Papua New Guineans have been challenged to “actively contribute” towards development projects like the Boroko Transformation Project if citizens want to see change in the Pacific’s largest country.

Prime Minister James Marape issued this challenge this week when launching the National Capital District Commission’s Boroko Transformation Project in Port Moresby.

“This must happen. We all have a job to do, a role to play. Not just here in Port Moresby, but also around the country,” Marape said.

“If you want Papua New Guinea to develop, you have a job to do as well. Take care of Boroko.

“Don’t spit betel nut spittle here. We do not have other cities, we only have this city.”

Betel nut is the seed of the fruit of the areca palm with distinctive blood-red juice. It is chewed with betel leaf and lime for their effects as a mild stimulant, causing a warming sensation in the body and slightly heightened alertness.

It is popular across Papua New Guinea and in neighbouring countries.

24-hour business hub
The Boroko Commercial Business District will undergo major developments to enable it to achieve the status of a 24-hour business hub that is clean and safe for residents, businesses and visitors.

NCD Governor Powes Parkop said this project is part of NCDC’s Vision 2030 to transform Port Moresby.

“This city carries our name. It is our image, our pride. It is the first place of arrival and the last place of departure for all our friends, investors and tourists from all over world,” he said.

“They define our people and our country by this capital city of ours. That is why it is very important that we lift this capital city leaving no stones behind.”

According to City Manager Ravu Frank, the plans for the Boroko Transformation Project were drawn up in November last year and since then, more than K400,000 (NZ$186,000) has been spent in major clean-ups and road work programmes, setting the foundations for developments expected in the future.

“The Boroko Transformation project is all geared to achieve our desire, wish and objective of a clean, safe, healthy and a planned Boroko for a liveable environment,” Frank said.

On Monday this week, Boroko was declared a “betel nut-free zone” and other similar regulations will kick in as the transformation project unfolds.

Republished with permission.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

A small speeding vehicle allegedly driven by an off-duty soldier set off a chain reaction this week that saw two security guards taken to hospital and the burning of a vehicle belonging to the security company.

Guards from the Alpha Response Security firm and two PNG Defence Force sailors from Basilisk Naval base in downtown Port Moresby were recorded on video on Thursday morning in a heated argument that turned physical.

The reaction was instantaneous as more than 25 sailors arrived in a bus and destroyed two vehicles, burned a vehicle and put two guards in hospital.

In an all too familiar sight, the scene of soldiers ruling the roads of Boroko was again played out with the public staying far away and gunshots heard as businesses along the Hubert Murray Highway kept their doors locked.

Police stayed clear.

The fear was evident as chatter from the public was kept at a minimum.

Soldiers have once again taken over the streets of Boroko because of confrontations — like they did in 2016.

‘It will be dealt with’
The PNGDF hierarchy comes out with the same response of “it will be dealt with” and then no word, no report and no update to the questions raised by those concerned.

This time though, in 2023, two sailors are now held by military police after they were recorded throwing punches with security guards at the new Boroko Bank South Pacific ATM near the TST supermarket.

PNGDF deputy commander Commodore Philip Polewara said that the sailors’ involvement and the extent of their actions is now being investigated by the military police.

Questions asked of who was in control of such acts were not responded to with protocol of questioning to be followed.

“We are investigating and we will deal with the incident. For now the two sailors involved are in military police custody,” said Commodore Polewara.

Alpha Response Security firm owner Oscar Wei said in an interview he would allow investigations to take place.

In uncovering what occurred, the Post-Courier found that the fight started after the vehicle, a Toyota Mk 2, driven by an off-duty sailor, which nearly mowed down a guard.

Heated argument
A confrontation occurred with the two men returning dressed in their PNGDF uniform and accompanied by another two sailors.

The four men got into a heated argument and fought with the guards before leaving.

As the guards were trying to take down statements of what happened at the Boroko police station, a bus load of sailors arrived and instantly removed the public and other vehicles.

Armed with kerosene, knives, spades and shovels, the windows of three vehicles were smashed with the vehicle parked in the middle of the road set alight by the soldiers.

As swift as their arrival, they departed just as quickly before the Fire Service arrived and stopped the fire.

Attempts to get comments from police about the incident were unsuccessful.

Republished with permission.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

As families prepare to celebrate Christmas with their loved ones, a safe house in Papua New Guinea’s capital Port Moresby has kicked out gender-based violence survivors, leaving them homeless for the festive season.

One of the survivors, 37-year-old Gathy Peter from the Autonomous Region of Bougainville, told the PNG Post-Courier that they were informed by staff from the safe house (named) that the house would be closed for holidays.

“So for those of us who have no family here in Port Moresby, they just left us at the Boroko police station and I have been here as I have nowhere to go,” she said.

“Another woman, who had her two children with her, was also left here but she has since left the station premises.”

Peter is a mother of three, she met her husband (named) when he went to Bougainville for the crisis and they got married, and in 1997 they moved to her husband’s hometown in Southern Highlands province.

“We had three kids, one boy and two girls, but life was not good, my husband was violent, so after four years, in 2012, I took my two daughters and ran away back to Bougainville, leaving behind my son who was just nine years old at that time.”

