Provinces of Papua New Guinea

Autonomous region, capital district, and Provinces of Papua New Guinea
Category	Unitary state
Location	Independent State of Papua New Guinea
Number	20 Provinces 1 Autonomous Region 1 Capital district
Populations	(Provinces only): 50,231 (Manus) - 674,810 (Morobe)
Areas	(Provinces only): 2,100 km2 (800 sq mi) (Manus) – 98,190 km2 (37,911 sq mi) (Fly River)
Government	Provincial government, Government of Papua New Guinea
Subdivisions	(Provinces and Autonomous Region):District (Capital District):Suburb

The provinces of Papua New Guinea are the primary administrative divisions of the country. Provincial governments are branches of the national government– Papua New Guinea is not a federation of provinces. The country has 22 province-level divisions: 20 provinces, one autonomous region (Bougainville) and the National Capital District.

Parliament approved in 2009 the creation of two additional provinces by 2012: Hela Province, which would consist of part of the current Southern Highlands Province, and Jiwaka Province, which would be formed by dividing Western Highlands Province. The two new provinces officially came into being on 17 May 2012.

History

Immediately before independence on 16 September 1975, Papua New Guinea was divided into nineteen provinces and the National Capital District. These provinces corresponded to the "Districts" of the pre-Independence administration of the Territory of Papua and New Guinea.

The Bougainville issue

It had been considered that an independent state with limited resources could ill afford the infrastructure of a two-level quasi-federal governmental structure.

However, a secession movement in Bougainville, whose Bougainville Copper Mine provided the largest single source of foreign exchange and whose contribution to the general revenue was crucial to the independent state's economic viability, forced the issue. The Bougainville secession movement declared the Republic of the North Solomons on 1 September 1975 and the central government very quickly responded by offering provincial status to Bougainville. For the sake of consistency, as there were or had been regional separatist movements in Papua and East New Britain, provincial status was offered to the other 18 Districts as well.

Bougainville continues to be a special case. A renewed secession movement emerged in 1988 and resulted in a violent military campaign on the island, the closing of the Bougainville Copper Mine with serious financial consequences for the central government, the destruction or running-down of most infrastructure on the island and, ultimately, the total quarantining of the province for a decade. The Sandline affair of 1997 was a political scandal that became one of the defining moments in the history of Papua New Guinea, and particularly that of the conflict in Bougainville.

The Bougainville secessionists came to terms with the central government in 1997. A constitution was drafted for a more autonomous regional polity within Papua New Guinea with its own president and provisions for a referendum on total autonomy in due course.

Government

The provinces had elected provincial assemblies and cabinets led by premiers; however, the State remained unitary, not federal. Unlike Canada, Australia and the United States, whose federal governments are creatures of the provinces or states, but as with the provinces and states of Pakistan and India, the provinces are creatures of the central government and can be suspended by it or have their boundaries changed. Indeed, there have been suspensions of several provincial governments to address corruption or incompetence by elected provincial governments. Changes in the boundaries of those provinces which are adjacent to the former boundary between the Territories of Papua and New Guinea can cause special complications in the administration of statutes which apply in Papua or New Guinea but not both.

Ultimately in June 1995 in an effort to re-assert a measure of control by the central government over the often wayward provinces in an environment of limited numbers of personnel qualified for public office in many of the provinces, the office of provincial premier was abolished and the Regional (at-large) members of Parliament became provincial governors, while retaining their national seats in Parliament.

Naming of provinces

Several of the provincial governments have announced changes to the names of their provinces, with Bougainville becoming North Solomons, Western becoming Fly River, Chimbu becoming Simbu, Northern becoming Oro and West Sepik becoming Sandaun. The changes have been accorded popular acceptance but they remain unofficial, as the provinces are creatures of the Constitution and official changes of name would require amendments to the Constitution using the prescribed amending formula.

New provinces

In May 2012, two new provinces were established: Hela Province was split from Southern Highlands Province, and Jiwaka Province from Western Highlands Province. ·

List of provinces

# (map)	Province	Capital	Governor (2012-2017)	Area (km²)	Population (2011 census)	Density (pop/km²)	Region
1	Central	Port Moresby	Kila Haoda	29,998	269,756	6.21	Papua Region
2	Simbu (Chimbu)	Kundiawa	Noah Kool	6,112	376,473	42.42	Highlands Region
3	Eastern Highlands	Goroka	Julie Soso	11,157	579,825	38.35	Highlands Region
4	East New Britain	Kokopo	Leo Dion	15,274	328,369	14.20	Islands Region
5	East Sepik	Wewak	Michael Somare	43,426	450,530	7.98	Momase Region
6	Enga	Wabag	Peter Ipatas	11,704	432,045	22.60	Highlands Region
7	Gulf	Kerema	Havila Kavo	34,472	158,194	3.04	Papua Region
8	Madang	Madang	Jim Kas	28,886	493,906	12.49	Momase Region
9	Manus	Lorengau	Charlie Benjamin	2,000	50,231	20.76	Islands Region
10	Milne Bay	Alotau	Titus Philemon	14,345	276,512	14.93	Papua Region
11	Morobe	Lae	Kelly Naru	33,705	674,810	15.56	Momase Region
12	New Ireland	Kavieng	Julius Chan	9,557	194,067	12.31	Islands Region
13	Oro (Northern)	Popondetta	Gary Juffa	22,735	186,309	5.82	Papua Region
14	Autonomous Region of Bougainville	Arawa	John Momis (President) Joe Lera	9,384	249,358	15.18	Islands Region
15	Southern Highlands	Mendi	William Powi	15,089	510,245	23.86	Highlands Region
16	Western (Fly)	Daru	Ati Wobiro	98,189	201,351	1.53	Papua Region
17	Western Highlands	Mount Hagen	Paias Wingti	4,299	362,850	59.12	Highlands Region
18	West New Britain	Kimbe	Sasindran Muthuvel	20,387	264,264	8.80	Islands Region
19	Sandaun (West Sepik)	Vanimo	Akmat Mai	35,820	248,411	5.12	Momase Region
20	National Capital District	Port Moresby	Powes Parkop	240	364,125	1051.95	Papua Region
21	Hela	Tari	Anderson Agiru	10,498	249,449	17.71	Highlands Region
22	Jiwaka	Banz	William Tongamp	4,798	343,987	38.68	Highlands Region

Regions

On a broader scale, the nation is divided into four regions. These regional groupings are quite significant in daily life, as they are often the basis for organisation of government services, corporate operations, sporting competitions, and even the machinations of politics. For instance, there has been much discussion over the years of how many Prime Ministers have come from each region, and whether a particular region is due to provide the next one. Ministers and departmental heads are often appointed with an eye to maintaining an overall balance between the regions.

People generally identify quite strongly with their region, and inter-region rivalries can be intense. The four regions are:

• Highlands Region: Simbu, Eastern Highlands, Enga, Hela, Jiwaka, Southern Highlands, and Western Highlands.
• Islands Region: East New Britain, Manus, New Ireland, Bougainville (North Solomons), and West New Britain.
• Momase Region: East Sepik, Madang, Morobe, and West Sepik (Sandaun).
• Papua Region: Central, Gulf, Milne Bay, Northern Province (Oro), Western (Fly), and the National Capital District.

Momase is a recently devised portmanteau word which combines the first two letters of Morobe, Madang, and Sepik.

See also

• ISO 3166-2:PG
• List of regions of Papua New Guinea
• Districts and LLGs of Papua New Guinea

References

• Papua New Guinea Country Statistics