What does this mean for the Green River people- BSP cash agent opens

What an awesome development news for the people of Green River, West Sepik.

Last Friday, (24/3/23) the BSP Financial Group launched a cash agent at the Green River LLG office.

Customers can make deposits, withdraw or transfer money.

I think the last time a cash office managed by the BMS existed was some 30 years ago.

The BSP cash agent is owned and managed by Komeali Trading and the owners together with BSP must be applauded.

What does this development mean for the people?

First well for public servants mainly teachers and health workers who pretty much are the face of the government when other public servants have left will now benefit much to mainly withdraw or deposit money.

The set up of the cash agent will also stimulate the unbanked to bank monies with BSP and we can seriously know how much cash is being traded around the Green River area.

The cash agent may well serve the people of Idam and Yapsie who can just travel down the Sepik do their banking and return.

But seriously for Green River this should trigger small to medium businesses in agriculture or service industries to open accounts and bank money.

In the past cash crops such as rubber was popular but today villagers have expanded into cocoa, vanilla and trade of spice products like eagle wood and masoi bark have become popular.

Their trading partners are in Indonesia and goods are moved there through the Sepik River to Indonesia at Patom or other regencies. 

What people need is a market to sell their produce and accessing bank services allow them to save and be in the formal business market.

With a bumpy logging road link to Vanimo trade stores can also start like before and also owners can bank their money at the cash agent.

The place has Telikom and Digicel networks and already the LLG manager Rodney Kane has ordered a diesel fuel generator from Lae.

Now these appears to be fundamental enablers for communication, services and business to function and ultimately servicing people.

Green River is sparsely populated and there is abundant arable land for agriculture with vegetables and fruits such as pineapple, cucumber and corn just to name a few can be grown in plentiful.

Of course very clean sago made after squeezing starch from the bark of the palm using very clean streams can be traded too.

There are 26 wards in Green River which spread from the upper lands Yuri area bordering West Papua to Upper Sepik in the Biak Huhi area bordering Telefomin district in the south.

Then you meander the Sepik down to the border with Namea LLG around Wagu and Sinou.

Then you have the inland  Nagu area Wagu Sinou along the Sepiik bordering Edwaki and Lumi.

Travelling back west you have the villagers along the highway bloc of Biaka, Konobasi, Miarofei, Akrani.

The Green River local villages on the fringes of the government station complete the population who live in sparsely populated regions.

Green River has one of the longest airstrips in the province, if not the country constructed by the PNGDF engineering battalion in the 1970s.