Housing and Urbanisation Minister Paul Isikel has launched a housing scheme for public servants in Chimbu Province last Wednesday.
The scheme will see 500 houses built in Kibri and Mirane on the eastern and southern outskirts of Kundiawa.
Isikel told a huge crowd in Kibri that the O'Neill/Dion government has appropriated funds in 2016 to build houses for public servants in Chimbu in a bid to minimise accommodation problems encountered by the workforce.
Without disclosing the estimate cost of the project Isikel said the National Government has moved swiftly to address housing problems faced by public servants and the disciplined forces in Papua New Guinea.
He said the Government had provided budgetary support to ensure that the housing project, which is part of the Urbanisation Program, gets off the ground in fiscal 2016.
“Houses will also be built for public servants in other parts of the country under the government’s Urbanisation Program, according to the minister.
Provincial governor Noah Kool told the cheering crowd that his government has allocated counter funding for the housing projects in Kibri and Mirane respectively.
Kool said the Government had mistaken by giving away houses under the then Home Ownership Scheme almost two decades ago “which triggered housing problems in the country today.”
“It’s sad to see government workers, especially public servants and police personals, living in crowded settlements and hamlets on the fringes of urban centres.”
Kool had applauded the national government’s move to house civil servants across the country.
Kibri community leaders Michael Robert, John Numapo and Michael Su thanked both the Simbu Provincial Government and the National Government and vowed to take ownership of the project.
“We are extremely excited as the project will benefit the people of Nambawan Dinga,” they told journalists in Kibri.
Also present at the ceremony were National Housing Commission's Managing Director John Dege and the provincial administrator Joe Kunda.