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The Minister of Infrastructure and Public Utilities, Jay Ngwele, has written to the Harbour Master and Operations Manager of Ports and Harbour Department instructing them to make an Order for the removal of vessels that are stranded or have sunk in Port Vila on Efate, Luganville on Santo and other ports in Vanuatu. In his letter sent to the senior government officials on Tuesday, Minister Ngwele state, “It is one of the main priorities ...

The mass repatriation of stranded citizens and permanent residents abroad under the Vanuatu Government is expected to commence with the first flight from New Zealand (NZ) carrying over 60 individuals tomorrow (Wednesday). This was confirmed by the Director of the Department of Public Health and Spokesperson of COVID-19, Len Tarivonda. Director Tarivonda said the confirmed flight is expected at midday. advertisement The mass repatr ...

The mandatory quarantine costs the Vanuatu Government had to meet for quarantining around 60 citizens and residents who initially returned overseas to date is approximately Vt13 million, said Acting Director of the Ministry of Health (MoH), Johnson Wabaiat. These residents and citizens were quarantined at a hotel in Port Vila for two weeks. Quarantine was mandated by the government to check for coronavirus symptoms. During the 14-days ...

Minister of Infrastructure and Public Utilities, Jay Ngwele, says he has never signed any of the current contracts that has been referred to by the Opposition saying the statement by the Opposition is baseless. He says the majority of the contracts issued under the stimulus package were awarded to contractors by the former government by the former minister. The Ministry of Infrastructure and Public Utilities (MIPU) informed Daily Post ...

The Council of Ministers (COM) has approved for an amount of VT400 million from the Infrastructure Development Fund to be used to renovate roads in urban areas ahead of Vanuatu’s 40th Independence Anniversary. The original initiative to improve road networks in Port Vila came about because Vanuatu is hosting the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) Meeting, scheduled shortly after the independence celebration. However, it is yet to be decided if ...

The Vanuatu National Citizenship Commission (VNCC) has revealed a total of VT6 billion revenue has been collected through the Citizenship Program in 2020. The new chairman of VNCC, Ronald Warsal, confirmed to Daily Post that for this year alone since January to date, the office has collected the figure mentioned above. Chairman Warsal said the while the country is facing the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, such programs are a jewel fo ...

There is no doubting the importance of tourism and labour mobility to the Pacific. With few and falling COVID-19 cases, no wonder the idea of including the Pacific in the proposed Australia-New Zealand travel ‘bubble’ has gained prominence. In this blog we take stock of how the bubble is forming. Australia and New Zealand have made it clear that they are open to the idea, but only after they have formed their own trans-Tasman COVID-sa ...

It is now five weeks after Tropical Cyclone Harold battered islands in the provinces of SANMA, PENAMA and MALAMPA, yet recent reports by officers from ActionAid confirmed some families in South and West Malo are still living in caves. In the aftermaths of TC Harold, ActionAid under the Women-led Climate Resilience and Adaptation project in Vanuatu deployed its own officers at Malo to conduct emergency response assessments concerning the v ...

On April 1, caretaker Prime Minister at the time, Charlot Salwai announced a VT4 Billion Stimulus Package to support the country’s economy. In his statement the caretaker PM stated that the stimulus package was designed to boost economic growth through a combination of mixed fiscal and monetary actions. The objective of the package was to keep people safe, keep them employed, and keep businesses open. Part of the package involved an emp ...

Prime Minister (PM), Bob Loughman, has confirmed that over 200 Ni-Vanuatu citizens are currently stranded overseas because of COVID-19 restrictions. Unless the necessary equipment and facilities are available locally, the government cannot repatriate them yet, he said. PM Loughman stated this when receiving COVID-19 related equipment recently from the Chinese Embassy in Port Vila. These equipment were flown in from China. The Minist ...