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PM Houenipwela graces milestone signing for new solar power plant in SI

Written by
Milton Ragaruma
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PM Hou congratulates Mr Pradip and Mr Banno after the signing
PM Hou congratulates Mr Pradip and Mr Banno after the signing

PRIME Minister Rick Houenipwela has graced the occasion of the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between Solomon Power and Hitachi Ltd in Tokyo on Wednesday this week.

The MOU is aimed at resolving energy issues in the Solomon Islands.

The MOU was signed between Mr Pradip Verma, Chief Executive Officer of Solomon Power and Mr Yutaka Banno, Managing Director of Social Innovation Business Division of Hitachi Ltd.

Speaking during the ceremony, Prime Minister Houenipwela thanked and congratulated Hitachi Ltd and Solomon Power for venturing into a collaborative construction to design a solar power plant with other stakeholders that will be involved in the operation.

“It is a great development and a sustainable one for the people of Solomon Islands and I would like to acknowledge Solomon Power and Hitachi for this important milestone,” he said.

The Prime Minister also thanked Hitachi on behalf of the Government and people of Solomon Islands.

Solomon Power chief executive officer (CEO) Pradip Verma said under this MOU, Hitachi Ltd and Solomon Power will work collaboratively to develop a solar plant in Solomon Islands.

He said the aim of the MOU is to assist Solomon Power to lower the cost of energy generation thereby reducing the electricity tariff and to improve energy security for the country.

Pradip said Solomon Power is actively moving forward to reduce energy costs and improve energy security by providing power to more of the country’s residents via renewable energy sources by reducing fuel consumption.

“These are all in alignment with the vision of Solomon Power ‘energising our nation’,” he said.

Pradip has also thanked the Prime Minister and his delegation for gracing the occasion.

The signing was also preceded by presentations by Hitachi on the developments that Hitachi has achieved over the years in Renewable Energy, Energy Storage Systems, Artificial Intelligence, Internet of Things and Energy Management Systems.

Hitachi is a Japanese powerhouse company which is also specialised in renewable energy, drawing upon its experience in the construction of high-efficiency solar and wind power stations, and its expertise in applying Internet of Things (IoT) technology to ensure power generation stability.

–OPMC PRESS

Poor oral care high in Marovo

Written by
Milton Ragaruma
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By Mike Puia

Gizo

POOR oral care is high in Marovo lagoon in the Western province. This is according to the Chief Dental Therapist at Gizo Hospital, Michael Piasi.

Piasi told Island Sun Gizo that in some of the villages his department visited in the Marovo lagoon, they received about 100 patients in one day.

He said his department has been visiting communities in the lagoon to help relieve pain suffered by villagers who have tooth problems.

Piasi said based on data, the lagoon has recorded high cases of teeth problem.

He said many people in villages in the lagoon resort to relieving the pain they experience with their teeth using leaves or Panadol.

He encourages villagers in the lagoon to have proper oral care to avoid them from suffering tooth pain and from having to foot the cost of getting to the nearest hospital for medical attention.

“Some people in communities had to pay about $600 to get to Gizo hospital to have their teeth removed, temporary refilled or replaced. This is very expensive,” Piasi said.

He said the cheapest way is practise good oral care.

PALM8 meeting starts today in Japan

Written by
Milton Ragaruma
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Part of the 150 top business men and women of Japan at the EConomic Forum at Captiol Hotel Tokyo on Thursday

BY MAVIS NISHIMURA PODOKOLO

THE eighth Pacific Islands Leaders Meeting, PALM8, starts today at the Iwaki City, Fukusima Prefecture, in Japan.

PALM8 takes place every three years where leaders and representatives of Pacific Islands countries (PICs) and regions are invited to Japan to strengthen the traditional partnership of Japan and the PICs and the region through promotion of cooperation regarding various issues facing the Pacific island region.

The main objective of the meeting is strengthening of cooperation towards implementation of the “Free and Open Indo Pacific” – strategy through sharing a vision including rule of law at the sea, promoting of marine cooperation including maritime safety and affirming the importance of development of quality infrastructure in accordance with international standard.

As well as supporting self-sufficient and sustainable development of Pacific Islands countries with regards to supporting the sustainable development of Pacific islands countries and regions, including climate change, environment and disaster risk reduction and to support self-sufficient development through promotion of trade, investment and tourism.

Discussion will also focus on revitalising and building partnerships between Japan and Pacific island countries in terms of strengthening of human resource development, building of multi-layered people-to-people exchanges, including exchanges with local governments and strengthening of bonds by revitalising the movement of people and also strengthening of cooperation in the international arena be about affirming cooperation on the issue of North Korea including the United Security Council reform.

