Gulf Province


Gulf Province is a province of Papua New Guinea located on the southern coast. The provincial capital is Kerema. The 34,472 km² province is dominated by mountains, lowland river deltas, and grassland flood plains, the Kikori, Turama, Purari and Vailala rivers all meet the sea known as the Papuan Gulf. The province has the second-smallest population of all the provinces of Papua New Guinea with 106,898 inhabitants. The province shares land borders with Western Province to the west, Southern Highlands, Chimbu, and Eastern Highlands to the north, Morobe Province to the east, and Central Province to the southeast.

Districts and LLGs

Each province in Papua New Guinea has one or more districts, and each district has one or more Local Level Government areas. For census purposes, the LLG areas are subdivided into wards and those into census units.
DistrictDistrict CapitalLLG Name
Kerema DistrictKeremaCentral Kerema Rural
Kerema DistrictKeremaEast Kerema Rural
Kerema DistrictKeremaKaintiba Rural
Kerema DistrictKeremaKerema Urban
Kerema DistrictKeremaKotidanga Rural
Kerema DistrictKeremaLakekamu-Tauri Rural
Kikori DistrictKikoriBaimuru Rural
Kikori DistrictKikoriEast Kikori Rural
Kikori DistrictKikoriIhu Rural
Kikori DistrictKikoriWest Kikori Rural

Provincial leaders

The province was governed by a decentralised provincial administration, headed by a Premier, from 1978 to 1995. Following reforms taking effect that year, the national government reassumed some powers, and the role of Premier was replaced by a position of Governor, to be held by the winner of the province-wide seat in the National Parliament of Papua New Guinea.

Premiers (1978–1995)

PremierTerm
Ope Oeake1978–1979
Sepoe Karava1980–1985
Francis Malaisa1985–1987
Tom Koraea1987–1989
Sepoe Karava1990–1992
Paul Apio1992–1993
provincial government suspended1993–1995

Governors (1995–present)

PremierTerm
Tom Koraea1995–1997
Chris Haiveta1997–1998
Riddler Kimave1998–2002
Chris Haiveta2002–2007
Havila Kavo2007–2017
Chris Haiveta2017–present

Members of the National Parliament

The province and each district is represented by a Member of the National Parliament. There is one provincial electorate and each district is an open electorate.
PremierTerm
Gulf ProvincialChris Haiveta
Kerema OpenRichard Mendani
Kikori OpenSoroi Marepo Eoe