09-03-2013, 11:20 AM
O'Neill has visited Gulf Province and helped kickoff projects that signal things are getting ready to move ahead in Gulf.
Gulf Provincial HQ to get facelift
By HAIVETA KIVIA
KEREMA Town will get a major K10 million facelift after suffering for more than 30 years.
The provincial headquarter of Gulf Province as of next week will see its roads upgraded, rehabilitated and reconstructed to give it a modern look.
Gulf Governor Havila Kavo officially launched the project, with a ground breaking ceremony at Kerema last Saturday.
The project is a gift of the O’Neill/Dion Government to the people of Gulf province and was pledged to the province when Prime Minister Peter O’Neill visited the province earlier this year.
Civpac Engineering and Construction Company is the official contractor and it will rehabilitate and upgrade the roads in the province in a two year period.
The Kerema town roads were sealed in 1979 when the province voted in its first Provincial Government headed by Sepoe Karava.
The roads have not been re-sealed or upgraded since then until Saturday’s ground breaking ceremony, and that would be a wait of 34 years.
In that period, the province had some of its sons as Prime Ministers, Deputy Prime Ministers, Finance Ministers including other important ministries in different governments.
Their elevations to the Chief Executive Officers and Deputy CEOs of PNG is and was never reflected in their province of birth and originality.
But, Gulf Governor Havila Kavo said the project will be an impact project and will change all the negativity about the province. He said it will give confidence to the people, their provincial administration and the struggling businesses in the township.
He said the province is gearing up for the Gulf LNG and is now preparing itself to attract businesses and investments in the province.
He said Gulf has a strong history attached to building PNG to what it is today when its human resources went to major PNG cities and towns like Port Moresby, Lae, Madang, Rabaul, Goroka, Mount Hagen and Wewak as builders, plumbers, painters and electricians to build the infrastructures of these centres. “Gulf will make history in PNG for the second time, I say second time because we all know what we did for PNG, and we will also build the economy of the country for the second time,” he said.
He said Gulf in the near future will become the focal point in the Southern Region and Papua New Guinea as a whole, and this road construction is the start. He added that housing infrastructure in the township for public servants is next to come and the developments of a new office complex for the Gulf Administration was another.
The Governor said upgrading and sealing of the Malalaua- Kerema section of the Trans Island Highway was another impact project to elevate the opportunities of the province.
He said the Gulf people have long been forgotten by successive governments and he was grateful to Prime Minister O’Neill for looking out for him and the province. He said he is confident that the contractor will do a quality work and put the smile back on the town.
Gulf Provincial Administrator Marc Orisuru Avai also reiterated that Gulf will no longer be the backwaters of PNG.
Mr Avai said the province will be an important player in the PNG economy and the people in the province must grasp the opportunities that are available.