Six roads indentified as needing work to help coffee growers

SIX impassable roads in the Highlands have been identified for Government to work on to allow access to rural-based coffee farmers.
The industry coordination committee (ICC) overseeing the Productive Partnerships in Agricultural Project (PPAP) identified these roads:

• 74km Tabigua Station-Koinambe Station (Jimi, Jiwaka);
• 18km Keu-Elimbari-Siane-Keu (Chuave, Simbu);
• 10km Yulip-Maramb and 20km Yulip-Nenembus (Kompiam, Enga)
• 30km Maupini-Wala (Pangia, Southern Highlands); and,
• 50km Lufa Station-Unavi via Gouno road (Lufa, Eastern Highlands).

This link will service more than 50,000 growers in Crater Mountain, a tri-border area where Eastern Highlands, Chimbu and Gulf meet.
ICC chairman Ian Mopafi, pictured, says the unavailability of accessible roads has been the main obstacle against efforts to meet coffee production targets set by the national Government.

“Rural roads in all parts of the country, including coffee-growing provinces, have deteriorated and become impassable,” he said.

“This is making it difficult for 80 per cent of between three and four million growers who are concentrated in the countryside to transport their coffee to the market.

“This is the same story in all the places.

“Growers have come to treat coffee as a social tree because they don’t see the economic value in it.”

The identifying of these roads was done following an invitation by Minister for National Planning and Monitoring Richard Maru to identify key roads for consideration in the 2018-2022 Third Medium Term Development (MTD) Plan.

The invitation was given during the National Planning Consultative Summit in Lae in March this year.

“We can encourage our growers to improve their gardens and to produce better quality coffee, but if there is no road and market access facilities, our effort will become meaningless,” Mopafi said.

Source: The National PNG

OK Tedi announces K100mil in dividends

Chairman Sir Moi Avei,

An interim dividend of K100 million was recently declared by the Ok Tedi Mining Ltd board and paid to shareholders on Friday, the company announced yesterday.

Chairman Sir Moi Avei, pictured, thanked the employees and contractors for their efforts, especially when recovering from the effects of the earthquake in February.

“While the performance of the business was adversely affected following the earthquake, production and profitability have progressively returned to more normal levels, allowing the company to make a K50 million contribution to the Earthquake Appeal in March 2018 and now fund an interim dividend,” he said

“The outlook for the second half of 2018 remains positive.

“The recent decline in copper price and ongoing cash requirement to complete the replacement and relocation of the in-pit crusher meant that the board continued to exercise prudence.”

Following the transfer of additional equity from the State to Western entities in April this year, K67 million of the
dividend was paid to the State.

The balance of K33 million was paid to the Fly River provincial government, Community Mine Continuation Agreement CMCA, villages and mine communities.

The share distribution of the 33 per cent equity will see:

• CMCA group owning 12 per cent;
• Mine area villages 9 per cent; and
• Fly River provincial government 12 per cent of which part of its interest will be shared with three districts (North Fly, Middle Fly and South Fly).