The new Markham district office, named the ‘Koni Iguan Haus’, was officially opened by Prime Minister James Marape on Friday, March 29th, at Mutzing Station in Morobe Province.
Markham District Administrator, Bohage Bebinaso, said the first contractor did not complete the building, so a second one –Lae Builders & Contractors – were contracted at K3.5 million to complete the state-of-the-art, double-storey administration building.
Funding was from the Department of National Planning and Monitoring, and the Markham District Development Authority.
The name, ‘Koni Iguan Haus’, did not go down well with a good number of locals, who took to social media to question why the building was named after an individual when public money was used.
Bebinaso said this is because it is the first time such a development took place under the leadership of the second-term MP and Deputy Speaker of Parliament.
“The name is not his doing,” said Bebinaso. “It’s the doing of the DDA members. A structure like this has never been delivered in the past so somebody has not been pursuing that kind of discussion to see those changes come.
“Under the current leader, they have seen the change so I think it’s worth recognising and naming the building after him.
“The DDA members unanimously agreed that it must be named after the current MP. He delivered.”
Close to K5 million was spent on the construction of the district office, while landscaping was undertaken by R & Sons Constructions for K2.7 million.
Meantime, from 2017-2022, funding received from the District Services Improvement Program amounted to approximately K42 million. Markham MP, Koni Iguan, said over the five-year period, the funds were used for infrastructure, health and education programs.