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Healthy water a concern

Written by
Milton Ragaruma
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Mataniko River

By Ezekiel Talatau

Mataniko River

MANY people take for granted clean water from their taps and borehole, without realising if the water is treated well and good for human consumption.

People working in the ministry of health lab will know that.

Reports show that accessing clean water in Solomon Islands is significantly increasing in some parts of the region.

The likely increase of water quality are through the WASH projects, monitoring water treatments by Solomon Island Water Authority (SIWA) , World Bank Fund (accessed clean water) and HCC health division testing water quality.

Despite the increase demand of population in the capital, Solomon Islands Water Authority (SIWA) continues to maintain the water quality supply throughout the capital.

Settlements within Honiara have access to other water supply such as borehole and dam, but lack water treatment.

Island Sun for the last two months have investigated Maumelle community, how it accesses water and notices that the community accesses its own water supply provided by an Asian company.

The water is clean but lack of water testing is a significant risk at this stage.

Reports from Research water centre, stated that untreated water may cause water disease such as typhoid fever, dysentery, cholera and gastroenteritis when consume by humans.

SIWA uses chlorine to treat water system in Honiara (as most has experience when turning on the taps, it seems white and cloudy).

A concerned citizen told Island Sun that Solomon Islanders are privileged in accessing clean water, unluckily during the raining season, the water will turn milo when we turn on pipes.

This will affects most unsettlements that used boreholes and dams, and country will have a high rate of diarrhoea and other water borne disease, he added.

The responsible authority need to do awareness on water quality to rural areas and unsettlements to inform them about safety of clean water and ways how to deal with untreated water at the time of flooding, he said.

Water project for Haukona underway

Written by
Milton Ragaruma
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0

BY SAMIE WAIKORI

AUKI

CONSTRUCTION is underway for a new water supply for Haukona village in West Are Are.

RWASH officer under Malaita province, Mr Peter Tofuola said on Thursday the project is in its implementation phase, expected to be complete by mid-October.

He said recently he led a team to Haukona village as part of the project and conducted a pre-construction training for the villagers.

He said this was a new approach adopted under RWASH policy to ensure project beneficiaries to understand their role during and after completion of the project.

Tofuola said the training dwelled mainly at sustainability of the project – how to use and care for the water project.

Adding that it is also to aware villagers on confusion which may sometimes arise on who is going to do what when the water project need areas of support in its long run.

“On this area, villagers now aware from the training on their responsibility and ownership of the water project,” he said.

Tofuola said five boys from his office were on the construction site to help villagers with technical work of the project.

He said the project was funded under European Union (EU) support for Solomon Islands Government and implemented by RWASH office Auki.

Control established for CRB issue at Takwa

Written by
Milton Ragaruma
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0
Explaining the work of the fungus to village farmer at Takwa. Photos: Hilda Wratten.

BY SAMIE WAIKORI

AUKI

Explaining the work of the fungus to village farmer at Takwa. Photos: Hilda Wratten.

AN attempt to control the outbreak of coconut rhinoceros beetle at Takwa area in north Malaita is currently in place.

Recently a research team from MAL was deployed to Takwa and set a total of five artificial breeding sites with the support of communities.

Research Officer from MAL, Ms Hilda Wratten said the breeding sites were made within identified sites applying biological method to deal with the issue.

She explained the intention of the breeding sites was to create a place for the existing adult beetles to breed and conduct with fungi known as Metarhizium anisopliae (virus) injected in the beds.

Wratten said the breeding sites were made using death/rotten woods and placed within them beetle larvae to attract the beetles.

She said the approach was an environmentally friendly biological method of control where looked at destroying all stages of the beetle.

“What will happen was if the beetles use or breed within the beds they will infect by the virus and when left and conduct with other beetles they will pass-on the virus to them.

Application of GMF infected larvae to artificial breeding site.

“The effectiveness of the virus was that if the beetles infected with the virus they will no longer reproduce even so it will not fertile,” Wratten said.

She said that control measure was applied and they will continue to monitor the activity for its progress.

