Trade Winds

A Coconut Shell And Driftwood

Steam Engine For The Islands

AN AUSTRALIAN-designed and built steam engine that runs on sawmill offcuts and coconut shells is now undergoing final tests in Sydney before shipment to the island of Atiu in the Cook Islands. Forerunner of a new export drive in “appropriate technology”, the en gine is designed to bring electricity and in dustrial power to remote communities, sawmills and workshops at a fraction of the cost of conventional diesel units.

Island Steam and Engineering Co (ISE) has been developing its Island 11/150 Steam Engine for the past five years. The first order came from the Cook Islands Government. Delivering 225 horsepower, the engine is capable of handling a typical 150 kW generator/alternator.

The engine is designed for simplicity of operation, on-the-spot repair and main tenance by village tradesmen, and cheap ness of operation using a variety of solid fuels ranging from sawmill offcuts to co conut shells, oil palm detritus, chaff and grain stalks and driftwood.

The cost of diesel fuel is doubled or more for many remote communities by the cost of transporting it in barrels aboard lo cal trucks and supply boats. In many Third World countries this cost far outweighs the labour-intensive collection and prepara tion of local wood fuels. Even in countries such as Australia and New Zealand, re mote sawmills burn off waste wood 24 hours a day simply for disposal while in the same plant a diesel plant is burning oil.

ISE managing director Sandy Storey says, “The design requirements have been from the beginning simplicity, ease of es sential repairs and maximum visibility of those parts most prone to wear or failure.

It is almost axiomatic that if a machine part is visibly ‘wrong’ it is repairable with basic tools, experience and common-sense qualities which are abundantly avail able in the Third World.”

Storey engaged mechanical engineer Jack Doherty in 1984 to undertake the de sign and development of the Island en gine. Another Australian engineer, Paul Bailey, was chiefly responsible for bring ing out the production model.

According to Storey, the engine’s cost effectiveness is obvious when fuel com parisons are made. Remote communities able to grow and provide their own fuel should get power for 12 to 18 cents (Aus tralian) per kilowatt hour where power from conventional diesel systems can cost between 60 cents and As 2 per kWh.

As well as providing electricity, the Is land 11/150 engine can provide rotational

power by a belt from the flywheel for a sawmill or other industrial activity, or provide a simple back-and-forth move ment for pumping or grinding.

Development authorities in the South Pacific have shown great interest in the system and ISE is actively pursuing orders for more than a dozen engines. Under de velopment is a larger 500 kW engine.

United Nations Water Resource

Program Underway

THE UNITED Nations Develop ment Program has approved SUS 1.5 million ($F2.3 million) for the de velopment of water resources in the South Pacific.

This project, which is located in the In stitute of Natural Resources at the Uni versity of the South Pacific, Fiji, follows a pilot activity funded by the United Na tions Department of Technical Co-oper ation for Development (DTCD), which has been carried out over the past 18 months to assess water resources needs in Pacific island countries.

Individual country\projects have been initiated for Kiribati, Tuvalu and the Sol omon Islands.

Chief technical adviser Dr Peter Had wen will continue as head of the new pro ject. He will be assisted by technical staff based in Fiji and other Pacific islands in cluding Solomon Islands, Western Sa moa, Vanuatu, Tuvalu, Papua New Guinea, Palau, Kiribati, Federated States of Micronesia and the Cook Islands.

The project will be executed by DTCD and will strengthen national water auth orities by enhancing their capacity to plan, co-ordinate and manage water-related policies and activities. This will involve training of local personnel as well as the fielding of specialist staff and consultants to provide technical guidance and support to regional governments.

Among its activities, the project will conduct geological and engineering stud ies; explore and assess surface as well as ground water; provide various options on alternative water supply systems; and as sist governments to review water legisla tion and prepare draft water laws and regulations. These activities may generate significant follow-up investment by bilat eral and multilateral donors.

During 1987-1991, the project will also collaborate with USP to establish a re gional information centre on aspects of water development.

Surveillance Centres To Protect

Fishing Industry

Australian officials say the South Pacific should have a regional sur veillance network within five years. The network would be based around

national surveillance centres in the island states, the Pacific patrol boats being built and supplied by Australia and surveil lance flights by Australia and New Zealand.

The officials say that in the next two years Australia will help establish na tional surveillance centres in Vanuatu, Western Samoa and the Cook Islands.

Papua New Guinea and Tonga are to be given assistance to upgrade their centres.

The Solomon Islands surveillance centre, established with assistance from Australia’s defence co-operation program, was opened in March.

The Australian officials say discus sions are going on with Kiribati on whether Australia could help it set up a surveil lance centre. The use of the centres was discussed at a March meeting in Vanuatu of 13 of the South Pacific Forum countries and the Forum Fishing Agency.

