Infrastructure

He told the engineers in a training workshop on Tuesday held at Tuna Bay Resort in Port Moresby.

He also reminded them about a saying in rural parts of Papua New Guinea that “you give me the road and forget about me, I will look after myself” that the Department wanted to create and impart.

The State Enterprise Minister is responsible for PNG Power and Water PNG, and this was an important meeting to ensure alignment in these crucial areas. The two leaders discussed candidly and expressed their desire to waste no time in finding solutions.

The meeting was held ahead of the commissioning of the Eduvu Power Plant, which is set to come online in July of this year. The plant will go a long way towards meeting the growing demand for energy in the City.

These are the 84-metre Toto Bridge and the rehabilitated 110-metre Unung Bridge, which were constructed by Vision Engineering, and should connect communities between the 2 LLGs of West Pomio Mamusi and Central Inland Pomio.

The completed Toto Bridge was constructed at a cost of K6.4 million while the rehabilitation works on the 30-year-old Unung Bridge cost around K2.9 million.

Pomio MP, Elias Kapavore, says the Unung bridge would be completed by the end of this month.

ABG Minister for Community Government, Theonila Matbob, said this in her maiden ministerial statement yesterday in the first session of the Bougainville House of Representatives.

She said the support is continuing under an Australian government funded program involving the construction of 19 community government offices and community halls. This will provide community governments and wards with functional spaces for elected women and men to exercise leadership and administrative duties, including other local activities.

This is being done to enable the sustainable growth of agribusiness activities in Cocoa, Vanilla, and Fisheries value chains and open up the vast rural economy for broader social and economic benefits.

Farmers are forced to carry bags of coffee and walk for days to reach the nearest road and with coffee being a perishable product, the beans rot within a few days, resulting in wasted effort and time.

Local MP, Solen Loifa, urged the provincial government to hear their plea and build roads and bridges to connect Menyamya to Lae.

“Kofi blo mipla stil sting yet lo maunten na bus stap,” said Loifa. (Our coffee is rotting on the mountain and in bushes.)

Sports Minister, Don Polye highlighted in Parliament this week, stating that the existing world standard sport facilities like the Sir John Guise Stadium, Santos Stadium (National Football Stadium), National Sports Institute (Goroka) and the Sir Hubert Murray Stadium, do position PNG as a sporting nation.

“I am grateful that we do have such asset and very careful as to PNG not losing them. Losing of these international facilities will result only as a result of negligence to do maintenance and renovations,” Minister Polye said.

The once pothole-ridden access road has finally been given a facelift, with commuters no longer having to navigate around crater-like potholes.

Work commenced in September through the 20 percent GST agreement between the Lae City Authority and Morobe Provincial Government.

It was successfully completed and opened on Wednesday, December 28^th, for the public to use and access the supermarkets and the nearby motel.

ABG Minister for Treasury and Finance, Mathias Salas, announced this in parliament this week when he tabled the 2023 ABG Budget speech.

“The major focus of the 2023 ABG Budget is the consolidation of the peace and political process through economic and infrastructure development to prepare and mobilise the people for the conduct of consultations and negotiations for Independence in Bougainville,” Salas said.

Yama made these remarks in Parliament during the grievances debate on Friday.

Governor Yama said millions of Kina are spent only in Port Moresby.

He said many roads built in the city are not economically viable and not many people are using them.

He added that the Government must at all times serve the interest of the people and not personal affiliations with contractors in the city. 

Yama pointed out a good example was the Taurama road which cost about K200 million, and the Gerehu-Nine-Mile backroad which cost more than K300 million.