Wratten said focus of their activity was only in Takwa as the targeted site, however, people surrounding Takwa area encouraged to report if sighting the signs of beetle in their area for assistance.

She said currently apart from Guadalcanal the beetle now reached, Makira, Ulawa, Savo, Gela, Russell islands and Takwa in Malaita.

Wratten said parts of Western Province had reported with symptoms of the beetle, but was proved not to be rhinoceros beetle, it was the local or original beetle the country has.

Malaita premier applauds traditional governance and land reform

Written by
Milton Ragaruma
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0
Premier Peter Ramohia delivering his speech. Photos from PM press secretariat

MALAITA Premier Peter Ramohia has expressed his desire to see the enactment of the Traditional Governance and Land Reform Bills which he believes can address impediments to development in the Province.

Speaking at celebrations to mark the Province’s 35th Second Appointed Day at Afio in South Malaita Monday this week, the Premier highlighted that his Executive believed that the current laws governing land tenure systems are inadequate for development in Malaita and Solomon Islands as a whole.

He pointed out that currently acquisition of land for development whether compulsory or under the current Lands and Titles Act isolates tribal land owners from participating in development.

“Acquisition whether compulsory or done under the current Lands and Title Act alienate customary land from tribal land owners thus inadequate for development and must stop and be replaced by Traditional governance and Land reform laws,” Mr Ramohia said.

He said the enactment of the two bills (Traditional governance and Land reform) will prevent the alienation of customary land.

“These laws are about anchoring customary land for development to grow; giving protection and control for local customary land owners to utilize and participate in development; a redirection for Solomon Islands; and therefore deserves a constitutional anchor and protection,” Ramohia said

The Premier said the Malaita provincial government is happy that the National Government is proactively pursuing Traditional governance and Land reform and that extensive progress has already been made.

It is believed that the passing of the Traditional governance and Land reform bills into Laws will be a milestone for the whole country and Premier Ramohia pledges Malaita’s firm support in the process towards enacting these legislations.

–GCU

Hearing into the SAB 2018 concludes

Written by
Milton Ragaruma
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0

THE Public Accounts Committee hearing into the 2018 Supplementary Appropriation Bill 2018 ended successfully yesterday.

It took four days for the PAC to hear from 16 government ministries and agencies who are requesting additional funds or supplementary appropriation for the year ending December 31, 2018.

The 2018 Supplementary Appropriation Bill 2018 is the eleventh bill of 2018 and it seeks to appropriate an additional two hundred and twenty five million, nine hundred and sixty two thousand, and six hundred and seventy three dollars ($225,962,673) from the Consolidated Fund for the financial year ending December 31, 2018.

Just to give a brief overview from the additional Supplementary expenditure, a total of twelve ministries are requesting additional funding which total up to Two hundred million, one hundred thousand, and five hundred and thirty six dollars ($200,100,536).

Of that amount forty three million, six hundred and twenty seven thousand, one hundred and sixty four dollars ($43,627,164) will be for recurrent expenditure while one hundred and fifty six million, four hundred and seventy three thousand, three hundred and seventy two dollars ($156,473,372) for development expenditure.

Four ministries have been requesting additional supplementary expenditure for both recurrent and development spending. These include the Ministry of Finance and Treasury, Ministry of Education and Human Resources Development, Ministry of Communication and Aviation and the Ministry of Fisheries and Marine Resources.

On Contingency Warrant, only the National Judiciary is requesting one million, three hundred and forty two thousand, nine hundred and seven dollars ($1,342,907) while eight ministries are requesting appropriations using Advance Warrants which totaled up to twenty four million, five hundred and nineteen thousand, two hundred and thirty dollars ($24, 519,230).

Five out of the sixteen ministries have requested the largest amount in their supplementary appropriations. They are Ministry of Infrastructure Development $112,427,008, Ministry of Finance and Treasury $20,334,446, Ministry of Health and Medical Services $17,706,306, Ministry of Education and Human Resource Development $14,452,809 and the Ministry of Home Affairs $12,488,680.

