The SI Government has confirmed that the Solomon Islands National Broadband Infrastructure Project or SINBIP for the construction of up to 161 towers has been progressed with the recent signing of a contracting agreement with the vendor and contractor, Huawei/China Harbour Engineering Company Limited. A joint statement from the Ministry of Finance and Treasury and…
THE Franjti Shipping Ltd’s new passenger vessel, MV Auki Express, successfully made its first passenger voyage to Auki, Malaita Province, yesterday. Auki Express broke the record as the fastest passenger vessel to ever serve the Honiara- Auki route with only two hours running time between Honiara and Auki. Passengers who travelled onboard MV Auki Express…
Govt to table 2022 supplementary budget with Politicians as ‘biggest winners’ THE Government is spending an additional $284 million-plus to take us to the end of the year and, as in any budgetary appropriations, there are winners and losers. Politicians are amongst the biggest winners in the 2022 Supplementary Appropriation Bill 2022. Finance Minister Harry…
AFTER ignoring High Court enforcement orders for four and a half years, the ruling DCGA government has finally run out of steam and will comply. Within hours of a High Court ruling on Tuesday 16th August 2022 that dismissed government application to suspend enforcement Orders in the Levers Solomon Ltd v Attorney General case, the…
THE sale of Hammock Beach to the Commodity Exporting Marketing Authority (CEMA) was never approved by the CEMA Board, it was revealed yesterday. Nonetheless, a down payment of $1 million has been made to local firm, Hatanga Ltd. According to CEMA, the land on which Hammock Beach is located “is registered under Hatanga Ltd (HL).…
THE Government has suffered a major blow in its fight to suspend an enforcement order to pay Levers Solomon Ltd (LSL) $50 million in compensation for the use of its land at Alligator Creek in east Honiara. Judge Rex Foukona yesterday dismissed the government application at a High Court hearing in Honiara, Tuesday. Instead, Judge…
PERMANENT Secretary for the Ministry of Provincial Government Institutional Strengthening (MPGIS) Stanley Dick Pirione has assured Malaitans of the European Union (EU) support of $78 million for water, sanitation and Education. The funding is to support Provincial Capacity Development Projects in the country which Malaita province will benefit from. Mr Pirione adds that on top…
Government to invest $367 million in new mobile network around the country By ALFRED SASAKO THE Government is investing about USD66 million (about SBD367 million) in improving telephone network nationwide over the next two years, largely to ensure people in the rural areas have access to watching the 2023 Pacific Games. A government committee has…
DIRECTORS of Gold Ridge Community Investments Limited [GCIL] have visited the Gold Ridge Mine project in Central Guadalcanal, Friday. It was reported that in 2015, the GCIL bought the St. Barbara abandoned gold mine after heavy downpour and flash flooding washed away the bridge connecting Honiara and the mine site. According to Benjamin Afuga St.…
Are the executives of SIPEU protecting the interest of their members? UNTIL now no one suspects anything amiss about the Solomon Islands Public Employees Union (SIPEU) – a body set up to protect and advance the rights and interests of thousands of its members. Now some of SIPEU’s executive members are under thick smog. Amongst…