Muthuvel eyes K70mil road project

National

WEST New Britain Governor Sasindran Muthuvel is in close consultation with the Government to secure the K70 million oil palm road project in the province.
This is an Oil Palm Industry Corporation (OPIC)-proposed project to upgrade the 1250km oil palm roads, out of which 750km is in Kimbe, while the other 500km is in Northern and Milne Bay.
“It will be beneficial to the Government to fix these roads that will in turn provide increased tax revenue from NBPOL as a result of shorter pick-up intervals that will remarkably boost production,” he said.
Proper road conditions will also encourage smallholder growers to collectively bring their own fruits to the mills which is an added bonus to production time and rate.
In a statement, Muthuvel said it was a vital project that needed to be considered by the Government in the 2018 budget, which was all the more reason for the province to plead for the retention of the oil palm tax credit scheme that played the vital role of maintaining oil palm feeder roads for smallholders.