First urban summit here

THE Ministry of Lands, Housing & Survey is hosting a National Urban Conference in Honiara from 27 to 29 June. This is the first time such a conference will be held in Solomon Islands, and a range of Ministry, Provincial, and international representatives are scheduled to present. Director of Physical Planning in the Ministry of…

Fiji NPF members get 6.25 interest pay-out

AS members of the Solomon Islands National Provident Fund (NPF) await what percentage they’ll get on their savings next month, Fiji National Provident Fund has declared a massive 6.25 per cent interest rate payout. This was announced by Fiji’s Minister for Finance, Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum, during the 2016-2017 National Budget announcement this week. “The 6.25 per…

Water project celebrated

SOLOMON Water and Japan International Co‐operation Agency (JICA) recently celebrated the completion of Non­‐Revenue Water (NRW) project that has been running for three years and 8 months. The project, which included a dispatch of technical experts from Japan, in‐Japan trainings of Solomon Water staff members and procurement of water meters and other equipment, was aimed…

Interplast heading here

INTERPLAST Australia & New Zealand (Interplast) will visit Honiara from the 28 June – 7 July 2016. The team will be at the National Referral Hospital (NRH) in Honiara from 29 June -6 July 2015 to facilitate plastic and reconstructive surgical services and training. The team will be led by Dr Zachary Moaveni and will…

UN urged to attend to West Papua abuses

SOLOMON Islands’ diplomat in Geneva, Barrett Salato this week told the UN Human Rights Council’s 32nd session about an eroding human rights situation in Indonesia’s Papua region. Mr Salato told the session that whilst his country welcomes increased attention on West Papua from Indonesia’s president Joko Widodo, violations of Papuans’ rights remain unresolved. He said…

Study to improve Honiara port

AUSTRALIA is supporting Solomon Islands to undertake a Time Release Study at Honiara Port.  This study will commence in July and measure the time it takes for sea cargo to be released after it arrives in Honiara. This data will help to identify bottlenecks and reduce clearance times. This will be the first such study…

Barge death

Young man killed by poisonous gas A YOUNG man lost his life early this week when he reportedly inhaled poisonous gas while attending to a logging barge owned by loggers Samlimsan Company. The man, in his 20s, from Isabel, died after he reportedly inhaled poisonous gasoline from the barge, which was loaded and ready to…