The temporary court facilities built around the Waigani National and Supreme Court complex will be used after the opening of the 2017 Legal Year.
National Judiciary Service Secretary Jack Kariko when giving an update of the construction said the administration block and early works is complete and they are now focusing on the temporary buildings.
They are also now in the process of getting staff moved into the temporary administration block which will also accommodate the Alternate Dispute Resolution room and court rooms 6 and 7.
“At the beginning of the legal year, court rooms 6 and 7 will now be operating in the temporary area,” he said.
On July 29, a K427m contract between the National Judiciary Service and China Railway Construction was signed in Port Moresby for the next phase of the construction of the new Court Complex.
Kariko said they are now waiting for funding to be released by the National Government so China Railway Construction can start on the actual construction of the Court complex.
He added that funding appropriation for this year was K80m and they are still waiting for certain portions of that to be made available.
The new court complex will house the three high courts: National court, Supreme Court and the new court of appeals.
The contract signed in July paves way for phase three of the K610 million court complex developments that will be taking place over the next four years for the National Judicial services.
An initial K180 million was allocated for the first phase of the project in the 2015 budget. The ground breaking of new court complex took place after the opening of the 2015 Legal year.
The refurbishment of the existing court building is another phase of the project.
Once completed, it will come with 14 court rooms, Judges Chambers, detainee holding cells and an administration building which will accommodate court registries and administrative functions.
This project has been identified by the National Government as one of the major impact projects and will culminate three separate courts. It is expected to be completed by 2018.
Meanwhile the new court building that will house the Waigani District Court is also nearing completion and staff from the magisterial services are now moving into the new building.
Chief Magistrate Nerrie Eliakim in a public notice stated the relocation will be in the first week of December.
This relocation of buildings is part of the Magisterial Services plans for a new complex which will be fully funded by the Australian Government, on the land adjacent to the National Library.
The court complex is part of the Magisterial Services Corporate Plan 2016-2020 which will see all the magisterial courts conducted in one, four-storey building complex by 2020.
