For people who don't believe O'Neill and the coalition have changed things much for the better, you need to look at things like the ADB's coming visit.  The respect for O'Neill, the strength of the coalition, the demand that department heads perform or get out and the recently passed extension of the grace period to 30 monhs from 15 have quickly heightened confidence in what PNG is doing and the confidence that investing in PNG will be a much better hing than ever before.  The ADB has worked with PNG for a long time but with China pledging funding for specific projects, ANZ recently praising png for its quick progress and bright future, etc this visit by the head of ADB probably means much more than in the past.  Being that this article was from Friday, this guy will be there this week.

'Palm' pid='17237' datel Wrote:If Pickboone is refering to what it looks like, I'm not sure he is giving the whole story. That article mentions: "“A good example of this is the K6 billion Export-Import Bank of China bank loan,” he said. “The idea itself is not bad and I am supportive of it but all indications so far from the government is that members of parliament have allocated its expenditure prior to negotiating the terms and conditions, while next to zero detail has been made transparent. “The fragmentation created by the stampede to allocate projects to be financed by the loan suggests that the cart is leading the horse. There are other examples too of this behaviour occurring in government ranks and this is a worry.” As EXIM bank is an export credit agency, the funds must provide work to Chinese companies yet the first surprise outcome of the loan was news that the PNG government awarded a $US76 million contract for a biometric identification system, presumably to be used for the next election, to Chinese mobile phone manufacturer Huawei Technologies. The deal shocked local player SkyCo System which had already designed and tested a biometric system in PNG with its US partner Cogent, while the Opposition said Huawei had not even presented a case to the government to win the contract. It is believed some of the Chinese funds will be used for PNG government spending in the InterOil-led Gulf LNG project, partly because the government generally says the Chinese funds are for “infrastructure”. But in the months before the election it was suggested that O’Neill’s government was pursuing Chinese finance more specifically for road projects, including the deteriorating Highlands Highway." So the article which reveals the identity of "Tavurvur on Twitter or as the Garamut on his blog" and mentions certain issues he has covered while using that identity, but the comments referring to Gulf are actually Blair Price's I believe. It more refers to some of the thoughts swirling around regarding the Chinese loan and what it might fund as far as projects, but so far the government has been very tight-lipped except to say projects must be identified and approved, the money spent and then funds can be applied for to be sure projects get done instead of ending up in condos in Australia. Not saying that some of these funds won't end up in the project, but taking this statement and giving it much weight is tough. It's already been circulated back in Nov-Dec and run its course as far as any affect on pps IMHO.

Palm,

I highly agree with you in your conclusion. I question pickboones comments and motives. Just think of me being more cautious though.