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Resource owners’ body questions Gov’t on its proposal

Written by
Milton Ragaruma
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0

BY SAMIE WAIKORI

in Auki

MEMBERS of the Solomon Islands Forest Resources Owners Association (SIFROA) are questioning the national government (SIDCCG) on the status of their proposal.

SIFROA, a body of resource-extractive licence holders, made the query following a proposal given to the former national government, the DCCG in 2017 for assistance.

A member of the association, Mr Peter Waikiri said during the Sogavare-led government, SIFROA submitted a proposal in an interest of dialogue between the PMO and SIFROA executive.

Adding that the area surrounding the proposal is on protecting the resource owners’ interest in the logging industry in the country.

He said the aim of the proposal for dialogue includes, 1) Forest Sustainable Development (resource replenishment), 2) Forest Improvement Benefit Determination and Product Development (profit sharing and downstream processing).

3) Forest Markets (pricing) and Marketing Development (transparent log marketing enactment) and 4) Economic Opportunity Conversion and Creation (allied private sector oriented growth).

According to a copy of the proposal obtained by this paper, SIFROA considers these areas; timber (forestry) Industry, round log economy and SI national forestry act.

Another area of great concern is round log business in SI which covers areas of milling quota, reforestation levies/fees, profit sharing arrangement and markets and marketing.

The alarm is SFA was a stake holder of the logging industry in the country, where it exists as a body coordinating the business interest of all logging contractors.

“They own the money and machineries. Because of this SFA is a one-way traffic that promotes and protects the interest of the industry’s one key player only.

“Their goals are clear which purely profit driven. They move in, get the money, sit down, but one day they will move out.

“We glad for them, however their national status as offshore investors assures that one day they will leave with all wealth they accumulated from the industry,” said the proposal.

The statement also said that the welfare and rights of Forest Resource Owners were not reflected in SFA and were downplayed ever since. That left resource owners silently crying in their heart and had lived this for ages.

It was with these understanding that SIFROA initiated the association and intended for an integral timber industry reform and rescue strategy that will belongs to resource owners nationwide.

However, Waikiri appealed upon the national government for consideration on the proposal, so they can work toward protecting the interest of resource owners in logging industry in the country.

Funds and expertise for Infrastructure Development lacking: SI Post

Written by
Milton Ragaruma
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0

BY LORETTA BRIGIDIA MANELE

SOLOMON Island Postal Corporation can only proceed with the new mobile wallet service project with commitment from Funding Agencies.

This was expressed in the corporation’s report which voices that at the moment, they lack funds and expertise for technical and infrastructure development and digital service integration.

Meanwhile, Solomon Post mentions that there is ongoing milestone monitoring for each project team to ensure that their schedule is being met and budgetary overruns are avoided.

“Solomon Islands Postal Corporation procurement guidelines will be followed and ongoing system reporting will be available. Supplier liaison will occur with the project team while initial training and integration assistance will be made available from the supplier”, the report said.

Moreover, Solomon Post stressed that the underpinnings of the project rely on customer registration, agent and merchant recruitment, transaction volume, tariffs and service offering.

Additionally stated is that monitoring of the above areas and having a compliant system implementation will determine the overall success of the digitization and integration of the mobile wallet service within the Solomon Islands Postal Corporation.

The Solomon Post report furthers that a few areas of concern, specifically include digital services, customer retention and acquisition, continuing financial viability of the Solomon Islands Postal Corporation, financial inclusion and international remittances and money transfers.

“By addressing these areas of concern Solomon Islands Postal Corporation will be able to digitize services that will restore the relevance of the postal service, achieve our core business objectives, restore profitability and provide new services to the people of the Solomon Islands”, the report said.

A feasible and scalable solution

Written by
Milton Ragaruma
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0

BY LORETTA BRIGIDIA MANELE

THE new mobile wallet system Solomon Post will establish is not only feasible but viable.

This is according to the local corporation’s new mobile wallet report which indicates factors that make the new payment system possible and commercially scalable.

Speaking of the former, Solomon Post sees the new service as a possible solution given that Bibimoney will be on board providing support in areas of technical setup support, assistance with regulatory and compliance procedures, bespoke branding support, staff training, marketing strategy development, deployment support, in-country server and platform and SIM-Skin technology for each customer.

Moreover, as for the latter, the report refers to the solution as commercially scalable because it is only the interoperable and scalable solution that Solomon Post has been able to identify.

“Because the Solomon Islands Postal Corporation wallet is fully interoperable, does not rely on internet and works on any phone, means that scaling up and expanding the Solomon Islands Postal Corporation wallet network may happen in a much shorter time frame than projected”, said the report.

Further noted is that the project will be managed by a project team comprising of a project manager, overall project manager, a technical team, training and marketing team and a deployment team.

Guadalcanal provincial government swears in new minister

Written by
Milton Ragaruma
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0
Member of the Executive and Backbenchers at the swearing in Ceremony.

THE Guadalcanal Provincial Government (GPG) yesterday swore in Hon Andrew Rayboy Member of Provincial Assembly for Paripao Ward as the new Provincial Minister for Works.