Staff from the surveillance centres would receive training at the Australian Maritime college in Launceston, Tas mania. The college would also train crew of the 12 Pacific patrol boats Australia plans to provide to the island states.

Meanwhile, the Solomons Islands Government is to hold talks with the United States over the reported discovery of two American tuna boats illegally fish ing in the Solomons exclusive economic zone. The boats were sighted from the air in March.

The boats had been tracked by the newly opened maritime surveillance centre in Honiara, one of a number being established in the South Pacific under the Australian defence co-operation program.

The Solomon Islands Police Commis sioner, Mr Fred Soaki, said the American tuna boats had been photographed fishing less than 160 kilometres from land.

Mr Soaki said the sightings had been referred to the Solomon Islands Depart ment of Foreign Affairs, which would take up the matter with the United States Government.

The seizure of another American tuna boat by Solomon Islands authorities sev eral years ago resulted in the United States finalising a fishing agreement with South Pacific countries.

□ Terramat Bailed Out

PAPUA NEW Guinea’s Department of Trade and Industry is moving to save a new local industry based on production of ter ramat, a by-product of coconut fibres.

Terramat, used to stop erosion in civil engineering projects, is made by Dylup Industries in the Madang province. The company has been facing problems of marketing, competition and lack of local support.

The PNG Deputy Prime Minister, Sir

Julius Chan, has directed the department to mount a marketing program to increase sales of terramat both within PNG and overseas.

Sir Julius says tests carried out on his PNG terramat show the product to be of superior quality and would compete di rectly with similar products on the mar ket. Government departments and institutions in the country have been asked to use terramat in civil engineering projects.

□ Coffee Quota Change

THE INTERNATIONAL Coffee Organ isation has accepted Papua New Guinea’s request for a change in the date of its coffee stock verification from March to Decem ber. The change means that Papua New Guinea’s coffee quota for next year would increase along with its export earnings.

□ Hydropower Construction

THE EUROPEAN Investment Bank has announced a low interest loan of about $ A 3 million for construction of a hydropower plant at Afulilo Falls on the Western Sa moa island of Upolu.

The loan, under the third Lome Con vention, will help build a 10 million cubic metre storage reservoir, power plant, transmission network extensions and auxiliary equipment.

The project is jointly financed by the Asian Development Bank, the Interna tional Development Association and the Commission of the European Communities.

□ Ok Tedi’S Big Profit

PNG’S COPPER and gold mine Ok Tedi has reported a big profit increase for the year ending December 31. Ok Tedi Min ing Limited, which manages the mine, says profits rose by $ A 42 million over the same period for the previous year.

The managing director and chief ex ecutive Mr R J Carter says the result is a significant step in the project’s progress of improving profitability. He attributed the improvement to a stronger operating per formance and the commencement of cop per concentrate production. Strong prices for both gold and copper also assisted returns.

Mr Carter forecast further improve ment as the mine’s construction program nears completion.

BHP is the managing shareholder in Ok Tedi, with other principal parties Amoco Corporation, the Papua New Guinea Government and a German consortium.

□ Samoa Fights Fishing Edict

THE WESTERN Samoa Government is protesting to the United States against a Congressional decision to stop funding new fisheries development in Western Samoa.

Congress has said future fisheries de velopment in the region could be financed from the five-year fishing treaty recently ►

signed by the United States and the South Pacific Forum Fisheries Agency.

Government officials in Apia said the decision meant Western Samoan devel opment plans costing more than SAS mil lion dollars would have to be funded locally. The plans include construction of a research vessel now being built in the United States.

□ Communications Bank Slammed

PAPUA NEW Guinea’s Finance Minister has strongly criticised a decision by the Government’s Post and Telecommunica tions Corporation (PTC) to set up a com mercial bank.

According to board chairman Mr Elias Vuvu, the corporation has been prompted by the high profits it is making from its op erations to set up the bank, which would operate from 40 branches in the country where the PTC also provides postal and telecommunications services.

The PNG Finance and Planning Min ister, Mr Kwarara, says the corporation’s first task is to improve services and any profits made should be put into expanding and improving services to more areas of the country.

Meanwhile, the Governor of the Bank of Papua New Guinea, Sir Henry Torob ert, says the PTC move is permissible un der the country’s Banking Act.

□ Protecting Cardamom

THE GOVERNMENT whip in PNG’s Parliament has called for the establish ment of a Cardamom Industry Board to protect growers and promote overseas marketing of the crop.

Mr Pawa Sisioka says cardamom has the potential to become a major revenue earner for PNG given the right kind of support and assistance. Papua New Guinea exports about four hundred tonnes of the spice each year.

