the fisheries sector and one of the things that he has been pushing for is to have a policy in place to allow for fishing licenses to be issued to fishing companies, only on the condition that all the catch, will be processed here in PNG. That way the country’s fisheries sector will be better protected from illegal fishing and revenue loss and at the same time, create more employment for the people through the fish canneries.