Club championship set

Posted on The National

THE Papua New Guinea Rugby Football League (PNGRFL) has commended all its affiliated competitions throughout the country for completing their seasons with grand finals.
PNGRFL chairman Sandis Tsaka said it was pleasing to note that all the matches were largely incident-free.
“There were some who had issues but I am pleased to learn that these matters were resolved within their leagues,” he said.
“We are taking responsibility and ownership in our leagues to resolve matters that risk bringing the game into disrepute.”
Tsaka said all premiership-winning men’s teams would now face off in their respective confederates.
“Starting this weekend, the elimination process will begin in each confederate with all the premier clubs to decide the regional club champions,” he said.
“The champions at the end of these eliminations must be decided by Nov 10.
“The champions will represent their confederates at the national club championship in Lae from Nov 15-17.”
Tsaka said teams were allowed only one player from the Digicel Cup, SP Hunters or PNG Kumuls.
“But as long as they are registered with their respective leagues,” he said.
He said all participating clubs must read and sign a participation agreement.
“This must be submitted to the Papua New Guinea Rugby Football League headquarters with the names of 25 players and three officials as soon as possible,” Tsaka said.
In the Southern Confederate, Kiunga premiers Storm host their Tabubil champions Storm tomorrow.
At the National Football Stadium, Port Moresby Rugby Football League champions Brothers take on the Port Moresby Suburban Rugby League premiers Mountain Bulls.
University of Papua New Guinea Rugby Football League premiers Human Resources Management take on Motu-Koita Rugby League champions Tatana Islands Dolphins.
On Nov 3, Alotau Spiders face Northern Motel Bulldogs in Popondetta.
The Gulf playoff was won by Young Tigers (Kerema) over Highway Cowboys (Isouposa) in Kerema last weekend.


Go to this link for more: https://www.thenational.com.pg/club-cship-set/

Education remains company’s priority

Posted on The National

OIL Search has invested more than K16 million in its education sponsorship programme since 1996, benefiting more than 2,000 students from Hides, Kutubu, Moran, Gobe and Kikori.
The largest share of funding goes to covering university fees which averages almost K200,000 annually.
Students from the project impact areas attending vocational, technical, secretarial, teaching, health/medical and theology training can also receive annual funding for school fees.
Medical doctor and senior lecturer of the University of Papua New Guinea Medical Faculty (UPNG MedFac), Dr Phili Mapira, is a former recipient of the Oil Search scholarship.
Mapira attended Koroba Secondary School in Hela and went on to study medicine and surgery at UPNG from 2000 to 2005.
She returned to her old school in Koroba as a guest speaker during the grade 10 and 12 graduation ceremony where she challenged students to commit to learning if they wanted to be successful in life.
She also took the opportunity to acknowledge Oil Search as a continuing sponsor of the school’s academic dux awards and prizes which includes laptops, dictionaries and scientific calculators.
The initiative underpins the education sponsorship programme and is run by the Oil Search community affairs team in Hides to recognise and reward high performing students from Koroba and Tari secondary schools.
“As a former graduate of the school, I thank you for being a partner in human resource development through the education sponsorship programme. My (academic) success can be attributed to your support,” Mapira said.
Oil Search senior community affairs officer Kevin Wanima said the Oil Search Academic Dux Awards not only recognised and reward students, it also helped motivate others to work hard.
He encouraged students to exercise discipline and to use their knowledge to better themselves.
The Oil Search community affairs education sponsorship programme currently focuses on education, health, business/finance and technical courses, engineering and theology.

Go to this link for more: https://www.thenational.com.pg/education-remains-companys-priority/

PM keen to assist locals in business

By SAMUEL BARIASI - The National

PRIME Minister James Marape wants to see an annual intervention programme over the next 10 years to assist locals in business.
During a visit to the National Development Bank (NDB) in Port Moresby yesterday, Marape said K100 million would be made available as loan to businesses.
The bank is introducing the Start Up and Grower loans for the agriculture and small to medium enterprise (SME) sectors.
“We want to assist the bank in creating soft loan programmes to encourage more Papua New Guineans to get into business activities,” Marape said
NDB chairman Michael Mell said there was a need to properly define SME so that clear policies could be directed towards SME businesses.
“The bank currently charges 6.5 per cent across the board for all loans. Thus the margins are too low to sustain the bank’s operations.
“But we should be able to put in policies and strategies to align with the Government’s policies and aspirations to mitigate these issues once we clearly define SME.”
NDB managing director Moses Liu said the three programmes already in place were agriculture loans, small business loans, and women in business loans.
“With the new products, loans up to K100,000 can be granted with adjusted rates and conditions to sustain businesses in the agriculture and SME sectors,” he said.
“We will wait for the funding arrangements in the 2020 budget and then we will be able to commercialise the bank.”


