Briefs

ANSETT to service Nadi/Sydney route ANSETT Airlines of Australia will commence flights between Sydney and Nadi in December. The airline will com pete directly with national airline Air Pacific and Australian airline Qantas, which operate a code share service on the route.

A tourism industry source said the introduction of Ansett flights would boost visitor arrivals from Australia.

The source said 40,000 Australian tourists visited Fiji annually but there was a huge potential to attract more visitors.

Ansett is owned by Air New Zealand and News Corporation Limited of Australia.

In March 1996, Ansett sent a three member executive team to look at the pos sibility of flying to Nadi. The visit was fol lowed by negotiations between the two governments on the air services agreement.

Sources said Ansett was likely to form an alliance with Fiji Airways Corporation which plans to operate a

Nadi/Singapore/Bombay/London route.

CONTINBITAL to cut Guam flights CONTINENTAL Micronesia has announced it will reduce the frequency of flights between Guam and Japan, and also use smaller aircraft.

The airline, hit by a sharp decline in Japanese tourism traffic, said that seat capacity in 1999 will be down about 23 per cent, according to the Marianas Variety. It will also replace the three existing Continental Micronesia 747 aircraft with lower capacity DCIO-30s.

Airline president Bill Meehan reassured a meeting of the Guam visitors Bureau that Continental Micronesia would be able to respond to any recovery in Japanese tourism with its plans to acquire Boeing 757 aircraft and also it has orders for the latest generation of the Boeing 737.

Tonga pumpkin export crop hit by

drought

PUMPKIN harvesting has begun in Tonga, but the long drought has left the country with a much smaller quantity than

planned. The Tonga Chronicle reported that it had originally been hoped that there would be 15,000 tonnes of pumpkin to export, but the country would be struggling to make up 7,000 tonnes.

The farmers on Tongatapu and Vava’u have been suffering from lack of rainfall, and on the latter island there are only a few tonnes of pumpkins which can be export ed.

The newspaper said one exporter, Island Produce Corporation, had wanted to ship 1500 tonnes but had trouble collecting 700 tonnes of the vegetable. Two other exporters have cancelled shipping due to the poor state of the crop.

BHP withdraws from pipeline study BHP Petroleum has withdrawn from providing further financial support to a fea sibility study into sending gas from Papua New Guinea to Queensland through a pro

posed pipeline.

A BHP spokesman stressed this did not have an impact on the company’s interest

in Kutubu, Gobe or South East Gobe gas fields which would potentially supply gas to the pipeline.

BHP has a nine per cent interest in the joint venture that is proceeding with the feasibility study. It will remain in the joint venture with Chevron Asiatic, Mitsubishi, Mobil Exploration, Orogen Minerals and Oil Search but it will not help fund the fea sibility study, AAP reported.

BHP had looked at the total portfolio of investment projects globally and, when combined with the low oil price and the company’s own restraints of capital expen diture, decided it would be better to spend the money elsewhere.

Burdekin to repay Mt Kasi debts, and

restructure gold operation

THE debt-stricken Mt Kasi gold mine in Fiji is to restructured by its new owners, Burdekin Resources. Company Director John Gow told The Fiji Times that Burdekin will repay about 95 per cent of the Fs3o million (U 5514,65 million) in debts which were amassed by the previous operator, Pacific Islands Gold NL.

The new operator will also change strat egy, moving from the soft ore areas to tar geting the hard rock resource.

Mr Gow said the company estimated the remaining resource at Mt Kasi was 176,000 ounces of gold. Burdekin expects the cost of recommissioning the mine will be in excess of $lB million.

Small Island States Development Fund

being reviewed

A SPECIAL development fund for six Pacific Island countries will be reviewed before year’s end to make it more respon sive to their changing needs.

The Smaller Island States Development Fund was established in 1987.

It is administered by the Forum Secretariat and has provided assistance to the Cook Islands, Kiribati, Nauru, Niue and Tuvalu.

From this year, the Republic of Marshall Islands has also been eli gible for assistance from the Fund.

Recent projects have included a workshop in the Cook Islands on the government’s reform programme in the outer islands; funding for computers and related equipment for Kiribati; a revolv ing fund for the purchase of bicycles to help a farming community in Tuvalu; office equipment for a vocational school in Tuvalu; the purchase of a bulldozer for Niue to help farmers clear land for planting, and policy assistance for Nauru on civil aviation.

Donors to the SIS Development Fund have included Australia, New Zealand and Taiwan.

Corporate structure changes at CMC MR Thomas Raju has been appointed chairman of the board of directors of Central Manufacturing Company (CMC), Fiji’s cigarette manufacturer. The appoint ment followed Mr Raju’s retirement as CMC General Manager, a position he held for 20 years.

He is succeeded by Mr John Nelson, who worked in a variety of senior positions with Rothmans of Pall Mall (Australia) Ltd before his transfer to Fiji. Mr Nelson has an MA degree from Macquarie University.

In 39 years of service to the tobacco industry in Fiji, Mr Raju had previously been CMC finance manager and company secretary. He said he had concentrated on improving training, staff development and productivity during his period as CMC general manager.

Mr Raju is a former president of the Fiji Employers’ Federation. He is board member of the Fiji National Training Council and the Pacific Fishing Company.

Mr Raju is a Trustee of the Bayly Trust and a member of the Complaints Committee of the Media council

New GM for Shangri-La's Fijian Resort SHANGRI-LA’S Fijian Resort has announced the appointment of Wolf-Dieter Flecker as General Manager. Previously the general manager of The Traders Hotel (a member of Shangri-La’s Hotels & Resorts) in Yangon, Myanmar (Burma), Mr Flecker officially took over the reins of Shangri-La’s Fijian Resort at the end of August. He has been with the Shangri-La Group of Hotels and Resorts for 15 years, managing a number of hotels in Asia including Shangri-La’s Mactan Island Resort in the Philippines, the Bali Dynasty Resort in Indonesia, and Shangri-La Hotel in Hangzhou, China.

He has some 34 years of experience in the tourism industry and replaces Desmond Hatton who has been appointed the gener al manager of The Traders Hotel, Yangon, Myanmar. ■

John Nelson

Thomas Raju

Wolf-Dieter Flecker