K20 million Wewak court complex to raise the bar

The National Main Stories

By CHARLES MOI
The new K20 million sub-regional court complex at Kreer Heights in Wewak, East Sepik, will be one of the most modern court facilities in the country, Chief Justice Sir Salamo Injia says.
He was in Wewak on Friday with East Sepik Governor Sir Michael Somare for a ground breaking ceremony to mark the start of construction of the  complex.
Sir Salamo said the K20 million budget for the court complex was the single biggest commitment by the judiciary in terms of facilities development outside Waigani.
“Until the regional court complexes in Lae, Mt Hagen and Kokopo take over, that figure (K20 million) for Wewak will register as the single biggest project, because it is going to be very modern,” he said.
“This facility is one of many projects that the higher and lower judiciary together have put in place to improve service delivery in the area of judicial services.
“These are projects that the lower (district courts) and higher judiciary (national and Supreme Courts) are able to put together to improve the capacity of the courts to deliver services to all levels of the community.
“It is difficult for our law enforcement agencies to work without a court facility.
“When you have a court facility in place, there is activity, there is focus and there is productivity.
“Without it, the provision of judicial services is a distant dream.
“The provision of judicial services would depend on the facilities that are available on the ground.”
Sir Salamo said the complex in Wewak would be a one-stop court that would cater for national court and the district courts.
The complex will have two national court rooms, fully fitted with judges’ chambers space, staff offices and the national court registry.
The district court will be located in the same court complex.
It will have three  district courtrooms fitted with magistrates chambers and a district court registry built to the same standard as the national court.
Sir Salamo said the new court complex when completed would rival some of the Australian courts.
He said plans were underway to build regional court complexes in Lae, Kokopo and Mt Hagen.
Sir Michael did the ground breaking ceremony for the new court complex which is expected to be completed in October next year.