Recruitment agencies servicing Papua New Guinea say the employment of expatriates has fallen over the past year. However, as our survey of the sector suggests, there is optimism about all employment in 2014, as new ventures come on stream to replace the giant PNG LNG project.
With money finally in the bank and an experienced hand at the helm, are the fortunes of PNG’s troubled mobile phone company Bemobile about to turn? Business Advantage PNG spoke with Sundar Ramamurthy – who last week became its ninth CEO and its fourth in a year – to find out.
The great untapped investment area in Papua New Guinea is infrastructure, according to Syd Yates, Executive Director of investment fund Kina Asset Management Limited (KAML).
Even if the PNG Government puts up its share of the funds for the Solwara I, as Nautilus Minerals’ CEO expects, it will be at least two to three years before the company can begin its deep sea mining operation in the Bismarck Sea.
Corporate and residential telecommunications prices in Papua New Guinea should fall over the next year as infrastructure improves, according to senior representatives of PNG’s two leading telecommunciations companies, Telikom and Digicel.
Nautilus Minerals says it will go ahead with its high grade copper-gold exploration project in the Bismark Sea, after an international arbitrator compelled the PNG government to abide by a joint venture agreement.
Tourism operators have welcomed the government’s plan to develop Kokopo and Rabaul in East New Britain province as the country’s tourism hub. But they warn poor infrastructure and the country’s bad image overseas could prevent PNG reaping the benefits of ‘huge’ tourism potential.
Papua New Guinea’s oldest manufacturing company, Paradise Foods, is marking its 80th year of operations this year, after its humble beginnings as a small town bakery in 1933. Behind the quiet celebrations are big expansion plans, Managing Director David Peate tells Business Advantage PNG.
Papua New Guinea’s retailers and manufacturers alike reporting significant drops in revenue this year. How serious is the downturn?
The ratings agency Standard and Poor’s is adopting a ‘wait and see’ attitude towards the O’Neill government’s nationalisation of the Ok Tedi mine and its owner, the PNG Sustainable Development Program (PNGSDP).