It is grown as a cash crop by village people in the Highlands and in less than two years’ production to September last year, their efforts earned K 2.7 million.

The Member for the Highlands seat of Karimui Nomane, Mr Sisioka wants a commodity board set up for the carda mom industry similar to boards for other large rural industries.

Mr Sisioka also says a watch needs to be kept on foreigners who, he claims, are out to make quick money at the expense of village growers.

□ Uk Cargo Carrier For Tuvalu

A NEW passenger and cargo vessel for Tu valu has been launched in Britain. The 1200 tonne vessel, the Nivaga Two, was built at a cost of nearly SA7 million from

Britain’s overseas aid program.

The vessel will carry children to and from school, patients to hospital, food, consumer goods and the police around the nine islands of Tuvalu.

The ship will undergo sea trials before sailing for Funafuti later this year.

□ Guidelines For Business Growth

A CONFERENCE in Canberra has been told that the business sector had to be en couraged to make a major contribution to the South Pacific’s economic development.

The assistant executive director of the National Centre for Development Studies, Mr Rodney Cole, was opening a seminar on private investment in the South Pa cific, held by the centre and the Common wealth Secretariat and the World Bank.

The meeting considered obstacles to private investment, reviewed the role of Pacific governments and made recom mendations on investment promotion.

A special economic adviser to the Commonwealth Secretariat, Doctor Vin cent Cable, said debt problems had en couraged more developing countries to seek foreign capital. He said the tradi tional source of such capital has been the United States and Europe, but in future Japan would be the major source of in vestment funds.

□ Vanuatu Deficit

VANUATU RECORDED a balance of trade deficit of $56 million in 1987. Fig ures published by the National Planning and Statistics Office put the total value of imports at $76 million while its exports were about $2O million. The volume of co pra exported by the Republic decreased by 12 per cent from 42,000 tonnes in 1986 to 31,000 tonnes in 1987.

However, total export receipts from copra, Vanuatu’s main export earner, in creased by 56 per cent to $7 million. This was due to higher copra prices on the world market.

□ Solomons Satellite Contract

THE BRITISH company, Cable and Wireless, has been selected to develop a domestic satellite communications sys tem for Solomon Islands. Cable and Wire less set up the country’s international satellite services about nine years ago and holds half of the shares in the operating company, Soltel.

The Minister for Posts and Commu nications, Mr John Maetia, said he hoped that work on the domestic system would start in about three months.

Five earth stations will be constructed in the major administrative centres in the islands, all of which will be linked to Hon

iara through the Intelsat satellite. The pro ject is expected to cost about $5 million.

□ Coffee Share Float

PAPUA NEW Guinea’s big coffee pro ducer Angco Pty Ltd, of Goroka, has floated 5 million one kina shares and chairman Mr Kagul Koroka has invited “ordinary people” to buy shares. The company wants capital for agricultural development.

□ Cook Islands Bank Search

THE COOK Islands Development Bank has been advertising locally for a general manager because it cannot afford to pay the salary demanded by overseas applicants. The bank’s deputy chairman, Mr Lionel Browne, said the position had been advertised overseas for three months, but the bank was unable to pay the salary asked for as the bank did not now benefit from a salary-supplementary scheme, un der which overseas aid was used to fund half the salary of a general manager. Mr Browne said the board was confident that there were suitably qualified locals to fill the senior post.

□ Hotel Chain Buyer Names

MR ADRIAN Zecha, a Hong Kong hotelier, is reported to have bought the Southern Pacific Hotel Corporation, owner of 38 hotels in Australia, New Zea land, Fiji and Tahiti, from Singapore busi nessman Tan Sri Khoo Teck Puat, who acquired the corporation in 1981 for SA7S million. Mr Zecha is believed to have paid SA39O million for the hotel chain.

Tan Sri Khoo, currently believed to be liv ing in Thailand or Taiwan, is alleged to be “wanted” by Brunei legal authorities on fraud charges involving the National Bank of Brunei, the chairman of which, Khoo Ban Hock, son of Tan Sri Khoo, was sent to prison for four years in February for his part in the fraud.

□ Offshore Crime

AUSTRALIAN CRIME authorities, in Fiji for talks with Mr Sailosi Kepa, Fiji’s Minister for Justice and Attorney-Gen eral, and others in the judiciary, warned in a press conference in Suva that Aus tralian and other criminals were using off shore banking systems established in islands to “launder” their money.

Australia was also becoming increasingly concerned, he said, that Pacific states were being used to reroute drugs, particularly cocaine, to Australia. With the United States market becoming saturated and Europe clamping down very effectively on drug pedlars, the drug cartels were turning to Australia.