Mr Rayboy previously held the post of Deputy Speaker to the Assembly, but resigned to take up his new role as Minister for Works.

He is not new to holding portfolios as he has held ministerial portfolios in previous governments and member of previous House of Assemblies.

His appointment came about in replacement of former Minister for Works Late Hon John Irovia – MPA for Longu Ward – who passed away two weeks ago.

Speaking during the swearing in ceremony, Premier Anthony Veke thanked Rayboy for his willingness to take up the new responsibility and acknowledged his contributions to the province in his previous capacity as Deputy Speaker to the Assembly.

“Your swearing in today is us the executive having trust in you. We have responsibilities to serve our people and province, one man alone cannot fulfill these responsibilities. Together as a team we can drive our responsibilities and to archive our goals,” Mr Veke reminded Rayboy and the attendees.

Rayboy thanked the Premier and his executive for having the trust and confidence in him to serve his people of Paripao Ward and Guadalcanal as a whole as a member of the GPG- Executive.

Speaker of the Assembly Mr Abel Arabola also thanked Rayboy for his time and service to the Assembly as Deputy Speaker.

The ceremony was held at the GP-Provincial Assembly Chamber witnessed by all current GPG executive members, backbenchers and staff at GP-Headquarter, RitaEleven Building.

It was facilitated by the Office of the Speaker and Clerk together with the Provincial Secretary and witnessed by Legal Counsel Donald Marahare as Commissioner of Oath to the ceremony.

–GP PRESS

Recent bad weather affects Tutu Zone

Written by
Milton Ragaruma
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0

BY BARNABAS MANEBONA

COMMUNITIES of Vorvoru in Tutu Zone at Varisi Lavata Ward 12, Northwest Choiseul, are badly affected from food shortage caused by the recent stormy weather experienced.

According to report from Mr Nerio Ulemiki the media coordinator for Christ the King Parish at Voruvoru, the heavy rain caused landslides and floods destroying their local food gardens leaving hundreds of people hungry.

“The locals affected are now calling on the National Disaster Management Office (NDMO) to advice the Choiseul Provincial Disaster Committee at Taro to assess the affected area and send relief supplies,” said Mr Ulemiki.

He elaborated that Tutu Zone communities are also calling on their good MP for food assistance during this current situation faced.

Attempt to reach the Choiseul Provincial Disaster Committee at Taro for comment was not possible yesterday.

Principal of Choiseul Bay PSS commended

Written by
Milton Ragaruma
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0

BY BARNABAS MANEBONA

COMMUNITIES of Northwest Choiseul commend the Principal of Choiseul Bay Provincial Secondary School (PSS) for improvement standard shown on teaching students.

According to Mr Nerio Ulemiki the media coordinator for Christ the King Parish at Voruvoru reporting, Mr Collin Ruqebatu and his hardworking Staff have helped upgraded the education level of teaching in the Premier school of the province.

“Their effort is a bonus to uplifting the quality of education in Choiseul,” said Mr Ulemiki.

Choiseul Bay PSS currently has 11 Degree and Diploma qualified teachers serving.

The infrastructure development of the school from report is also bonus to provide a good learning environment.

Data collected very important on national and global level

Written by
Milton Ragaruma
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0

BY LORETTA BRIGIDIA MANELE

DATA collected at Western Province by a research team from Taiwan’s Central Weather Bureau under the Tsunami, Earthquake and Cyclone Early Warning system (TEC) program is very important information nationally and globally.

This was expressed by Mr Yu-Ting Kuo, who is part of the research team and a postdoctoral fellow at the Institute of Earth Sciences, Academia Sincia in Taiwan.

In relation, he stressed that in the southern part of Solomon Islands, there is a large ocean trench which in geology is a natural boundary located between two crustal plates. More or so, this movement occurs when a continental plate converges or intersects with an oceanic plate forming a subduction zone which then creates a trench between the plates.

Mr Kuo adds that many earthquakes occur on this trench, noting that in 2007 in the southern part of the country, an earthquake with a magnitude of 8.1 occurred.

In this regard, he mentioned that Simbo is on the footwall just two sides of the subduction zone which is something that is quite rare globally.

“Simbo is on the footwall, just two sides of the subduction. In the global, very less, almost no two islands can besides the subduction. So this part is very important because the subduction is very active”, Mr Kuo said.

He furthers that utilizing the data they collect to help estimate the probability of whether or not an earthquake is likely to occur is the final stage they want to try to reach.

“That’s the final and very important point we want to try but before that we still have many things to figure at like how it happens”, Mr Kuo said.

We are entering a new territory, which gives little hope for our your people

Written by
Milton Ragaruma
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0

By Alfred Sasako

WE have truly entered into a new territory, which gives our young people little hope for the future.

At a time when our young people should be up on their feet looking for new opportunities, their hopes have been dashed. There are no funds for scholarships.

Many young people, who have worked so hard throughout the year in the hope of starting a new beginning, have been told in no uncertain terms that their names were not on the list.

Not because they did not make it academically. No. In fact many have got good marks, but because they knew no one in the system, they were largely overlooked.