The remaining eleven Ministries supplementary appropriations are totaling up to forty eight million, five hundred and fifty three, six hundred and ninety four dollars ($48,553,694).

In terms of variations in expenditure, there is a reduction of three million, five hundred and nineteen thousand, nine hundred dollars ($3,519,900) from what was appropriated in the 2018 Appropriation Act 2018 for the Ministry of Health and Medical Services. This amount is transferred to the Health Lifestyles Promotion Fund that is managed under the Tobacco Control Act 2010 by the ministry.

Another transfer of six million dollars ($6,000,000) which was appropriated in the 2018 Appropriation Act to the Ministry of Home Affairs is now transferred to the Office of the Prime Minister and Cabinet for the preparation of the 2023 Pacific Games.

All in all, Supplementary Appropriations which includes Additional Supplementary Expenditure , and expenditure using Contingency Warrant and the Advance Warrant totals up to two hundred and twenty five million, nine hundred and sixty two thousand, and six hundred and seventy three dollars ($225,962,673) for the year ending 31st December 2018.

The Ministries or agencies that have appeared before the PAC during the four days hearing include the Central Bank of Solomon Islands, Ministry of Finance and Treasury, Office of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, Ministry of Infrastructure Development, Ministry of Police, National Security and Correctional Services, Ministry of Home Affairs, Ministry of Health and Medical Services, Ministry of Rural Development, Ministry of Education and Human Resource Development, Ministry of Communication and Aviation, Ministry of Commerce, Industries, Labor and Immigration, Ministry of Justice and Legal Affairs, National Judiciary, Ministry of Fisheries and Marine Resources, Ministry of Public Service, Ministry of Culture and Tourism, Ministry of Environment, Climate Change, Disaster Management and Meteorology and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and External Trade.

A report containing the PAC’s recommendations from the hearing will be compiled later for Members of Parliament to prepare them in their second reading debate of the Bill when Parliament resumes on Wednesday, August 22, 2018.

You can access the copy of the 2018 Supplementary Appropriation Bill 2018 on our website for more details.

–PARLIAMENT MEDIA

West re-structures admin

Written by
Milton Ragaruma
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0
Western Province PS Jeffery Wickham.

BY ALFRED PAGEPITU

GIZO

Western Province PS Jeffery Wickham.

WESTERN provincial government is working on re-structuring its administration hierarchy.

This is the key objective of the government’s plan. To improve and restructure the administration setup.

Provincial Secretary (PS) Jeffery Wickham yesterday said that the newly formed government has neglected to improve its administrations for years.

At the moment government is now analyzing to see effective services delivery be improved in the province.

“The government of the day will look at the audiences, policies and re-structuring of its administrations.

“For the next six month, we will look on to other tasks to be review include policies.

“The government has now new adversary board members to provide support to all divisions to deal with other issues of the government.”

Head teacher calls on communities to work together

Written by
Milton Ragaruma
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0

BY LORETTA BRIGIDIA MANELE

THE head teacher of Isabel province’s Gagaolo Primary School in Hograno Highlands is calling on members of their community to work together to help develop the school.

Renward Matesala who comes from Hograno expressed that cooperation among everyone in Kolomola and Alu’Alu, the two villages that own the school has been lacking.

He said that the school was funded by Japan in 2011 and completed by 2013.

However, Matesala stresses that when funding for the school was over people were no longer active in school related activities.

He stated that parents whose children attended the school were the only ones who supported the school by cleaning around the school compound and building staff houses.

“Only parents have helped the school in terms of cleaning the school and building staff houses while others have showed no cooperation”, he said.

Mateala is strongly calling on everyone from both communities to come together and cooperate in school initiatives like school programs, fundraisings and projects.

“If we work together, parents, teachers and everyone will be happy”, he said.

Maetala is also appealing to the people of Isabel province in Honiara to support the school.

SICCI training for small business in Auki

Written by
Milton Ragaruma
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0

BY SAMIE WAIKORI

AUKI

THE Solomon Islands Chamber of Commerce and Industry has conducted a one-day business training in Auki yesterday.