Go to this link for more: https://www.thenational.com.pg/pm-keen-to-assist-locals-in-business/

Namah to PM: Act on Hela

By JEFFERY ELAPA - The National

A POLICE officer injured in an ambush in Hela was yesterday evacuated to Port Moresby, as the Opposition urged Prime Minister James Marape to quickly address the violence in his Hela province.
Oil Search Limited assisted in the medical evacuation of Constable James Kobol from Tari yesterday.
Kobol was injured in an ambush last week at the Tokoyo Bridge in Hela.
He was airlifted from Tari Hospital on an Oil Search helicopter to Moro where he was transferred to an Oil Search-chartered Link PNG flight to Port Moresby.
At Jackson airport, Kobol was met by Oil Search staff who transported him in St John Ambulance vehicle to the Port Moresby General Hospital.
Rick Loveridge, Oil Search senior vice-president medical and health services said: “We were happy to assist Constable Kobol and take immediate action upon receiving a request from Hela Governor Philip Undialu.”
Marape, the Tari-Pori MP, was in his province last week to attend the funeral of police officer Sergeant David Hale who was shot the week before.
He urged his people to stop the violence and learn to peacefully co-exist.
Yesterday, Opposition Leader Belden Namah accused Marape of failing to address law and order issues in Hela.
He said the recent attacks on police officers should prompt Marape to “take back Tari and Hela from lawlessness”.
Namah called on Marape to resign because the crime rate in Hela and the country had “spiralled out of control”.
“He does not know how to address the law and order situation in the country.
He can’t (even) control it in his district and province,” Namah said.
“He cannot defend his lack of leadership following the mass murder of innocent people, the gunning down of Sergeant David Hale last week and the chopping up of another policeman in Tari on Tuesday this week.
“The prime minister has all the resources at his disposal but cannot control law and order in his own district and province.
“What hope is there for the rest of the country?”
Efforts to get a comment from Marape yesterday were unsuccessful. Namah said Marape should arrange for a special security force operation “to flush out crime” in Hela and arrest the “senseless killers”.
“Enough of the empty rhetoric about talking back PNG and making PNG the richest black Christian nation in the world,” he said.
“He must show leadership and go back to his people and stop the senseless killings and frequent murders.
“He has failed his people of Tari-Pori and Hela,” Namah said.


Go to this link for more: https://www.thenational.com.pg/namah-to-pm-act-on-hela/

PNG scientist wins international award

Posted by Radio New Zealand

A young Papua New Guinean scientist has been granted an international award for her revolutionary research in the field of agriculture.

Yalinu Poya is pursuing her PHD in Chemistry at the University of Glasgow in the United Kingdom.

She is one of 25 researchers, out of a global pool of 837 scientists, to be named Green Talent Awardees by Germany's Ministry of Education and Research.

Ms Poya is developing a technique to streamline a process for making synthetic plant fertilisers to reduce environmental harm and high energy consumption.

Her focus is on developing 'novel catalysts' for the synthesis of ammonia, an essential component of commercial fertilisers.

If successful, her method would enable ammonia to be synthesised more effectively on a small scale.

The German ministry said Ms Poya had brought a fresh perspective on addressing global challenges like climate change, food security and energy generation from renewable sources.

Yalinu Poya @YalinuPoya

The 25 Green Talent Award winners for 2019, selected from across the world by the Ministry of Research and Education for the Government of Germany for outstanding achievement in sustainable development. Humbled to be selected for this prestigious international award

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Ms Poya said she was honoured and quite overwhelmed to be chosen to be part of such an elite group of scientists.

She hoped her achievement would encourage other young women in Papua New Guinea and the Pacific to pursue STEM careers.

"The world is moving fast and we should not live in the norms of our PNG and Pacific societies which sadly limit women," she said.

"My message to all the girls and women in the Pacific is do not limit your potential and underestimate yourself. You are some of the strongest women in the world and you are naturally gifted. If you have a passion for STEM, go for it."

There was no limit to what Pacific women could achieve with hard work and dedication, she said.

