Province aims to ease strain on development

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West New Britain will focus on the key issues of an electoral boundaries review and developing its oil palm industry, Governor Sasindran Muthuvel said at his swearing-in.
Muthuvel said that now the province has a voice in the Cabinet and it would push for additional electorates to ease the strain on development and service delivery.
He said a district should have around 40,000 people, but Talasea has a population of 240,000 which poses many difficult challenges.
The review of West New Britain’s electoral boundaries were discussed at Alotau when parties which formed the ruling coalition signed the Alotau II Accord, Muthuvel said.
He said another major issue for the province was the hosting of the PNG Games.
He urged all leaders and public servants to work together to deliver the PNG Games and address other challenging issues.
Muthuvel said irrespective of political alliances at Waigani, everyone in the province should work together as a team for the good of West New Britain. He thanked the government for giving the province a seat in the Cabinet through Talasea MP Francis Galia Maneke, who is the Minister for Communications and Information Technology.
Muthuvel and Maneke were sworn in on Friday by senior provincial magistrate Patricia Tivese.