“The Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea said “ We will Take Back Papua New Guinea.” But here in New Ireland “ We have already taken back New Ireland.” These words by Governor Sir Julius Chan were met with rousing applause from the listening public at Panapai during the launching of the 6.4 km road opening on Friday 14th August.
The newly upgraded road took approximately 3 months
to complete. Giving the people of Panapai a new outlook on life.
Witnessing the milestone occasion alongside the
sparsely populated roads skirts were officials from the New Ireland Government,
the National Department of Works, Binen construction representatives, 60
delegates from the Central LLG taking part in the New Ireland Governments
community awareness program and the local community.
With perfect sunshine brimming through the
surrounding evergreen forest Sir J declared “New Ireland is currently
undergoing an unprecedented infrastructure revolution, with major road works
and bridges occurring all over the Province. The last 10 years, have been the
New Ireland Revolution. All these infrastructure projects taking shape is
setting the stage for the future, for a self-reliant, Autonomous Region of
Papua New Guinea, where New Irelanders will make decisions and have control
over their own resources.”
He told the small population of Panapai that his
Government does not discriminate when it comes to implementing policies and
development projects. “The population at Panapai is small but that did not stop
us from building this K800,000 road for you. Use it to better your lives. This
government will always reach out to those in need as enshrined in our Malagan
Declaration forward and the New Ireland Declaration, the further you are the
more we care.”
Works Manager Solomon Pela said the condition of the
road was a night mare when he first conducted his engineering scope of works so
he understood the hardships of the people, walking long distances just to make
it to the main Highway. “Gone are the days of Mother’s carrying their garden
produce for long distances just to sell at the market. Gone are the days
Transport owners endure the pain of paying high maintenance costs for their
trucks and vehicles. Gone are the days of not being able to get to the hospital
on time. Gone are the days of not going to school and gone are the days of
Poverty. You are blessed to have visionary leadership leading your Province. I
tell you other provinces are finding it difficult to deliver these type of
projects because they don’t have the funding and clear infrastructure policy to
do so. Planti long ol displa project em money bilong yupla yet insait long
Province I kamapim,” said Pela.
A local woman speaking on behalf of all the women
and children described the hardships they faced, “ Me laik tok Thank you, Thank
you long yupla, Nau mipla lukim planti car gen run long wanpla day. Long wanem
kain speed ol laik speed long em. Nau em easy long karim garden Kaikai bilong
yumi long market.”
While a representative from construction company
Binen engineering praised the locals for their cooperation, stating the company
was fortunate not to have any compensation claims unlike other parts of the
country.
Deputy Governor, Chairman of Infrastructure and
Natural resources and President of Tikana LLG Hon. Sammy Missen relayed that
K4.3 million has been invested in Tikana alone with the start of one of the
biggest impact projects on the West Coast set to revolutionize travel within
New Ireland. “The widening and sealing of the Fangalawa and Lamusmus Highway.
West Coast Highway in the making.”
Hundreds of millions of kina has already been
invested in improving the transport system in the province over the past 10
years. This year the New Ireland Government has invested K42 million on
infrastructure in Kavieng District and K61.2 million on infrastructure in
Namatanai District as per its 2020 Provincial budget.
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