She said that in 2017, she came to Port Moresby for work but her husband found her and forced her to move in with him again, so she moved in with him at Gereka.

Badly beaten by husband
“But the violence continued, he would tell me to remove my clothes before he started beating me, he even brought home his girlfriend to live with us, telling me that she was his niece,” Peter said.

In June this year, Peter was badly beaten by her husband, who cut her with a machete from her head down to her feet.

“He kicked me in the face when I cried out in pain — when I spat the blood out, three of my teeth fell out too.

“A neighbour came in and stopped him, and I took the opportunity to run away, and walked from Gereka to 6-Mile at around 11pm in the night.

“I passed out somewhere near 6-Mile in front of a small tucker shop.

“A woman from there assisted me to the Gordon police station to file an official report with the FSVU (Family and Sexual Violence Unit), and I was put into a safe house (named).”

With no family and friends in Port Moresby, she was left homeless but was assisted by the Boroko Juvenile Unit to win her case against her husband, who has since been sentenced to two years in prison.

In safe house for six months
Peter has been living in that safe house for more than six months but was dumped at the Boroko police station car park area.

She is living at the precinct of the Boroko police station. She is far from home and family.

“Christmas is near and I long for my children and the white sandy beaches of my home.”

Attempts made to get comments from the safe house were unsuccessful yesterday.

However, according to the sources — women who were given refuge at the safe house were all sent back to their families as the safehouse was closing for the festive season.

Only Gathy Peter and the mother of two were dropped off at Boroko Police Station as they do not have families in Port Moresby.

However, the mother of two has since been given refuge at another safe house, leaving Peter behind.

Rebecca Kuku and Marjorie Finkeo are PNG Post-Courier reporters. Republished with permission.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

Two children have died and at least six staff of Papua New Guinea’s National Broadcasting Corporation lost their property worth thousands of kina in a blaze in Boroko.

The fire yesterday gutted two units of a four-unit property of the public broadcaster in Tanatana Street, impacting on eight families who occupied the building.

Staff and families who reside in the NBC compound said the fire started from one of the rooms on the ground level.

Investigations have started into how the fire began.

The fire started at about 2pm yesterday with two small children trapped inside.

Firefighters tried hard to put out the fire and save the children.

NBC staff who live there have blamed the management for negligence over the rundown building.

The father of the dead children is a senior archivist with the PNG’s oldest radio station.

The children were with a female tenant in a neighbouring room at the time of the fire while the mother was doing laundry.

Firefighters from Boroko Fire Station rushed to the scene after seeing thick smoke from a distance and hastily put out the flames with assistance from tenants.

The mother of the dead children wept while the father, who had been at work, rushed home to search for the toddlers alongside firefighters, police and ambulance officers on site.

The bodies were taken to the Port Moresby General Hospital morgue.

The dead children were of mixed parentage from West Papua and Mailu in Central province.

Lina Keapu is a PNG Bulletin reporter.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

Police have charged a man with murder after the death of his security officer colleague in a shootout. Both men were Filipinos and investigators are working closely with the Philippines Embassy in Port Moresby. Video: EMTV News

By Michael Arnold in Port Moresby

A shootout in a supermarket in the Papua New Guinean capital of Port Moresby last Thursday has sparked a nationwide debate on gun control and calls for civilians to be banned from carrying firearms.

The shooting, which happened in Moresby Northeast, resulted in two gunmen firing off 15 rounds in the crowded Boroko Foodworld supermarket, leaving one man dead and two children injured after being caught in the crossfire.

However, both EMTV News and Loop PNG website reported three people had been wounded, including two boys.

Reports from the Pacific International Hospital (PIH) said one young boy was being treated for grazes to his leg and his back.

Doctors also confirmed that apart from the flesh wounds the boy also suffered psychological trauma after the shooting.

He is currently in a stable condition but is being kept under observation at the hospital.

PIH representatives also said the hospital had admitted a high frequency of gunshot cases over past years.

Reckless firarms use
Thursday’s incident has been yet another demonstration of the reckless use of firearms by people in public spaces.

The current moratorium on gun licences is already in place, and there has also been a call for a total ban on private firearm ownership.

The issue of gun control has been high on the government agenda over the past week, with several parliamentarians having already called for improved gun licensing processes and the imposition of heavier penalties for illegal possession of firearms.

Earlier in the day last Thursday, Police Minister Jelta Wong told Parliament he believed the government must totally eradicate illegal weapons.

Presenting his ministerial statement on the status of gun-related issues, he said the report pushed for a total ban on licences as well as illegal guns.

Established by a parliamentary committee headed by former member of Goroka Bire Kimisopa, the report on guns control proposed banning guns and increasing penalties for offenders.

Wong signed a moratorium on October 4 last year, banning the purchase and issuing of new gun permits to citizens.

MPs were able to debate the issue, with many suggesting changes should be made for more assistance on the education of youths, allowing them to change for the better.

Michael Arnold is a PNG Post-Courier reporter.

• Earlier report on the shootout

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz