Saturday, January 31, 2015

1) AusAID Works with Tolikara government to Strengthen Health Systems

2) Health Care Service Poor Due to Shortage of Medical Personnel
3) Local Government to Form Monitoring Team on Health Service System
 4) 2.431 High School Students in Mimika Enrolled for National Exams
5) Sorong City Council Accused of Cowardice in Alcohol Crackdown

6) BKPM to put stalled projects  back on table

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1) AusAID Works with Tolikara government to Strengthen Health Systems

Wamena, Jubi – The Tolikara government is working with the Austrlaian aid agency AusAID to improve the primary health system in Papua and West Papua.
 
David Low, a representative from AusAID, said the agency wanted to see first hand the implementation of a nutrition program for pregnant and breastfeeding-women, initiated by Tolikara regent Usman G. Wanimbo as it has contributed to the welfare of the community.
“We start our visit to Papua by visiting Tolikara, because he wanted to see the process of service provision of nutritious food to the mother and children. Therefore, we are ready to fully support this program through partnership in strengthening the capacity of health centers in the province of Papua and West Papua including Tolikara,” Low said.
This program aims to reduce maternal mortality, newborns and toddlers, to decrease malnutrition for children under five, the number of new cases of HIV and sexually transmitted diseases and the number of deaths from AIDS. It will also give contribution in handling non-communicable diseases through screening or routine examination and cases of high blood pressure effectively.
Meanwhile regent deputy of Tolikara, Amos Yikwa welcomed the visit of AusAID chairman and his team.
“We hope we could work together and apply it to synchronize their programs together with local government programs,” Amos Yikwa said. (Islami/Tina)


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2) Health Care Service Poor Due to Shortage of Medical Personnel

Abepura, Jubi – The head of the health center in Harapan village, Jayapura regency, Hadi Kurniawan, said it is very difficult to meet the needs of the community as the health workers faced difficulty to reach people who live in the remotest villages.
Hadi said, before he served as the head of the health center, it already has had a clinic schedule in East Sentani area. However, the plan could not run smoothly because of the distance and shortage of medical personnel.
“If we all are out serving people in the village, there is no service at the health center,” he told Jubi in his office on Monday (26/10).
Currently, the clinic in Harapan village has one dentist and a general practitioner.
Last week, a Puai resident, Damianus Pulanda, said the health service in the area needs to be improved so that all citizens could have better health care. (Mawel Benny/Tina)
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3) Local Government to Form Monitoring Team on Health Service System


Sentani, Jubi – The Jayapura regency administration will establish a monitoring team to improve the health care system in various community health centers and hospitals following public complaints.
“We will form a team to ensure all service systems in hospital, health centers and clinics in each village work as they should,” Regent Jayapura, Mathius Awoitauw told Jubi in his office on Tuesday (27/1).
Public hospital is not the only place for the community to get medical treatement. Actually, the service designed must be close to the community such as health centers. And about liquid waste from Yowari Hospital that has not been managed well, the Regent said, it has set up a special team to collect data related to all supporting facilities.
“It will be implemented by the newly appointed acting as Yowari director Yowari prepared is completing his doctorate program,” regent added.
Meanwhile Salomina Apasedanya hoped Yowari hospitals and all community health service centers should be able to provide maximum services. Because until now, there are many health centers are shortages of drugs, whereas very high demand for drugs. (Engelberth Wally/Tina)
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4) 2.431 High School Students in Mimika Enrolled for National Exams


Timika, Jubi – A total of 2,431 senior high school, vocational school and community learning center students will take part in the National Examination (UN) for the academic year 2014/2015.
The number could still rise as there are some unregistered students who have problem in previous education papers.
Coordinator of the 2014-2015 National Examination (UN) on Registration and Data of Mimika education department Jonny Manullang, S.Pd said students’ data is collected from schools and Community Learning Centers for data verification.
There are 13 schools registered with 978 students, 14 vocational schools with 1,028 students, 26 students from community learning center and 425 people participated from paket C (Informal Education for senior high school drop-out students).
Meanwhile, two students of SMAN 5 are not registered for the exams because they have moved to other school and have problem with its junior high school diploma.(Eveerth Joumilena/Tina

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5) Sorong City Council Accused of Cowardice in Alcohol Crackdown

Sorong, Jubi – The Sorong Municipal Legislative Council and the local government are not capable of cracking down on the circulation of liquor, which has been blamed for a spate of crimes in Sorong City, an observer said.
 
The City Council exhibited cowardice when it failed to endorse the Regional Regulation to restrict liquor distribution, social observer Kace Marani on Monday (26/1).
 
“Sorong City Council is a coward. It does not dare taking action on the Regional Regulation on Liquor ” said Marani.
 
According to him, Sorong City already had Regional Regulation No.13/2012 on Retribution on Liquor Sales Location Permit and Regional Regulation No.18/2012 on Monitoring and Control on the Liquor. Both regulations have been authorized in 2012 without socialization and hearing with the community.
 
“Even the parliament’s members at that time were never attended the plenary session to approve both regulations. But it had authorized and registered in the regional administration immediately,” he said.
 
The Chairman of Commission B of Sorong Municipal Legislative Council, Salestinus Reubun said in the meeting with Sorong Mayor on 4 January 2015, both government and parliament agreed about the requirement of new Regional Regulation for controlling the circulation of liquor. However, under the circumstances that Sorong City has no source of Regional Revenue from other sectors except the service sector, thereby eliminating the circulation of liquor cannot be done.
 
“It’s hard to eliminate the circulation of liquor, because it has connection with the Regional Revenue of Sorong City. We only count on that sector,” he said. Further, city’s revenue from the liquor is up to 7 billion per year. (Nees Makuba/Tina).



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6) BKPM to put stalled projects  back on table
Raras Cahyafitri, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Business | Sat, January 31 2015, 11:37 AM 


The Investment Coordinating Board (BKPM) is aiming to settle a number of projects in Papua and West Papua that have been stalled, mostly because of land disputes and infrastructure problems, as part of an attempt to boost investments in the eastern part of the country.

BKPM head Franky Sibarani said on Friday that his office was currently working to accelerate the realization of investments with a combined value of Rp 113 trillion (US$8.8 billion) from 10 companies that were currently being hampered by several problems.

“The planned investments cover various sectors, including marine and fisheries, plantation, cement and mining. Six of the firms are connected to foreign investments in the marine sector,” Franky said.

He revealed that a cement firm was set to build a plant in Papua, but a dispute with a local community on indigenous land has hampered its development.

As for the six companies planning to invest in the fisheries sector, the investment was bogged down because the permits had been annulled by the Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Ministry.

Franky said the BKPM would discuss the matter with the Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Ministry to settle the issue.

In terms of companies planning to invest in the plantation sector, the BKPM is seeking solution to encourage keeping the investments intact, although a previous plan to develop the Merauke Integrated Food and Energy Estate (MIFEE) in West Papua is currently under review. The MIFEE development has been rejected by local residents. The option of developing the plantation in another area has been taken by some investors and will be supported by the BKPM, according to Franky.

Out of the total Rp 113 trillion intended for investment, nine firms had planned to invest up to Rp 13.8 trillion. Meanwhile, the biggest investment of around Rp 99 trillion is expected to come from activities related to copper miner PT Freeport Indonesia and a copper smelter planned by PT Nusantara Smelting Corporation.

Freeport Indonesia is currently planning to develop an underground mine in the Grasberg area.

Meanwhile, Nusantara Smelting signed in 2013 an agreement with copper miner PT Newmont Nusa Tenggara (NNT) in which the latter agreed to supply copper concentrate to the former’s planned smelter. Last year, Nusantara Smelting showed disappointment toward Newmont Nusa Tenggara when the copper miner said it would join Freeport in developing a smelter. The decision was expected to make Nusantara Smelting’s smelter lack a supply of copper concentrate.

There has been no progress toward an agreement between Nusantara Smelting and Newmont Nusa Tenggara. Nusantara Smelting director Juangga Mangasi did not immediately reply to calls, or to a text message seeking confirmation on whether the company wanted to build the smelter in Papua with Freeport.

Investments in Papua and West Papua province have been sluggish in past years, although the area is rich in natural resources and several estates have been planned.

According to figures from the BKPM, foreign investment in Papua province amounted to $1.26 billion in 2014, down from $2.35 billion a year earlier. Meanwhile, investments by domestic players was worth Rp 249.9 billion last year, a drop from Rp 584.25 billion in 2013.

West Papua province also experienced a similar drop in domestic investments to Rp 100.1 billion last year from Rp 303.95 billion in 2013. Meanwhile, West Papua recorded $153.3 million in foreign investments in 2014, a significant rise from $54.16 million.
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