The training had been scheduled for Wednesday but was postponed for yesterday due to a public holiday set aside on Wednesday to mark the Malaita province 34th anniversary.

A business consultant from Break Fruit Consultant, Mr Chris Elphick said in an interview earlier this week that the training is part of SICCI’s programme to support small businesses in the provinces.

Adding that SICCI has identified that people get into business, but having basic knowledge and skill to manage the business was a problem.

He said the programme is all about the Chamber with interest of finding ways to support smalls businesses. In Honiara in terms of big businesses.

“Three months ago I came here, and our focus on business planning. This time we focus on the basics to run a good business.

“The basics include having a good product, service, good enterprises, satisfying the customers, getting the best staffs and organizing the money,” Elphick said.

He stressed that money management was an important aspect of business to ensure it will not run into debt but to make profit.

Elphick said SICCI has already gone to Western province with the training, now its Malaita province and the next is Makira Ulawa Province.

He said the three provinces are under SICCI’s programme for this year; they will work on programme to reach other provinces next year.

Upswing in international visitation for Solomon Islands

Written by
Milton Ragaruma
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0

BY GEORGINA KEKEA

IN the tourism sector, following on from May 2018, there has been an 8.21 percent upswing in international visitation. Juergen T Steinmetz reports in eTurbonews that Solomon Islands has rounded of Quarter Two in style with June 2018 visitor arrivals growing by 8.0 percent over the same period last year.

Tourism Solomons CEO, Josefa ‘Jo’ Tuamoto was reported to say that if this strong trend continued for the remaining six months of the year, and forward bookings to the destination already indicate they will, the destination was well on track to cracking the record-breaking 25,709 total achieved in 2017.

Figures released by the Solomon Islands National Statistics Office (SINSO) show May-June figures taking the Solomon Islands visitor intake for the January-June period to 13, 317, a 17 per cent increase over the 11,306 figure recorded in 2017.

Australian visitation for the six-month period climbed to 4664 representing 35 per cent of the total and buoyed by a 2.48 per cent increase across June for the month.

Steinmetz reports that the biggest increases across June again came from Papua New Guinea (up 40.5 per cent), New Zealand (17.8 per cent) and the US (up 16.1 per cent).

CEO Tuamoto said the strong Quarter Two result was indicative of some very hard work by his team in the latter stages of 2017.

“From a promotional perspective we have been relatively quiet in the first half of 2018,” he said.

“But we are confident the inroads we continue to make in our key markets in combination with profile achieved as a result of our new ‘Solomon Is.’ rebranding and related new strategic direction will have a marked effect on our visitation across Quarter Three and Quarter Four.

Minimum accommodation standard set for SI

Written by
Milton Ragaruma
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0

By Ezekiel Talatau

MINISTRY of tourism and culture, moves to sets a minimum standard accommodation for tourism sectors industry in Solomon Islands.

The move of this minimum standard accommodation is a major step in the direction of tourism and it is a time for Solomon Islands to go into the international tourism stage and marketing, said Solomon Islands tourism industry CEO Mr Osefa “Jo” Tuamoto.

The minimum accommodation will be classified into 8 categories to meet the international standard.

To date, about 160 accommodation are been operated here in Solomon Islands and only 10 percent can be currently sold through international wholesale, offering Solomon island travel package.

The ministry of culture and tourism (MCT) Director Bunyan Sivoro, said that, the increase tourism is a national interest and it is a main benefactors that would eventually be the tourism operator themselves.

He added that the newly introduce accommodation scheme will significant upsurge tourism industry as a new chapter.

Minister of MCT, Hon. Bartholomew Parapolo during the launching at Honiara Heritage Park Hotel has said that, the implementing of such projects is essential in tourism sectors and I believe that, this project will set an international standard towards the tourism accommodation sectors

MCT director also highlights the influence of Australia foreign affairs and Trade DFAT enhance integrated network for their provision towards the project through financial support.

MCT also acknowledge the Australian volunteers through (DFAT) to take part in promoting and providing technical input to finalize the documents.

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