Participating countries and regions are Japan (co-chair), Samoa (co-chair), Cook Islands, Fiji, Kiribati, Republic of Marshall Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Nauru, Niue, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu, Vanuatu, Australia, New Zealand, New Caledonia and French Polynesia.

Solomon Islands is represented by Prime Minster Rick Houenipwela and his delegation.

The meeting starts today May 18, 2018 and will be concluded tomorrow on May 19. It will be hosted by the Japanese government and chaired by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of Japan.

With regards to PALM1, it took place at Tokyo way back in the 1997, PALM2 at Miyazaki, PALM 3 and PALM4 at Okinawa, PALM5 at Hokkaido, PALM6 at Okinawa, PALM7 and PALM8 at Iwaki. All of the meetings took place within Japan.

NRH continues support of tertiary in-patients

Written by
Milton Ragaruma
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BY LYNTON AARON FILIA

CHIEF Executive Officer for the National Referral Hospital says the hospital will continue to provide tertiary in-patient health services for all referred patients but not meet the cost of return sea traveling.

NRH’s CEO Mr Steve Aumanu said NRH will continue to provide support fo tertiary in-patients health services for referred patients but will no longer be responsible to meet the cost of their return sea travel.

He said each provincial health office is responsible for their patients.

Aumanu said MHMS and NRH will continue to maintain responsibility for emergency provincial hospitals referrals to the NRH

That means patients in need of emergency medical care may need to be flown into Honiara for treatment at the NRH which may include charter flights, he said.

He also said the decision to transfer patients to the NRH must be consulted and approved by PS for MHMS with endorsement from the NRH medical superintendent.

In terms of referral to tertiary care – NRH to overseas hospital, Aumanu said they will continue to refer patients to overseas hospital because not all clinical services can be provided in the Solomon Islands.

Aumanu said it is necessary to refer patients to overseas hospital for tertiary level medical services

This policy direction and process will come into effect from May 21, 2018, he adds.

He called for citizens’ cooperation in implementing the return sea fares for referred patients.

No payment for referral patients as of May 21

Written by
Milton Ragaruma
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NRH’s Chief Executive officer (CEO) Dr Steve Aumanu

BY LYNTON AARON FILIA

NRH’s Chief Executive officer (CEO) Dr Steve Aumanu

THE National Referral Hospital will no longer be responsible to pay return sea fares for referred patients as of May 21, 2018.

In the past, NRH was responsible for meeting all expenses related to patients return sea fares for referral, but now the Ministry of Health and Medical Service (MHMS) has agreed to share its responsibilities.

Now the Government budget for referred patient sea fares will be transferred to each provincial health finance department.

In a press conference yesterday, the NRH’s Chief Executive officer (CEO) Dr Steve Aumanu said such changes of arrangement was agreed to by MHMS, NRH, and the provincial health directors.

Mr Aumanu explained that according to the new referral patients sea fares policy, Solomon Islands Government’s allocated budget for referred patients’ sea fares will be transferred to each provincial health finance department.

He said costs of inward and return travel by all referred patients to NRH for treatment will be the responsibility of the provincial health services.

Meanwhile, MHMS and NRH plans to implement such initiative due to the following reasons:

  • Pressure on NRH and MoFT payment process would be minimised
  • Avoid withdrawal of huge amounts of hard cash about $100,000 per payout two-week and kept at NRH, risk fraud, theft and trim off the standing imprest threshold
  • Avoid patients gathering at the NRH Accounts Department waiting for sea fares; can be as long as weeks
  • Help saving us time to do other accounting tasks
  • Better management monitoring of referred patients by Directors of Provincial Health Services

The number of referred patients repatriated in 2017 was 455, number of patients per payout, 300 and total spending of 2017 is $3.7 million.

For the past years the NRH has been responsible for managing the repatriation of referred patients back to their provincial port of disembarkation.

All directors of provincial health services will enforce their own patient’s referral policy and are ready to implement this new process.

‘Look after your health & facility’

Written by
Milton Ragaruma
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By Gary Hatigeva

COMMUNITIES and residents of Rennell and Bellona province, especially those on Rennell Island, have been challenged to take the strong initiative to look after their new health care facility as it is anticipated to offer quality health services to the people.

Early this month, the contractor responsible handed the newly constructed health care centre to the province through its health director after succesfully completing the project.

Upon receiving the facilty, the provincial Health Director exressed gratitude on behalf of the Renbel population whom he said will benefit enourmusly from the much needed service.

The Centre is yet to be opened for public use, but both the ministry and province are anticipating a much better health service for the people of the two islands and should also save costs and time for patients.

The completion also came as welcoming news to people from other provinces who took to local social media forums, expressing their happiness for the people of the southern region, who many thought the project was a well-deserved one for the small province.