How can government overlook school fees each year? Take for example in 2016 the DCC Government allocated some $300, 000 in Constituency Scholarship to each MP.

The following year (2017) the DCC government allocated some $350, 000 to each of the 50 Constituencies. No one knows how much was given to Constituencies this year. This raises a lot of questions – questions such as where did the money go?

This year there’s a change to the allocation of scholarships. Whereas MPs were in control in past years in terms of how many students would be nominated by MPs for scholarships, this year there’s only 8 scholarships per constituency – four to be taken at SINU and perhaps the USP campus in Honiara and the other four to be taken offshore.

It is a drop in the bucket

But hang on. How can we ignore the plight of so many of our young people? They worked so hard as were their parents in the hope of making it through. Unfortunately, the hopes of many were dashed when they found out their names were not on the scholarship list.

How can we ignore their future? It is heart-wrenching to say the least that our kids should be allowed to pursue an endless vicious cycle? While they did their part, the government people have truly let them down. Where is the fee-free policy?

One way to explore additional opportunities for the young people is perhaps to inject additional funding through the Don Bosco-type practical training. This is certainly one area to open new opportunities for practical training which would help prepare the young people for the life ahead.

It is certainly a good start. The difficulty is whether those who run the institution would be willing to consider such cooperation given that it has its own board and that they may not be too keen to tango.

Still it is worth exploring. We cannot continue to give the impression that all is well. All is not well.

National leaders are standing in the way of our young people trying to advance their future and indeed the future of this country. We need to consider a brake with the past because the night comes when no one can work.

One only hopes the brake with the past starts this year and continues into 2019, the year which will mark the changing of the guard, come March that year. One also hopes that Taiwan slows down in the distribution of its slush fund.

While Tapei’s intention was noble, those who received the funds have abused the money in many ways than one. Taiwan can help curb corruption in this country. The funding has dwarfed development progress in this country.

125,000 visitors needed to replace logging receipts

Written by
Milton Ragaruma
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0
PM Hounipwele said, “To replace logging receipts Solomon Islands will need to generate 125,000 additional international visitors.

BY LYNTON AARON FILIA

PM Hounipwele said, “To replace logging receipts Solomon Islands will need to generate 125,000 additional international visitors.

SOLOMON Islands needs to generate 125,000 additional international visitors before logging activities can be replaced.

Prime Minister Rick Houenipwela said this in reference to a long standing national vision that tourism will one day replace logging as a sustainable driver to the economy.

PM Hou said, “To replace logging receipts Solomon Islands will need to generate 125,000 additional international visitors.”

He said the spin-off from these extra arrivals is huge and can positively affect Solomon Airlines equipment acquisition, agriculture and fisheries sectors to increase production to feed the country’s guests.

“To do this in the shortest period of time will require active participation from all key stakeholders including total government support, willing resource owners and keen and capable investors to commit to the destination.

“Absence of good and quality accommodation in the Capital and the Provinces is identified as one of the main obstacle to growth.

“The disruptive approach is to saturate Honiara and selected Provinces with quality accommodation so inducing market forces to dictate play, effectively making Solomon Islands a more affordable destination compared to its Pacific neighbours.”

Recognising the important contribution of tourism to Solomon Islands’ economy, the Prime Minister pledged that his government would continue to develop the tourism sector through development and introduction of a national tourism legislation.

“This would include plans to implement range of activities under Tourism Division Capacity Development program to ensure consistency in tourism standards and quality management.

“Also enabling increased visitors satisfaction levels and improving industry competitiveness.”

SIVB CEO, Josefa ‘Jo’ Tuamoto said there is a need for a change the status quo which requires collaboration and partnership to meet the country’s longstanding vision.

“We cannot go on the way we are if we want to grow our tourism sector,” Mr Tuamoto said.

“We have done pretty well considering the challenges we face but we really need to develop leisure market and hopefully by the end of this year, if we can achieve that, we will have finally cracked the 25,000 international visitation mark.”

Mataniko clinic closed for 3 months facelift

Written by
Milton Ragaruma
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0
The HCC Mataniko Area Health Centre is under renovation as of Tuesday 6

BY LYNTON AARON FILIA

The HCC Mataniko Area Health Centre is under renovation as of Tuesday 6

THE Mataniko Clinic has temporary closed on Monday for a three-month rennovations.

Honiara City Council’s Works division has been tasked with this important facelift.

Patients are advised to go to nearby clinics for medical attention.

The refurbishment of the HCC Mataniko Area Health Centre will be both interior and exterior.

HCC also explained its members can still access Council’s health centre because they are already aware about the renovation which the construction.

Pregnant mothers, scale/child immunisation and family planning are advised to use the Mbokonavera clinic, the Mataniko Clinic Nurse in Charge Mrs Gretal Sendersley said.

Sendersley adds, pregnant mothers who are members of the Mataniko clinics are allowed to visit the Mbokonavera clinics temporarily, and ‘their medical cards already transferred there’.

Patients from out-of-town boundary who use the Mataniko health centre, Mrs Sendersley encourages all to use the Good Samaritan Clinic on Guadalcanal province.

Sendersley said if the clinic reopens they will let the service users know.

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