World Bank loan for roads and agriculture, draft tax review released and rubber farming halts in Western Province. Our summary of the week’s business stories.

Papua New Guinea has signed a loan agreement with the World Bank for US$150 million (K414 million) to improve roads and rejuvenate critical cash crops. The roads project (US$126 million) will upgrade priority roads in a number of coastal provinces, including the East Coast Road in Milne Bay, and pilot a maintenance program for the Hiritano Highway in the Southern region. The Productive Partnerships in Agriculture Project will receive US$30 million (K82 million) to boost coffee and cocoa production.

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The Papua New Guinea Tax Review, the body tasked with recommending changes to government revenue-raising activities, has released an issues paper on PNG’s mining and petroleum fiscal regime. Submissions in response to the paper are due by 30 April 2014. Download a copy here.

PNGSDP Chairman, Sir Mekere Morauta

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Sir Mekere Morauta says the PNG Sustainable Development Program (PNGSDP) will fight an attempt by the national government to stop PNGSDP from disposing of its assets. Attorney-General Kerenga Kua says he has applied through the courts in Singapore to appoint independent receivers to take control of and manage the PNGSDP assets.

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Rubber farmers in Middle Fly, Western Province, have stopped production, after the national government froze the assets of PNGSDP, according to North Fly Rubber Ltd field manager Renagi Lohia. PNGSDP had funded the company for the last 10 years, subsidising shipping costs for its 1,500 farmers. A petition has called on the government to continue the funding previously provided by PNGDSP.

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The agriculture sector is expected to re-bound in 2014 after a difficult 2012 and 2013 and should be boosted by recent price increases for coffee, copra, palm oil and cocoa as well as the recent decline in the value of the kina. Asian Development Bank economist Aaron Batten says the government’s key challenge is implementing policy, rather than providing funds.

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 A new report by the National Research Institute says one the main reasons that banks do not accept land leases as collateral for loans is because many land titles are not genuine and have been attained through illegal means.

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Small, indigenous businesses in the Pacific may miss out on taking part in the Australian Government’s plan for a greater role by the private sector in delivering aid projects. The Lowry Institute‘s, Dr Tess Newton Cain, says there is a danger some countries and sectors won;t have businesses of the requisite size to quality for financing and other support programs.

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ABG President John Momis

The Autonomous Bougainville Government has passed laws to set up its own public service system. Bougainville’s President, John Momis, says for too long the public service has been run by the old guard, and the region’s development has suffered as a result.

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Oil Search forecasts a ‘transformational’ year with an anticipated doubling of oil and gas production. In his annual report, managing director Peter Botten says net profit after tax increased 17% to $US205.7 million, while revenue rose 6% to $766.3 million, driven by a 9% increase in oil and gas sales.

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Kina Asset Management Limited, PNG’s only listed managed fund, has reported a return of 10.3% for the first quarter of this year, lifting the value of its portfolio to K55.1 million. CEO Syd Yates attributed the rise to foreign currency gains from valuation of offshore investment, driven by the depreciation of the kina, and increases in the value of its investments in Credit Corporation, Oil Search, Westpac and Transurban Group.

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Morobe Province Governor Kelly Naru  has lent his support to a biomass project aimed at providing clean, green power in Lae. Naru was speaking after a briefing from the PNG biomass project, a joint venture between Oil Search Ltd and Align Energy of Australia, who are proposing using woodchips as an energy source.

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CPL Group has opened the first of two new shopping developments in Port Moresby. Earlier this month, CPL opened a 5,000-square-metre Stop N Shop supermarket, which includes a City Pharmacy branch. Later this year, CPL will open a DIY Haus Depot and the second outlet of their Paradise Cinema business. It is also planning a clothing and accessories store and a franchise of an American burger chain.

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Fish are losing their survival instinct–even becoming attracted to the smell of their predators–as the world’s oceans become more acidic due to climate change. A study of fish in coral reefs off the coast of Papua New Guinea, where the waters are naturally acidic, shows fish behaviour is becoming riskier.

Construction of Fiji’s stalled first casino is underway, says its developer Larry Claunch from One Hundred Sands Ltd. The casino is being built on Denaru Island near Nadi. Claunch says it will take 18-24 months to complete.

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Tim Lehany of Gold Ridge Mining Ltd

Retailers in Solomon Islands say it will take more than a year for trade to recover from this month’s devastating floods. The Chinese Business Association’s Matthew Quan told Radio Australia some shop owners lost everything, after some shops literally fell into the Mataniko River. Meanwhile, Gold Ridge Mining Director, Tim Lehany, says it will be some time before the company returns to its mine after evacuating its 200 staff when more than 1,000mm of rain flooded the mine earlier this month.

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New Zealand’s biggest tribe, Ngapuhi, has lost a bid to have the right to continue using cheap Third World labour on foreign boats fishing its deepwater quotas. A new law will force all foreign fishing boats to fly the NZ flag from 2016, after reports of abuse of Indonesian crews on foreign boats.