THE Halivim Wantok Appeal (HWA) has so far raised over K600,000 since the appeal was launched last Nov 25 with the aim to support relief assistance to the flood stricken Oro province.
Though the HWA director, Anthony Smare, was optimistic of raising K1 million a week, in the two and half weeks after the launch of the appeal, that target did not seem possible.
However, HWA chairman Sir Rabbie Namaliu yesterday said raising K600,000 in the last two weeks was not bad.
Sir Rabbie was at hand after flying in from Rabaul yesterday afternoon, to receive another lot of donations from the mining sector at the Mining Haus in Port Moresby. The MRA donated K10,000 with an additional K1,059 and six boxes of clothing contributed by the staff Ok Tedi Mining Ltd chipped in K25,000, Lihir Gold Ltd donated K15,000, Frontier Resources, a mineral exploration company helped out with K15,000 and the Niugini Gold and Van Gold Joint Venture came in with K10,000.
Also at the occasion, the PNG Teachers Savings & Loan Society announced a deposit of K20,000 to HWA account last week.
Sir Rabbie in expressing gratitude and appreciation for the donations coming from the mining fraternity said, the assistance in kind and cash will go to the people of Oro, who are affected by the flood.
He said the relief provided would bring some comfort to the people during this festive period.
Sir Rabbie explained that HWA was an initiative of the private sector and the committee comprised of reputable persons in the sector with an accounting firm, Price Waterhouse & Coopers, administering the trust accounts held at ANZ and BSP banks.
He said the committee had so far used K100,000 in providing relief assistance using the existing mechanism and network on the ground in Oro.
He said certain committee members have visited Oro and would be working closely with the controller of the Oro State of Emergency, the PNG Red Cross and the donor agencies in a coordinated effort to help the affected people of Oro.
The presentations of the donation were made by senior executives of the respective companies.