Hela needs strategic plan, says Prof Hynes

RESOURCES-rich Hela, which becomes a province in 2012, needs a strategic and sustainable plan for positive development outcomes, according to University of Papua New Guinea (UPNG) Vice-Chancellor Prof Ross Hynes.
Prof Hynes told Hela leaders, students, academics and non-governmental organisation groups at the official launching of Hela Development Seminar at UPNG that given the economic boom in the region, “Hela needs a sustainable strategic development plan to sustain itself in the future after the oil and gas run out in 20 to 30 years time”.
He said in order to have this plan, the Hela interim provincial government and the stakeholders at large must consider sustainable future  in terms of education, health, agriculture and other socio-economic aspects.
He anticipated that the population growth would also have a huge strain on the socio-economic and such a sustainable strategic plan would ease the future population boom in the new province.
Prof Hynes said the LNG project would also have an impact on the environment and serious consideration must be given to the particular land and the waste management.
“It’s a challenge for a sustainable Hela.
“All the oil and gas will be gone one day but the environment will sustain Hela in the future,”
he said.