Meanwhile, as someone who has always been very critical and pursuant about issues that affect people of this country, Benjamin Afuga, stressed that health is the number-one social service that any community must have.

“Therefore if a community has one, it is the duty of all in that community to look after it, maintain it and appreciate those that donated that health facility, and that not all communities in the country have one therefore, those that have one are so be privileged,” the Yumi Tok Tok Forum founder stressed.

Afuga added that he is also encouraged to see smaller provinces benefit from such health initiative, and that the government through the health ministry, should also be acknowledged, “for this life saving facility to the people of Renbel.

“Youths, parents and the communities please treat this facility as your own home, and be reminded that this new clinic can only last long if you take good care and treat it as your own,” Afuga added.

Also sharing similar sentiments on the facility, a retired nurse who used to serve in the Renbel added that as a province that had always been left out in these kinds of health developments, with the beautiful centre completed, the people must think seriously about working closely with the responsible authorities to maintain it and ensure that services are not disrupted.

The retired nurse who asked not to be named stressed that, “to look after your health, would also mean looking after your care centre, and looking after your care centre also means looking after your health”.

The health care centre is expected to open for the Renbel public to use once work on getting personnel to serve and requured equipments are finalised.

It is understood that the selection unit within the Ministry is in discussions to select nurses and doctor to be sent to serve in the province, which according to earlier reports, should come in the middle of this year.

SI to benefit from Japan’s ¥1.3trillion aid

Written by
Milton Ragaruma
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Mr Tomoaki Ishigaki speaking at the briefing of Japan’s initiative on Climate Change in Tokyo Japan.

BY MAVIS NISHIMURA PODOKOLO

Mr Tomoaki Ishigaki speaking at the briefing of Japan’s initiative on Climate Change in Tokyo Japan.

SOLOMON Islands is one of the listed priority countries to benefit from Japan’s 1.3trillion Yen initiative towards the Pacific climate change programme.

The Government of Japan has allocated 1.3 trillion yen towards its climate change programmes in the Pacific region.

The fund will cover Japan’s climate-related support in areas of establishing geothermal power generation, urban railroads, disaster prevention infrastructure, water supply promotion of establishment of early warning systems, intercity collaboration and human resources development and other areas of Japan’s expertise.

Solomon Islands will be one of the beneficiaries of this fund when the new climate change programme commences in 2020.

Director of Japan’s Climate Change Division Mr Tomoaki Ishigaki made the announcement official when briefing delegates who attend the PALM8 meeting on Japan’s Climate Change Initiative.

He said Solomon Islands will be one of the ‘top priority’ under the new fund because Solomon Islands is rated atop in the disaster risk index.

Ishigaki adds that the decision was made because Solomon Islands has a potentially higher fragility due to climate change, susceptible to natural disasters and considerable economic and demographic.

“We want to help Solomon Islands because Solomon Islands was among the top ten countries in the Pacific that features in the world risk assessment reports and was ranked the sixth in the world risk index with19.14 percent,” he said.

Ishigaki told the official that Japan has already financed a project of multi-hazard and risk assessment and early system and a climate change centre.

He adds that other Pacific Island countries also get a fair share of the new project.

“We did this because climate change is a global issue which cannot be solved by our self. We stand to support the Pacific Islands countries to compensate the benefits we have through raw materials that are imported from Pacific Islands countries,” Ishigaki said.

Recognition of rural women must be commended

Written by
Milton Ragaruma
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THE National Financial Inclusion Taskforce (NFIT) must be commended for the initiative of the biennial awards for women in micro-business more-so for women in rural areas.

Often rural dwellers are being left out in such prestigious awards. However yesterday’s activity and ceremony saw women in rural areas taking the lead in discussing and speaking on things that matter in their communities and of their daily struggles.

For a change, these women in the rural areas were given the platform to share their stories and inspire other women doing businesses in a similar setting.

Hearing these women share their stories is quite compelling.

They spoke of challenges like lack of access to financial institutions, lack of support transport system, difficulties in communication etc. One micro-business owner spoke of the difficulty in getting her commodity across to Honiara for export.

It would have been easier for her to bring her commodity to the country’s second international port in the western province.

Sadly, this is not the case since the international port does not handle commodities.

One spoke of the hardship faced in doing financial transactions at the commercial banks. The commercial bank available in her provincial town doesn’t have the capacity to meet her demand and so she has to travel to Honiara each time she wants to withdraw or do bank transactions.

One spoke of the need to climb higher altitudes in search of network connectivity to contact business partners or clients in Honiara. However despite the hardships, these women remain optimistic and believe in hard work and determination. Their commonality is their drive to succeed. Giving up is not an option.

