New Ireland Governor Sir Julius Chan was given a rousing reception back to New Ireland on Thursday January 19 after two and a half months away from the province.
Upon arrival, he was taken on a tour of the new look Kavieng Airport, an infrastructure project close to his heart. One, which he penned off in 1995 when he signed the Lihir MOA as then Prime Minister.
Outside the airport terminal he was met by a patriotic crowd of New Irelanders and senior administrative executives.
Sir Julius taken aback by the reception responded with a stern and serious, yet uplifting message back to the people of New Ireland.
He said there was a lot of hard work ahead and New Ireland had to continue to rebuild itself through new thinking and bringing new life to the Province.
“So yumi olgeta, I want you to work with the Government and the administration with new life, new thinking and we will bring New Ireland forward. And stay ahead of all the other Provinces.”
Sir Julius said he was hospitalized for two months at two different hospitals and up to ten different Doctors treated him.
He emphasized that time spent at the hospital has allowed him to see how important health services are and promised to improve the services in the Province through a Free and subsided Health policy which is currently being worked on.
Sir Julius then made time to pay his last respects to the late Sir Leonard Wilson Kamit, who was buried at the CIS cemetery in Kavieng that same afternoon.
The next day Sir Julius continued the momentum by holding a Government situation meeting with all sector heads to get a report on all current and outstanding matters in the province.
This included the high rise in lawlessness due to the influx of people from other provinces into New Ireland.
Next week the New Ireland Government will hold Provincial Implementation Committee and Provincial Executive Council meetings on Tuesday and the Provincial Assembly sitting on Wednesday to pass the 2023 New Ireland Budget.