Pomio District

Prime Minister James Marape in a recent visit to the district announced at Palmalmal during the inauguration ceremony of the district's latest addition to transportation, the MV Pomio 2 passenger and cargo vessel.

The smallest LLG, East Pomio, is now undergoing major developments.

East Pomio LLG president, Steven Sinkie, said the construction of their new LLG chamber and office complex at Milim-mu Ward, worth K1.5 million, is about 70 percent complete.

The LLG chamber will replace an old and deteriorated building that was erected during the colonial era, and this would also make East Pomio the first LLG in the district to have a newly constructed LLG headquarters.

The road project extends from Karong all the way to Marunga ward and is contracted to locally owned company Kokopo Plant Hire.

The contract is worth K10 million and was awarded recently by the ENB Provincial Procurement Committee (PPC) in Kokopo.

Acting Sinivit LLG Manager, Pennie Maroro Jnr said the project will include the upgrading of an existing road from Karong to Marunga, that was constructed by a logging company years ago.

The other two LLGs are Toma in the Gazelle District and Kombiu in Rabaul District.

The programs were held in four locations to cater for the scattered communities within Sinivit LLG and the neighbouring wards in the two other LLGs.

The celebrations began on Friday, September 15 – a declared Public Holiday by the national government – and concluded today (Tuesday), to observe the 29^th anniversary of the volcanic eruptions that destroyed the former provincial capital in Rabaul town in 1994.

Local MP, Elias Kapavore, said development aspirations of Pomio are guided by its 5-year District Integrated Development Plan (2021-2025).

He, however, pointed out that realistically, the District Services Improvement Program (DSIP) is still inadequate for one of the largest districts in the country, like Pomio. 
Having over 70 percent of East New Britain province’s total landmass of 15,000 square kilometres, development challenges are wide-ranging, with accessibility being one of the biggest.

Sinivit LLG President and East New Britain Deputy Governor, Boniface Gerep, said by now, preventive measures should be in place by relevant government organisations to ensure the country can address or find solutions to pollution.

He said statistics show that only 9 percent of the 300 million tonnes of plastic manufactured in the world goes back for recycling, another 12 percent is destroyed or incinerated, while the rest, which is about 80 percent, is dumped and pollutes the environment.

The program began with a 3-kilometre march pass from the LLG office in Sunam Ward to the Kadaulung junction in Laup Ward by students and teachers of Warangoi secondary and primary schools, Sikut and Rieit primary schools and LLG public servants, escorted by Warangoi police.

LLG president, Boniface Gerep, launched a two-day clean up program for all the 16 wards in the LLG.

The WED program coordinator and LLG Environmental Health Officer (EHO), John Piga, said no specific dates were set for the clean up program this week as it will depend on the individual wards.

Member for Pomio and Chairman of the Pomio District Development Authority Board, Elias Kapavore, said the subsidy scheme began in 2015 and for the past 8 years, the district has allocated over K8 million for this program.

The scheme is for students with a Grade Point Average (GPA) of 2.5 and above, and parents are to meet their component before the DDA comes in with the subsidy.

Pomio Acting Deputy District Administrator for Operations, Joshua Jeremiah, said this year, 276 applications were submitted for the subsidy support, and all applicants received subsidy support.

LLG President Boniface Gerep said the police operation began last Saturday and this whole week is a grace period where parents and guardians of the identified youths are encouraged to bring in the suspects to authorities.

“Some houses were torched last Saturday at the Nukumal Plantation within Laup Ward, after villagers were frustrated by the continuous criminal activities in the area, especially armed hold ups on traveling PMVs on the road. Last Friday alone, there were a total of 5 hold ups on PMVs,” he stated.

Despite showers and a dull weather, the program came alive with songs and drama from students from schools around the Inland Baining area of the LLG.

Prior to launching the project, Member for Pomio, Elias Kapavore, told the school staff and students, as well as parents and citizens from Rieit-Dadul ward, that according to the sub-contractor for Kasific, Kinect PNG, they are the first in the country to receive this VSAT system.