These women, though only five that shared their experiences, represents the vast majority of our rural women. We shouldn’t be turning a blind eye or turn a deaf ear to their stories. We need to listen and make the right changes to ensure they operate their businesses in a good environment.

After-all they contribute more to the development of our economy.

Gov’t and SINU signs MACFest MOA

Written by
Milton Ragaruma
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SINU Pro-Vice Chancellor Acting Donald Malasa and PS Culture and Tourism Andrew Nihopara.
SINU Pro-Vice Chancellor Acting Donald Malasa and PS Culture and Tourism Andrew Nihopara.

THE Solomon Islands National University and the Ministry of Culture and Tourism through the MACFEST Committee signed a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) on April 16.

Permanent Secretary (PS) & Chair of MACFEST Mr Andrew Nihopara and Pro-Vice Chancellor Corporate (PVCC) Mr Donald Malasa signed the MOA.

The Agreement covers the usage of SINU’s Panatina Grounds for the festival village, accommodation facilities, dining hall and catering services.

Nihopara stated that through some lesson-learnt from previous festivals, the committee has decided to reduce the number of service providers that partner with the Ministry.

The Ministry chose SINU as a fit partner since it has the capacity to accommodate and cater for 1000 festival participants.

The Permanent Secretary said he is aware of the concerns raised by the University about the previous Pacific Festival (FOPA) and assured that improved measures has been taken to avoid such from happening again.

Malasa gave assurance to the MACFEST Committee of SINU’s full support and commitment.

He said the University is pleased to host a national event again and said it falls well in its plan to turn the Panatina grounds into a public recreational area.

Construction of the semi-temporary Melanesian Village will commence after the MOA is submitted to the Government’s Central Tender Board.

Participants from Vanuatu, Fiji, Papua New Guinea, New Caledonia, Australia, Timor Leste, Indonesia and Republic of China (Taiwan) will be on our shores from July 1 to 10 for the 6th Melanesian Arts and Cultural Festival 2018.

–SIG & SINU PRESS

Country’s economic growth increases: PM Hou

Written by
Milton Ragaruma
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Prime Minister Rick Houenipwela sitting amongst other Pacific Islands leaders yesterday during the economic seminar regarding the Pacific Islands Countries at the Economic Forum at Captiol Hotel, Tokyo.

BY MAVIS NISHIMURA PODOKOLO

IN JAPAN

PRIME Minister Rick Houenipwela has told Japan’s Economic Forum ahead of today’s PALM 8th Summit that the country’s economy has grown to an estimated 3.8 percent this year.

Houenipwela, in his address to the 14 PALM leaders and more than 100 top businessmen and women of Japan, said that SI’s economic progress has been consistently improving as noted by its broad economic statistics in recent years: Economic growth – 3.7 percent (2017) and estimate 3.8 percent (2018); Inflation rate: 1.8 percent (2017) – may rise to 3.8 percent in 2018; Balance of Payments has been improving – $218 Million surplus in 2017; Gross Reserves are consistently high – now at 11.8 months of imports cover (2017); Debt/GDP Ratio has been declining to 10 percent in 2017, which we want cap at not more than 15 percent in 2018 – due to a rise both in domestic and external debt; Population growth rate however, has been one of the world’s highest at 2.6 percent pa; With more than 45 percent of population under 25 years of age, there is a very vibrant work force – to be well harnessed; Solomon Islands is being recommended for graduation from Least Developed Country (LDC) status by the United Nations.

Prime Minister Rick Houenipwela sitting amongst other Pacific Islands leaders on Thursday during the economic seminar regarding the Pacific Islands Countries at the Economic Forum at Captiol Hotel, Tokyo.

“We are looking to embrace this with a more vigorous stance to make the best out of it.”

He alluded to the growth in successful cooperation and development of economic relations between Japan and Solomon Island.

“Japans economic relations with Solomon Islands may be tiny in terms of Japan’s own standards. However, in Solomon Islands terms it is not only very significant, but it has become multifaceted and has grown in respect of the diversity of their engagement,” he said.

“In recent years Japan has divested from large scale investments in fisheries, and simultaneously it has increased its investment in public sector infrastructure development in the transportation sectors: Aviation, Maritime as well as in the Road Transportation.

“At the same time Japan has also significantly increased its engagement in social and economic areas including education, health, waste management, water, climate change mitigation.

“Indeed Japan plays a crucial role in SI economy. In recent years, Japanese grant assistance has boosted major and critical infrastructure projects in our country, such as the Honiara International Port upgrade, Honiara Urban water supply upgrade, and now the current work on Phase One of the Main Kukum Highway upgrade, to name a few,” he told the Forum.

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