Students from the Gesege Community School in Kutubu will enjoy attending classes, now that their old sago classroom building has been replaced with a modern facility.
A brand new four classroom, double story building and a teacher’s house was officially opened and handed over to Gesege Community School in Kutubu on on Saturday, the 7th of September by the Petroleum Resources Kutubu (PRK) and the Mineral Resources Development Company (MRDC).
The new classroom building and teachers house was funded through Petroleum Resources Kutubu’s Community Infrastructure Trust Fund.
MRDC Managing Director, Augustine Mano, and PRK Director, Johnny Yawari, officially opened the new classroom new facility.
Mano emphasized on the need to invest in education.
“A complete generation has been lost, since 1992, when oil production started in Kutubu. We’ve been measuring our success through the dividends and money we receive and we forgot the very people that define the quality of lives, our children, the people who will make an impact and be good citizens of this country.
“Upon my reappointment as Managing Director two months ago, I will make sure we have better schools, better infrastructures. Where the people of Kutubu are, where they are impacted, we must make sure we provide the basics, without competing with the government,” Mano continued.
Yawari thanked MRDC who saw the need to provide the support and commitment.
“I started this school with K250,000 to set up an elementary school. Today it’s a community school, opening its new modern classroom. Without people like Major Wong, this would not be possible. This is the start of many other projects to come for the people of Foe and the greater Kutubu”.
PRK is a subsidiary of the Mineral Resources Development Company (MRDC) which holds in trust royalty and equity from the Oil Search operated Kutubu Oil project on behalf of the landowner tribes Fasu and Foe and the Sothern Highlands and Gulf Provincial Governments.
Gesege community is part of the Foe beneficiary group, who received 10 per cent of benefits from the Kutubu Oil Project.