Lawyer Alois Jerewai is familiar with the buzz of mosquitoes and the sweet aroma and taste of ‘saksak’, the staple of every sago loving ‘saki’ in PNG, reports the Post Courier.

Mr Jerewai, from Sepik, has also heard that famous folksy ‘saki’ tune made famous by the Hollie Maea band many times.

So when it finally lured him to Kerema, the little ‘yu yet kam na lukim’ river port west of Port Moresby, Mr Jerewai thought the Gulf provincial capital deserves better.

The mossies were in abundance, the buai was plentiful, fish, sago and crabs littered the local market and the mighty Tairuma river reminded him of his own waterways back in the Sepik.

But Mr Jerewai, the assisting Commissioner hearing into cases of the Gulf SABL was so disappointed with the local set-up, he transferred the hearing over to Port Moresby.
Fetching water from a bucket for the basic necessities of drinking, washing, toiletries and washing hands not to mention the continuous blackouts were just some of the logistics nightmares that forced Mr Jerewai to postpone CoI and refer it to the capital city.

Other problems also included accommodation for the landowners scheduled to appear before the CoI and subsistence for the next two weeks of the hearing.

“I slept in Kerema Hotel and we had to fetch water with little buckets from big containers placed outside the hotels, and to go outside at night to fetch water for the use of the toilet, raises the question of security and this was just some of the reasons why I had to make the call over,” he said.

He said because the seven SABL’s in question were located in areas that were difficult to access and for want of time and funding, he had decided to use the aid of a three inch satellite resolution to view three SABL sites to determine whether developments had taken place.

“I can’t get a helicopter because of shortage of funds allocated to the CoI even if it will take three days but to travel by dinghy to each of these sites, it will take another two weeks,” he said.

He further expressed his gratitude to the PNGDF HMS Dreger Captain and his Executive Officer for transporting them to Paia Log pond for a quick site visitation.

He was also grateful for the orderly manner in which the landowners appeared and for the obvious respect they had for the system and the rule of law.

Most rural districts around the country are in dire need of Government services and Gulf Province is no exception. But with the much anticipated multi-million kina LNG project in tow, the SPABL is just one of a few other business ventures to follow, which will at last bring great wealth and development to the people and their province.

The venue will be held at the Inquiry’s head office located in Waigani and schedules are as follows;

• Koaru Resource Owners Company Limited to be scheduled for November 28 at 8:30am;
• Koaru Resources Owners Company Limited to continue November 29 at 8:30am
• Purari Development Association Incorporation will begin Nov 29 at 1.30pm;
• Purari Development Association will continue on Nov 30 at 8:30am;
• Perpetual Ship Limited is scheduled for 1:30pm on November 30; 
• Vailala Oil Palm Limited will begin at 8:30am on December 1, 
• Wowobo Oil Palm Limited, East Waii Oil Palm Limited and Aiowa Oil Palm Limited will begin on December 2 at 8:30am
• Their cases continue into Saturday at 8:30am.

So far, the Inquiry has yet to complete cases in the National Capital District and Central Province and the controversial Pomio case in both Port Moresby and Kokopo at a later date.

It has however commenced into the Mamose Region and is now two weeks into their hearing in Vanimo.

The West New Britain cases are yet to be heard when they commence on Dec 5.