National Capital District

Where I spend the majority of my time, the NCD is PNG’s smallest province and the most accessible. The edge of its surrounds can be seen on the Magi Hwy at the roundabout by Central City, just past the Laloki Bridge on the Hiritano, the Abattoir out on the road to Sogeri and the moment you step off the Napa Napa Rd and head towards Boera and Lea Lea. Home to the Capital of PNG (hence its name) the NCD is the melting pot of all of PNG’s provinces and people. The suburbs and settlements here are made up of the same clans that assemble in the Highlands and Coastal areas of this country, and as a result, sometimes age old differences from back home are regurgitated on the streets of the Nation’s Capital.

Basically the NCD is Port Moresby and its fringed settlements. Change is happening in the time I have been here, new buildings and accommodation apartments are always being erected, the new sub-division at 8-mile is coming along, especially noticeable from the air and generally there is a sense of a new dawn, and a new level of economy. The PNG middle class is becoming noticeable, yet you will still find a grass roots approach to family and wantoks on many street corners.

A highlight for me in NCD and this will be repeated as I discuss the other 19 provinces is surely the people, I have made many friends here and their smiling faces and gorgeous warmth will be the core of my memories of life in Moresby. No one single highlight stands out, I review my time here as a mix of emotions and energies. Perhaps walking over the top of Burn’s Peak on a Sunday morning and meeting a young Papuan who was sitting atop of a rock reading the Good Book may be one of the more surreal moments. He was up there for some solitude on his Holy day of the week.