A bus accident near the Boroko Foodworld at Gordons this afternoon held traffic up a bit more than usual.
Just some afternoon pictures.
A bus accident near the Boroko Foodworld at Gordons this afternoon held traffic up a bit more than usual.
Just some afternoon pictures.
Post Courier reports that intelligence information from Indonesian officials say militant groups are on a recruitment drive in several provinces in Papua New Guinea.
Yesterday, police in Port Moresby went to their social media page and appealed to bus owners to educate their drivers about road safety.
This came about as a result of a bus with crashing with a semi trailer along the busy Waigani Drive at Stop and Shop, Waigani Central.
See picture below
"Sapos yu wanpla papa or mama bilong PMV bas, yu mas harim gut dispela toksave.Yu mas toksave long draiva na bos kru bilong yu, long lukautim gut laip bilong ol yet na bilong ol pasindia, taem oli draiv insait long siti.Wanpla eksident ibin kamap tete klostu long Waigani Stop 'N' Shop, bas stop, bikos draiva ino draiv gut na kamapim displa birua.Plis tingim laip bilong yu yet na bilong ol narapla man or meri husat kalap insaet long PMV bas."
National Capital District Commission, National Road Safety Authority and Police traffic must now develop a new policy to curb the lawlessness that the bus drivers have been more like law unto themselves.
They are road traffic hazards to other road users and the passengers they carry.
Set conditions that
Housing issues in Port Moresby is an old story.
Many working class families budget are hard hit by rentals and the consequence is the take home pay is very low despite a possibly higher salary than average Papua New Guinean.
The minimum wage rate is K3.50 per hour.
Rentals in Port Moresby average around K3,000 to K4,000 per month for a decent three bedroom apartment or house.
If you earn K80,000 per annum as your gross salary.
Forty percent of that (K32,000) can go to rentals as salary sacrifice.
Your salary would be around K48,000 but it seems there would be shortfall so you'd have to pluck another K4,000 from your salary to meet your rental for the year if it was at K3,000 per month.
But on a serious note, not many people earn around K80,000 per annum.
Rentals have soared exponentially during the construction period of the PNG LNG project pushing many average income earners in public and private sector to "bunk up" or stressfully rent a room in settlements or illegal buildings around town at rates of K300 to K500 per fortnight.
That was even the case pre-LNG construction so we were into this doldrum, an already depressing situation well before.
Imagine the rates mentioned were just at a rate for a room, not a whole house where one would call home.
The government has been called on to look into housing issues but I rather think the private sector should also help in alleviating this.
Many city residents who make this city function also live in settlements.
Many contribute to making thousands or millions for companies that allow their managers to live in posh locations.
It's time to make sure, everyone is equally afforded a decent housing to be regarded a home, make families happy that they have space.
Elections and we hardly hear candidates talk about how they are addressing housing issues.
The working class must ask about this.
If they have not, I am asking through this medium.
Did any candidate for the Moresby Northwest by-election highlight what he or she would do to address this.
Housing and settlement expansions are big challenges for the city that must be addressed appropriately and gradually now or we face a problem in future.
Alarm bells have already sounded that we have a problem.
Please address housing woes and bring rentals down.
If we cannot do this, we got to increase wage rate so residents can afford to live in a decent place that is truly expensive.
I visited a good brother who teaches at Sivitatana Primary School in the Rigo District, Central Province on the weekend.
What a blessing, he asked me to collect some pork and some Rigo banana.
The drive to Sivitatana was perfect sealed drive from Port Moresby to Kwikila and then another 20 mins to Sivitatana alas there are few pot holes and unnecessary humps.
The humps are a road hazard.
Someone has to crack down on this.
People can't put humps without a notice for drivers indicating a hump.
Well why do I say Central Province is a land of plenty?
Driving past you see massive unused land with beautiful scenery.
That's the first huge asset they have.
Imagine if this is turned into commercial farm lands to feed the hotels, motels, shops and guest houses in Port Moresby.
There's already sealed road for example along the Magi Highway and you have electricity from Port Moresby pulled through.
With electricity, you can use it to irrigate farms or build storage facilities.
With the sealed road, you can transport the produce to Port Moresby.
We just got to put the nuts and bolts together and sure something realistic and workable should function.
We create jobs. We generate income from a sustainable and environmentally friendly venture.
Well at Sivitatana, there's a huge lake in there and while I was there fishermen brought huge number of catch they did and their wives will take to a road side market to sell.
The inland pieces of land are described as not too arable but what if we use develop and use good irrigation and mulch the soil a bit.
We should definitely see massive results.
Kwikila has important services and infrastructure already there like PNG Power.
It should develop into a huge town with good hospital, police stations, hotels and motels.
Attract Port Moresby residents to Kwikila.
Many places in outside provinces do not have the luxury as Central Province has-and near to the melting pot multiracial Port Moresby.
Central Province is a land of plenty opportunities.
Just over 40 years of Independence and mind you if you had an oversight, so much has happened to Papua New Guinea.