Proper venue to hear disputes

This was stated during the opening of the community hall outside Port Moresby today.

ExxonMobil PNG handed over the infrastructure to the Lealea community as part of its community programs in the village.

The new hall in Lealea has been touted as an important place to meet and hold community events, but more importantly for the village court which has been without a proper venue for years.

The hall will be used for village court sessions for the Buria Village and its 13 magistrates from Papa and Lealea Village. Currently all court sessions are held at the Lealea Fish Market, also funded by Exxon, which will be returned for its original purpose.

The K234,000 community hall is one of several projects undertaken by ExxonMobil in 2017 worth a total K2,264,000.

LNG plant supervisor, Al Sandoval, said the infrastructure is a result of the strong relationship the company has with the community.

Lealea councillor, Billy Tai, said insufficient or lack of funding trickling to the communities meant that LLGs could not establish such projects themselves.

He expressed his appreciation to ExxonMobil for the support.