"Cut out unnecessary distractions, toxic people, negativity, and focus on your goals and have faith despite the ups and downs you may come across," she said.

"Do not underestimate yourself, you can be a catalyst of change not only in PNG and the Pacific, but you can contribute to the world as well."

As part of the award, Ms Poya had been attending an intensive science forum in Germany which concludes this Saturday.

Ms Yalinu and the other awardees have been travelling to different cities and research hot spots including Saarsbrucken, Aachen, Wuppertal, Bonn and Dusseldorf.

The official award ceremony was held in Berlin.

Go to this link for more: https://www.rnz.co.nz/international/pacific-news/401697/png-scientist-wins-international-award

FIRST FEMALE LICENSED AIRCRAFT MAINTENANCE ENGINEER (LAME) ON DASH 8 AIRCRAFT

Posted by FM100 News

28 year old Elena Mai has become Air Niugini’s if not Papua New Guinea’s first female Mechanical Licensed Aircraft Maintenance Engineer (LAME) on Dash 8 aircraft.

From a mixed parentage of East New Britain, Gulf and Central Provinces, Elena is one of four female Air Niugini LAMEs; the other three women are licensed on Fokker jet aircraft.

Being a licensed engineer, Elena can now give approval for the release of Dash 8 aircraft to service following maintenance.

Before signing the document of approval, Elena must be satisfied with the works, she thoroughly checks to ensure the maintenance is completed to the highest standard and is carried out in accordance with Papua New Guinea Civil Aviation Rules and Regulations.

The first aircraft Elena released to service was the Bombardier Dash8-200(P2-ANK) on the 15th of May 2019 in Port Moresby.

The aircraft was involved in heavy maintenance checks at Air Niugini’s in-house maintenance facility in Port Moresby.
Elena was the section leader of this project which took 10 weeks to be completed.

She said “Being the first Papua New Guinean woman to have signed off or release a dash 8 aircraft to service hasn’t really sunk in yet because you work on a day to day basis to achieve company goals and objectives.”

“ It comes with huge responsibility because you’re signing off on something that you deem is safe and air worthy and you must work according to CASA PNG rules and regulations and also aircraft manufacturers’ to make sure that you meet all safety standards. “

Elena so far has released four Dash 8 aircraft to service.
Her achievement also proves Air Niugini’s continuous efforts to support and empower women in workplace.

Ms Mai is one of four females among total 67 Licensed Aircraft Maintenance Engineers (LAMEs) employed by Air Niugini.
The airline also has 51 Aircraft Maintenance Engineers (AMEs) of which eight-women.

Elena has been with Air Niugini for 7 years now where she has done four years as a cadet and three years on the job.
She attended Air New Zealand Aviation Institute in Wellington, New Zealand in 2014 where she did two years of theory and another two years on the job training with Hawker Pacific in Cairns, Australia.

Air Niugini’s LAME and coordinator of Heavy Maintenance Checks, Richard Woolcock explained that the Certificate of Return to Service (CRS) for an aircraft states that all the work has been carried out in accordance with the rules and regulations in force by CASA PNG.

“The person signing this form, MC-34, is signing a legal document to say that he/she is satisfied that all the work is complete,” Woolcock said.

Elena finished her formal training 2 years ago and since then had to sit exams for her PNG aircraft engineers license, an aircraft type course which teaches her the systems on the aircraft.

She then had to sit for an oral and written exam with Engineering’s Manager, Quality Assurance to get approval from Air Niugini to be able to sign as a supervisor for the work she carries out and to oversee other staff members for the work they carry out.

“I get a great feeling of satisfaction and achievement knowing that I have contributed to the next generation of LAME to be coming through to take over the engineering here at Air Niugini and beyond.

“As for the fact that Elena is female that is of course of great importance but I treat all the new engineers in exactly the same way and hopefully so does everyone else,” Woolcock said.

He added that the training provided for the cadets has been outstanding in every way and this has resulted in not just Elena but many other former cadets performing exceptionally well.

Woolcock highlighted that as an individual, Elena has an outgoing personality which helps a lot when communicating with others in her group, the staff working for her as a LAME and also the more senior staff members.

Elena further added that hard work and perseverance is key, if you have the right mindset you can achieve anything in life.

“Looking at it from a broader perspective, I thank Air Niugini for achieving that milestone, for the investment and for being groomed under this airline as a cadet and then becoming an AME and now a LAME, I am grateful to everyone that has supported me through my journey.”